The Church in the name of John the Baptist is located in the northeastern part of the historical center of the city. It was built with the funds of merchant Alexandra Ivanovna Shkroyeva, which were bequeathed to her by her husband, first guild merchant Ivan Vasilyevich Shkroev. Since 1879, he held the position of mayor of the town of Kain and was known for his philanthropy. By his will, 60 thousand rubles were allocated for the construction of the John the Baptist Church and 29 thousand rubles for its maintenance. Alexandra Ivanovna was also actively involved in charity and was respected among the townspeople. She was an honorary guardian of the Kain Second Parish School, built and maintained two almshouses and a church school at her own expense.

After the construction was completed, the church was inspected by provincial architect Kondakov and junior engineer Andrey Dmitrievich Kryachkov, who later became a well-known Siberian architect. The inspection took place in the presence of the rector of the Spassky Cathedral, Archpriest Nikolai Vavilov. On November 18, 1904, Bishop of Tomsk Makariy Nevsky consecrated the temple in the name of the Holy Prophet and Forerunner of the Lord John. The church became popularly known as 'Shkroyevskaya' in honor of its founder.

The parish of the church was limited to the town of Kain, and by 1911 it had 551 members. The church had one priest and one psalmist.

The church building completes the perspective of the streets Pugacheva and Sverdlova, disrupting the clarity of the red lines of the streets. The silhouette of the church has lost its dominant position in the development due to the surrounding high-rise buildings.

The church is an example of a pillarless temple with a three-part longitudinal-axial composition, characteristic of Russian architecture of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Along the east-west axis, there are sequentially arranged the square of the temple with a seven-sided apse, the refectory, and the tiered bell tower above the narthex with two chapels. The bell tower is designed as an octagon on a square base with a tent-like finish. The church has seven domes: one over the altar, one on the bell tower, and five on the main temple. The walls are made of brick 'under the joint', and the main rooms are vaulted. The roofs have a complex outline, with onion-shaped domes, metal roofing with a diagonal pattern, and an organized external drainage system.

The architectural appearance of the building has changed: two tiers of the bell tower, the tent-like finish, seven onion-shaped domes, floor coverings, doorways, iron crosses, interior decoration, iconostasis, and the central chandelier have been lost. Some window openings have been partially replaced, and the structure and configuration of the solea have been altered. The southern facade is closed by a late brick extension. The proportions and details of the bell tower, as well as the design of the brick drum of the central dome, restored in 1995-1998, were executed with deviations from archival documents. Restoration and reconstruction work on the domes was carried out in 2003-2005. In 2008, the late extension on the southern facade was dismantled, and in 2010, restoration work was conducted on the facades.