The place name Schönbrunn is actually a very recent combination of the place names Schönau and Neubrunn (Oberneubrunn and Unterneubrunn). Originally, it was a collection of at least six smaller villages in the Schleuse, Tanne and Gabel valleys, which stretch from the Rennsteig southwards down the Thuringian Forest. 
There had been a small chapel in the central location since the middle of the 15th century. Whether this was associated with the name of the patron saint St. James, the patron saint of pilgrims and carters, is uncertain. It was not until the chapel was extended and the church was built at the end of the 15th century that the name "Jakobuskirche" (Church of St. James) can be traced. With the growth of ore mining and smelting operations, an increasing number of experts came to the region at this time, including the two Nuremberg merchants Georg Holzpuger (Holzschuher) and Ulrich Erker from the Ore Mountains. The Church of St. James was built with their funds and on their initiative and completed around 1490, as can be seen from the date above the sacrament house in the choir. The altar and the crucifix on it as well as the baptismal font date from the 1950s. The purchase of the new font in particular had become necessary because the rococo-style lectern with an integrated baptismal font had been sold to the parish of Hildburghausen due to a lack of funds. This remarkable lectern now stands in the "Christuskirche" in the district town