|
History of St. Mark's
The amber light was slanting down from the second floor window. The sounds of carriages passing by along Upland’s Second Avenue could be heard. It was a warm August evening and the few who were gathered in that upper room reflected on the events of the day during which a small group of churchgoers drew up a petition seeking permission to form a new Episcopal parish.
That was in 1909, and the meeting place was a second story hall above the Commercial National Bank at the southeast corner of Ninth Street and Second Avenue. Upland’s population was barely 3,000. The little town’s commercial section, criss-crossed by dusty streets, was surrounded by hundreds of 10-acre citrus groves laid out 25 years earlier.
Less than five months following that historic meeting in the bank building the Los Angeles Diocese approved the petition and the new parish was formed. The first vestry met on April 25, 1910, for the purpose of, among other things, naming the new church. Parish historians have noted that the founders were so moved by the collect of the day that they decided to name their new church St. Mark’s.
The collect was: “O, Almighty God, who hast instructed the Holy Church with the heavenly doctrine of thy evangelist St. Mark: Give us grace that, being not like children carried away by every blast of vain doctrine, we may be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel.”
Prior to the founding of St. Mark’s, all Episcopalians in the region attended Christ Church which was established as a mission in 1889 and became a parish in 1896. This posed a geographical problem for most Uplanders. Christ Church in Ontario was located some three miles down Euclid Avenue. This seems a short distance today, but in 1909 with automobiles still a possession of but a few, and public transportation neither frequent nor reliable, it loomed much larger.
However, the main reason that the people of Upland sought to build their own Episcopal parish can be summed up in the collect of the day that helped them to name the church. The founders sought a more traditional and simplistic means of worship over the high church practices of Christ Church.
The date of the first services for parishioners of the new parish cannot be documented, but historians believe that it took place sometime between August 29, 1909 and January 2, 1910, when Bishop Johnson granted the request for formation of the new parish. It is known that the first services were conducted in the Commercial National Bank’s second story hall.
The Rev. Joseph P. McConnell was the first rector. He was elected to that post in March, 1910. At that time there were 75 individuals registered in the parish. In May, 1910, the rector and vestry proclaimed a new church building would be constructed at the northeast corner of “F” Street and Euclid Avenue. The new church was completed in less than a year and the first services were conducted in the small wooden structure June 11, 1911.
Following the founding of the parish and its days of construction and expansion the church fell into a steady pace of tranquil growth. In 1920 the Rev. Bert Foster became rector and served in that capacity for the next 16 years. He was regarded as something of a community institution with one church historian saying that he earned the title of “The Rector of Upland.” Under Rev. Foster’s care the church grew to include a Parish Hall and a Rectory.
By 1963 the parish had outgrown the small wooden church on “F” street. Without room to expand on the current land the parish decided to move to a much larger site on Sixteenth Street. The church remains there to this day. Upon enlarging the church, St. Mark’s also built a new rectory, a preschool and school for grades K-8.
In the late 1980s St. Mark’s started the Foothill Family shelter, which helps the homeless families of Upland to have a fresh start. St. Mark’s has also contributed to the aid of our sister church in Haiti with parishioners donating their money and time to personally fly to Haiti in hopes of making a difference.
As St. Mark’s approaches its centennial celebration its family of parishioners can look back fondly on just how far this parish has come. What started out as an idea in the second story hall of a bank has become a well-developed community of understanding and faith. St. Mark’s has grown into a spiritual home of acceptance and love over the last 100 years and will continue to evolve and flourish in the next 100.
|
