Mark’s were held in Mendham in 1867, officiated by the rector of St. Peter’s Church in Morristown, the Rev. Robert W. Merritt. At that time Mendham was largely a summer colony for city dwellers vacationing near the hill-country lakes. The fledgling congregation met in various locations, frequently in the rooms of Mrs. Dodd’s school, a building that stood on the site of the present church. In 1870,
The Rev. Edward Boggess, a circuit-riding priest, began renting the schoolrooms for church use. In 1871, an assisting theological student, Ethelbert Talbot, arranged for the school building to be moved to the adjoining lot, freeing the original site for our first church building. The school later became the
town library and is now part of our parish hall. The first St. Mark’s Church was built in 1872, from original plans used fifty years earlier for the construction of Grace Church in Jersey City. Mark’s Church is wood-framed in the Carpenter-Gothic style typical of the period, with board-and batten siding, simple but elegant leaded glass windows, and a quaint belfry—a small, boxy cupola rather than a steeple. For the most part the original church has been preserved, including the original windows. The church has, however, been altered and enlarged from time to time. In 1926 the larger stained glass windows were added, incorporated well into the building. At Christmastide of 1944, the church and sacristy were damaged by fire. In the subsequent repairs rows of small dormer roof windows and a characteristic trim of gold stenciling on the interior sanctuary walls were lost. In the 1970’s both the
nave and the sanctuary were enlarged by lengthening the structure. An arched-groin chancel heightened the space above the altar, two sacristies were added, and the Lady Chapel was repositioned. Mark’s was a summer-only church, a mission of the Diocese of Newark, until 1908, and continued after that as a mission of the Diocese. On December 7, 1956, under the leadership of Father Elwood Boggess, St. Mark’s became a parish church of the Diocese of Newark. The silver sanctuary lamp holder, located next to the reserve sacraments behind the altar, was given in memory of Fr. Boggess, in
gratitude for his ministry at St. Mark’s. The Rev. Philip S. Watters began his ministry here in 1963, and in 1975 began improvements to the buildings, including the enlargement of the nave and sanctuary. The parish continued to grow under the leadership of The Rev. Carr Holland (1986-1995), and during the tenure of The Rev. Scott Hoogerhyde, our most recent rector, a major renovation of the parish hall took place allowing space for St. Mark’s preschool and Sunday school.
