St. Mark's Episcopal Church

St. Mark's began in borrowed rooms. In 1895 its first services met in a two-room frame building, a grand jury room hauled from Matagorda, and in Judge T. J. Hamilton's two-story business building, where a worshiper later remembered planks laid across beer kegs for seats. On April 14, 1895 the Rev. John Graf baptized John Pierce Gaines at the courthouse, probably Bay City's first Episcopal baptism. Father John Sloan arrived in December 1900, built the rectory and church, and ran a private school preparing students for college. The hurricane of July 21, 1909 destroyed every building and the records.

What the plaque says

St. Mark's Episcopal Church This congregation traces its roots to Christ Church, Matagorda, from which parish many of its early members had come following the relocation of the Matagorda county seat to Bay City in 1894. Formally organized in 1895 under the leadership of the Rev. John U. Graf, St. Mark's held early worship services in the two-story frame building that also served as a temporary courthouse. The first church building was completed in 1901 during the ministry of the Rev. John L. Sloan. Over the years, the congregation has placed an emphasis on community service and outreach. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 20 mi
  A sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 24 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.

More markers nearby

• Matagorda, C.S.A. — steps away
• Bay City Post Office — steps away
• Ira Ingram, First Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives — steps away
• Matagorda County — steps away