The St. Michael the Archangel Church, the oldest in the city, was built in 1768 and restored in 1837. This wooden structure made of oak, covered with shingles and adorned with various patterns on its surface, stood on a stone foundation. The church's domes were made of square metal sheets covered in bronze. The bell tower and the tower had a hexagonal shape, were clad in shingles, and painted yellow. The bell tower housed four bells, the largest weighing about 500 poods. The windows of the church were decorated with ornate grilles, and between the frames were lace metal nets. The iconostasis was three-tiered. In 1912, the church had 2,235 parishioners.

The church was closed by the decision of the Balashov District Executive Committee on January 26, 1930. Earlier, on September 9, 1929, the executive committee allowed the church to be temporarily used as a grain storage facility for Mill No. 15 of the "Soyuzkhleb" joint-stock company. On November 20 of the same year, an inspection report was drawn up, noting that the church occupied an area of 249 sq.m., with a height of 4 m. The building was deemed dilapidated and small, standing a block away from the main cathedral and obstructing traffic on Kommunisticheskaya Street. Priest Nikolai Pavlovich Golubev claimed that the church was about 300 years old. Based on this information, the Lower Volga Regional Executive Committee proposed to demolish the building on December 10, 1929. On December 21, the chairman of the church council, Mikhail Pavlovich Beschestny, sent a letter to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee protesting against the termination of the agreement with the believers, citing Kalinin's statement on the inadmissibility of persecution against the faithful. However, the church was still closed. On February 21, 1930, it was decided to transfer the building to a pioneer club, but on March 21, this decision was canceled, and it was decided to use it for a road school. Ultimately, on September 30, 1933, the city council decided to dismantle the building due to its dilapidation and use the materials for constructing a laundry.