St. Mark's Episcopal Church

The present church was designed by Henry M. Congdon of New York and built from 1886 of red lava stone quarried at Castle Rock, Colorado; the walls, roof and cornerstone were up by that fall. The bell tower, in the same stone, came in 1925 and is the only change to its profile. The first church's 600-pound bell, a gift of St. Mark's, Philadelphia, whose $1,000 also gave the parish its name, is still at the church. First rung on April 4, 1869, it is counted the oldest church bell in Wyoming.

What the plaque says

St. Mark's Episcopal Church Pioneer Church of Wyoming A National Historic Place Finding "the wickedness unimaginable and appalling," the Rev. Joseph Cook organized St. Mark's Parish Jan. 27, 1868, in Cheyenne, Dakota Territory, then a railroad winter camp. The first church at 18th and Carey Avenue was dedicated in August 1868 and was the first church building erected and dedicated in Wyoming. This present edifice was constructed in 1886 and was patterned after Stoke Poges Church, Buckinghamshire, England. The ministry of St. Mark's is historically linked with the settling and development of the frontier west. The church register records the burial service of cavalrymen killed by Indians, the wedding of an acting governor, and use of the Parish Hall as a social and cultural center. The Rev. George Rafter, Rector, was asked to "pray over" Tom Horn during his public hanging in November 1903. In August 1915, the wife and three daughters of General John J. Pershing were buried with solemn military rites from this church. They lost their lives in a tragic fire at the Presidio, San Francisco. Hundreds of cavalry troops from Fort D.A. Russell participated in the burial procession. On Sunday Oct. 11, 1936, President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt worshipped here. This Historical Marker Erected in 1972 In Loving Memory of Ruth Beggs Parker By Her Family and Friends St. Marks Episcopal Church The first church edifice built in the State of Wyoming August 23, 1868. Placed by The Historical Landmark Commission of Wyoming

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Wyoming State Capitol — 0.4 mi
  A sandstone capitol set to face the Union Pacific depot down one long street, its copper dome gilded in 1900 when the copper tarnished.
• Cheyenne Frontier Days — 1.8 mi
  A railroad agent's excursion scheme for a town with no crop to celebrate, which became a six-hour show in 1897 and the Daddy of 'em All.

More markers nearby

• The Cheyenne Opera House and Territorial Library — steps away
• Mrs. Esther Hobart Morris — steps away
• First Women's Suffrage Movement — steps away
• The Cheyenne-Ft. Laramie-Deadwood Trail — 0.2 mi