WHEN YOU WALK INSIDE ST. Mark’s Episcopal church, you notice it’s just different. The finish of the wood is lighter with a matte varnish, the altar is very streamlined and simple, the back wall of the sanctuary is tile, and overall, it’s void of embellishments. The main entry area has a low ceiling to “compress” a visitor while the sanctuary explodes with space. Yet, there are many old-world elements as well including exquisite stained glass, a gothic baptismal font, and antique chairs.
Like many other churches in Aberdeen, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church was organized before they had a building to call their own. Services were held at the First Presbyterian Church, and when construction on the second church began in 1959, services were held at places like the Masonic Temple and the Northwestern Public Service building.
St. Mark’s began in 1883, with the first baptism coming in 1884. In 1885, the wedding of Sophie Taylor Jewell and T. Clarkson Gage – Matilda Jewell Gage’s parents – was the first wedding for the congregation. By that time, plans to build an Episcopal church had already started to develop, and by the following spring over $1,500 in pledges for a new building had been gathered. Bishop William Hare promised a $500 gift toward the building once enough money had been raised.
The first church was built on the lot where Geffdog Design & Apparel stands today, and the building was finished just in time for Christmas 1887. The building’s $7,000 covered the edifice and furnishings, but there was still work to be done. The St. Agnes Guild agreed to cover most of the cost of the church’s organ, and to cover the difference, St. Mark’s began to host various events. In turn, St. Mark’s became one of Aberdeen’s social hubs, and the church’s congregation became something of a “who’s who” of the town.
By 1901, the church became incorporated. In 1902, the vestry of St. Mark’s borrowed money to construct a rectory. A fire in 1904 destroyed the organ and damaged the main structure, and during the church’s reconstruction, services were held in the basement of the Alexander Mitchell Library, which was just across the street.
The Alexander Mitchell Public Library, built a few years after St. Mark’s, also included tile mosaics on the outside, colored glass block and the same typeface as St. Mark’s for signage.
The original building was enjoyed by the church for the next 72 years. By 1956, the parish had outgrown the old building, and plans to construct a new church began. The P. T. Spaulding family donated a full block on North Kline Street. Almost the entire church sprang to action in order to fundraise the $200,000 for the new building. The church’s holiday bazaars and summer outdoor fairs were attended by thousands, and several church women were integral to making the new building a reality, including Peg Lamont, Jane Kearns, Vivian Ward, and Barbara Kaiser.
The old church building was sold to Roscoe, South Dakota’s American Legion. Construction was completed in 1960, and the first service in the new building was held on August 21, 1960.
From an architectural perspective, the church has a lot of interesting attributes. It was designed in 1959 and built in 1960. Today it would be classified as Mid-Century Modern. And it does have a lot of modern elements for the time, however, many items from the original 1887/1915 church were brought over, including the gospel pulpit, baptismal font, hymn boards, and ambry. One interesting point about the building is that it doesn’t have a typical church footprint. There’s no symmetry, no grand entrance, and it doesn’t face a street. It’s nestled into the middle of an entire city block with a main entrance shrouded by a car port.
There are many design choices in this church that can be seen in other buildings around town. The typeface on the outside of the building, the entire altar area filled with one-inch square tiles, and the colored glass blocking at the back of the church are all similar to the second Alexander Mitchell Public Library. As it turns out, both buildings were designed by Clarence Herges of Herges, Kirchgasler and Associates, an architecture firm still operational in Aberdeen under the name HKG Architects. Both were designed roughly at the same time, with maybe a couple years in between.
Over the years, the church has been added on to. More fellowship space, more offices and a gym have accommodated a growing congregation. They have been able to repay the kindness of those that have helped host them in the past by allowing new startup congregations and community services, including New Life Fellowship and Sovereign Grace. Most recently, they’ve opened their basement up to Wo’takuye Oyate, which is a kinship center used as an activity and gathering center for Native Americans in the region. /
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