The church dedicated to the holy great martyr George the Victorious was built outside the city walls, in the Forshtadt, on June 25, 1756. By decree on July 2 of the same year, it was consecrated with the blessing of Archbishop Gabriel of Kazan and Sviyazhsk. The construction was funded by the Orenburg Cossacks at the direction of Governor Neplyuev and the efforts of Ataman Vasily Mogutov. The church was made of stone, with a bell tower and richly decorated furnishings. All sacred items placed on the altar and the sacrificial table were made of silver.

Before the resettlement of baptized Kalmyks to Forshtadt in 1746, the residents of this area belonged to the parish of the city Cossack church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Later, the Kalmyks were relocated to the rivers Gusikha and Uran.

During the siege of Orenburg in 1773, the church was ravaged by Pugachev's forces: icons were damaged, church vestments were torn, and documents were burned. The temple was used as a stable for horses, and from its bell tower, Pugachev fired upon the city. The iconostasis was saved by transferring it to another church. In 1778, the parishioners of the George Church were attached to the Nikolsk Church. In 1791, the church was restored and consecrated again, and it was assigned the parish and clergy from the burned Nikolayevsk Church.

The church's special value was the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, adorned with pearls. The Cossacks paid much attention to decorating their church. In 1899, a bell weighing 300 poods was purchased for the cathedral. All church parades took place in the cathedral square, and from 1891, in the square near the chapel between Forshtadt and the city. In 1889, the idea arose to commemorate the miraculous rescue of the royal family during a train crash by building a chapel with an icon of the saints honored on October 17. The chapel was erected in the Forshtadt square near the watchtower and was completed by July 26, 1891, the day of the arrival of Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich. The heir to the throne attended a prayer service in the new chapel. In 1913, the Cossacks built the Znamennaya hut next to the chapel, a museum of military glory.

The cathedral, chapel, and Znamennaya hut existed until the 1930s, after which they were destroyed. Now, private houses stand where the cathedral once was on Pugachevskaya Street, and a gym of the Orenburg State Agrarian University occupies the site of the chapel.