We extend the welcome and love of God to all who enter our doors, and our communion is "open" to every seeker of Christ. We offer a wide variety of opportunities to engage in worship, ministries, fellowship, formation, leadership, and serving our children.

St. Mark’s church is on the corner of 9th St. and E. 3rd Ave. in Durango.

The sanctuary has beautiful wooden pews and amazing stained glass windows.

Today, St. Mark's Parish Hall is used regularly for parish and community events.

In a Colorado mountain town on a shaded avenue stands Durango's historic St. Mark's Episcopal Church. A mid-sized, progressive, welcoming community of faith, we strive through liturgy, music, and outreach to carry God's love beyond our walls. Our life is centered in our worship, offering up our lives and the needs of the world, guided by the rich tradition of the Episcopal Church. We are a church of Word and Sacrament, seeking nourishment from – and being formed by – the Bible and the sacraments, especially Baptism and Eucharist. Through them we believe that we are touched and transformed by the redemptive power of Christ. 

St. Mark's is a congregation of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Colorado, under the oversight of Bishop Kym Lucas.

Our local ecumenical ties are strong. Our rector meets monthly with the priests and pastors of the other churches in town. Together, they form the Durango Shared Ecumenical Ministries. An example of their joint offerings is the community Thanksgiving dinner, which serves close to a thousand people each year.

​At St. Mark’s the word “welcome” takes on added meaning. We were among the first congregations in the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado to discern and embrace Same-Gender Blessings. The bishop concurred in the fall of 2014. 

History of St. Mark's

St. Mark’s is as old as Durango. It is older, in a sense. As early as 1877, our founder, the storied Episcopal missionary C. Montgomery “Parson” Hogue, rode a San Juan Mountain circuit on horseback that would challenge the most avid cyclist or skier today. It included Mancos, Rico, Telluride, Ouray, Red Mountain, Silverton, and Animas City.

In 1880, when Durango displaced the latter community, Parson Hogue held the new town’s first worship service the day after Christmas at the Delmonico Hotel. Fearless and persuasive, Hogue regularly visited Durango’s saloons and gambling houses, wearing cassock and six-shooter, to preach to the rough townsfolk. When the parson passed the plate, they dug deep, and these monies helped build St. Mark’s, Durango’s first church.

​Wooden, with a sawdust floor, and never painted, it rose on old Second Avenue. Parson Hogue carried lumber on his shoulders and worked to frame and enclose the structure. When the roof went on in the summer of 1881, St. Mark’s opened its doors, in time to host a solemn interfaith memorial for slain President James A. Garfield. St. Mark’s also doubled as the town’s first public school, with Hogue elected as superintendent. Yet by 1883, when the bishop in Denver elevated St. Mark’s from mission to parish, the restless Parson Hogue had moved on to Silverton. Still, his brief but fervent missionary tenure in Durango had laid a foundation of faith that has endured at St. Mark’s from his day to ours.

An early image of St. Mark’s church sanctuary.

St. Mark’s current building was was constructed in 1892 after the original was destroyed in the great fire of 1889.

Legend has it that Parson Hogue held services in saloons and gambling houses wearing a cassock and six shooters. (created graphic)

Fire, 1889​
Hogue’s wooden church, however, burned to the ground in Durango’s great fire of July 1, 1889. Despite financial uncertainty and the unexpected resignation of their ailing rector, members of the parish assisted in laying the cornerstone of today’s historic St Mark’s church in October 1891. Of white sandstone quarried at nearby Horse Gulch, the structure owes its lasting architectural charm to a Swedish immigrant builder “knowing good sandstone when he saw it.” The Pilcher pipe organ, installed in 1906 and considered by boosters “the finest organ west of the Mississippi,” served until 1993.

Between 1900 and 1930, a dozen priests ministered at isolated St. Mark’s, riding the challenges facing all small, western, missionary churches. Finally, a long-term rector arrived in the youthful person of the Rev. Samuel A. McPhetres. His nine-year tenure in the 1930s gave him not only time to resuscitate the congregation but also to woo and wed a parishioner.

Of even longer tenure, the Rev. Philip Hawley (1945-1964), a tough and determined missionary from Wyoming, took over at St. Mark’s as World War II ended. Hawley oversaw planning and construction of the parish hall, which rapidly became central to Durango’s community life, while his wife Shirley enlivened the music program. In gratitude for their nineteen-year ministry, the people of St. Mark’s installed a commemorative stained glass window displayed today in the parish hall he built. It was in fact during the Hawley years that St Mark’s, a mission since World War I, regained parish status for the third and final time.

Today, with the historically restored sanctuary, renovated parish hall, and splendid Schudi organ, St. Mark’s is a vital mid-sized parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, continuing to build upon the legacy of Fathers Hogue, McPhetres, and Hawley.

“Sometimes I think this is why I go to this church. It is so welcoming and cares about the community. It is not cloistered nor insular.”

​- Willie K.

Our Congregation

​Our congregation of three hundred members – one hundred thirty who are active - is an eclectic mix of cradle Episcopalians and people from many other backgrounds and faiths. We are diverse in experiences, approaches and spiritual paths, yet we seek and celebrate our fellowship as one.

Our congregation is caring and accepting. New members are quickly invited to participate in one of the many activities and ministries. The open and engaging attitude of parishioners ensures that newcomers soon feel that they belong. We are focused on expanding our mix of younger members and families, yet are mindful that a significant segment of our congregation is older and to a varying degree more traditional.

Our congregation is ecumenical and community-minded. We invite all of Durango to join us for musical performances and art shows in our historic sanctuary and parish hall. We work with the community and other churches on projects like the Manna Soup Kitchen for the hungry, the Community Thanksgiving Dinner, and ecumenical services during Lent and Advent.

Our congregation values both a spiritual and intellectual approach to God. Prayer and reflection are practiced within and beyond our scheduled services. We offer a meditation group at St. Mark’s twice a month, and several of our members also meditate regularly with a group at Christ the King ECLA Church. We have an extensive library, and, judging by the circulation, we are a church of readers. We relish a good sermon that intrigues the mind and warms the heart. We offer many ministries at St. Mark’s. Some have only a handful of people involved while others may attract thirty to fifty participants. These ministries exist because of the interest and leadership of parish members. We each participate in our own ways, but join together as one in our worship.

​And finally, we are a joyful church. We celebrate God’s love, we laugh, and we raise our voices in songs of praise and thanksgiving.

Facilities

St. Mark’s Church, with its stone exterior, bell tower, rich wood interior and traditional stained glass windows, was designed after English country churches common in the 1800s. Built in 1892, it stands on the corner of Ninth Street and East Third Avenue. It is part of the East Third Avenue Historic Residential District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The worship space seats about one hundred twenty people and houses both a pipe organ and a grand piano. The sanctuary underwent a comprehensive historical restoration in 1993.

The parish hall, added in 1957, was completely renovated in 2004, including heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical upgrades. A sound and video system was installed in 2009 to permit the use of our parish hall as overflow worship space for special occasions (e.g., large funerals), and the recording of sermons and music in the sanctuary.

​The main floor of the parish hall includes a large meeting/reception space for parish and civic functions, the rector’s office, the administrative office, our library, two restrooms, storage, and a completely equipped kitchen. A beautiful stained-glass window, commissioned for the hall, graces the southern end. The parish hall basement includes two offices, three youth classrooms, a two-room nursery, two restrooms (one with shower), and a combination library/conference room.