St. Mark's Church, Frankford

St. Mark's Church, often referred to as the Frankford Cathedral, is a historic church in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1832 and continues today.

History

St. Mark's Church has historical significance because of its impact on the greater Christian Church through its ministry, its membership, its church building, and its its longevity.

Impact: By the mid 1800s two ministries begun at St. Mark’s Church, Frankford spread throughout the Christian church. The first, the Mother’s meeting begun in 1860 to share life and family leadership skills along with Christian values with mothers who were otherwise busy with the day to day activities of raising children and managing their households. The second was the Lay Cooperation in Ministry, which was the broader sense that the lay people were the ministers of a church and under their leadership and action literally countless lives can be impacted. [St. Mark's Church "Jubilee Sermon" Delivered by the Rev. Daniel Sutter Miller, October 1882.]

Membership: Mr. William Welsh, merchant, philanthropist, Christian zealot, and community leader was a significant member of our church from 1832 until his death in 1878. During his life he was Superintendent of our Sunday school; he authored, edited, and published several books and papers; purchased and ran a newspaper; served on numerous boards and committees; founded the Wills Eye Hospital; worked tirelessly on the Girard College Board; helped bring about the conversion of the volunteer system of firefighting to a professional city department; founded the Philadelphia Divinity School; and was instrumental in planting seven churches and missions in the Episcopal Church. [St. Mark's Church "William Welsh" by Herbert Welsh, October 1882.]

The Rev. Dr. Daniel Sutter Miller was the Rector of St. Mark’s Church from 1853 until 1871 during an era of economic disaster as well as unbridled growth and prosperity. Dr. Miller inspired through his pastoral leadership both the Lay Cooperation in Ministry and the Mother’s meetings, as well as numerous other programs to help raise the downtrodden to become self sufficient and productive members of society and the wealthy to accept their role helping humankind.

Colonel James Ashworth was a member who became a decorated Union Army officer having raised a company from the men of St. Mark’s and was himself wounded eleven times during the Battle of Gettysburg. [Survivor's Association "History 121st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry," Press of the Catholic Standard and Times, 1906.]

Mr. Thomas Creighton was a vestryman at St. Mark’s who had a passion for education. He founded the Historical Society of Frankford; was an author, painter, and leader in the Frankford and Philadelphia Communities; his son, Frank Whittington Creighton was consecrated Missionary Bishop of Mexico as the 351st Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

As a group St. Mark’s members have played a significant role leading Northeast Philadelphia; over 16 streets were named for members; during times of epidemic, the church opened its doors to serve as a clinic; and 188 troops were raised from our parish to fight in the War to Preserve the Union, and 39 men from our parish laid down their lives on battlefields foreign and domestic. [Parish Records]

The Church Building: The church is also important because of the very structure of the current church itself. The building is the pinnacle of Frank Rushmore Watson’s work in church architecture. It is a vertical or perpendicular Gothic church building with 56-foot ceilings crafted to resemble Noah’s arc turned upside down. It was built for 1000 worshippers and to become the Cathedral of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. It is constructed of Port Deposit Granite and lined with Indiana Limestone; the windows are the most important example of Nicola D’Ascenza’s corpus of work in the United States; there are 69 stone carvings done by Whiteman Studios of Philadelphia; and numerous memorials given by and for church members.

Longevity: The church was planted along traditional lines during an intense period of evangelical mission work in the 1830s through the mission work of Trinity Church, Oxford. Since its founding, St. Mark’s Church, Frankford has gone through three distinct iterations. The Church was first a teaching center and then grew into a missionary church. During the 1880s the new leadership of the church moved it along the Oxford Movement.

Today

St. Mark's Church continues in the mercantile area of Frankford. As with most all organizations that live over a 175 years there are periods of growth and prosperity as well as periods of decline. St. Mark's Church, Frankford has clearly had its share of ebbs and flows. During the early 1700s we simply could not get a lasting worshiping congregation started. During the crash of 1857 when virtually every business in Frankford went under, there was serious doubt as to whether or not we would be able to continue, but according to Parish records the people pooled their resources together and we kept not only afloat, but began once again to flourish. Today the church is active and has members from Europe, Puerto Rico, Africa, and Asia.

Rectors

# The Rev. Henry S. Spackman, 1846-1853
# The Rev. Dr. Daniel S. Miller, 1853-1881
# The Rev. Robert C. Booth, 1881-1889
# The Rev. Frederick Burt Avery, D.D., 1882-1892
# The Rev. John B. Harding, 1893-1921
# The Rev. Leslie F. Potter, 1921-1932
# The Rev. Edmund H. Carhart, 1933-1945
# The Rev. Albert Fisher, 1945-1976
# The Rev. Robert Zimmerman, 1977-1981
# The Rev. David Hockensmith, 1982-1999
# The Rev. Jonathan N. Clodfelter, 2002-Present

References

¹ St. Mark's Church "Jubilee Sermon" Delivered by the Rev. Daniel Sutter Miller, October 1882.
² St. Mark's Church "William Welsh" by Herbert Welsh, October 1882.
³ Survivor's Association "History 121st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry," Press of the Catholic Standard and Times, 1906.
⁴ Parish Records

External links

* [http://www.stmarksfrankford.org/ Official website]