St. Mark’s celebrates 100th
Published 9:15 pm Monday, April 27, 2015
A small downtown church celebrated its 100th anniversary last weekend with a dinner and dance on Friday, a picnic on Saturday and attendance by the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church at its Sunday service.
“It’s a big accomplishment for us given that we have so few members,” said Edna Everett, one of the committee members at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church that worked for about two years to put the celebration together.
She said about 40 to 45 people attend services at the Tynes Street location most weeks. However, the church was packed last Sunday for the appearance of the Very Rev. Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
“We invited all of the neighboring Episcopal churches in our diocese,” said Deborah Austin, another of the committee members.
The church was started on April 25, 1915, as a mission of St. Paul’s Church, gaining its name because that is St. Mark’s Day. It had 15 parishioners originally and held services two Sunday afternoons a month, with Sunday school held each Sunday, according to a history of the church provided by the church.
St. Paul’s, St. Mark’s and citizens raised the money to build a church on the Tynes Street lot, and construction began in 1931. The trustees of St. Paul’s deeded the lot to the St. Mark’s trustees in 1935.
The church grew to its largest number, 174, during the 1970s under the leadership of Father Arceleous Elliott, according to the history.
Frederick W. Walker, the current priest, is the 17th in the church’s history and has served since 2010.