Pioneer Church of Wyoming

—A National Historic Place —

Finding "the wickedness unimaginable and appalling," the Rev. Joseph Cook organized St. Mark's Parish Jan. 27, 1868, in Cheyenne, Dakota Territory, then a railroad winter camp. The first church at 18th and Carey Avenue was dedicated in August 1868 and was the first church building erected and dedicated in Wyoming.
This present edifice was constructed in 1886 and was patterned after Stoke Poges Church, Buckinghamshire, England.
The ministry of St. Mark's is historically linked with the settling and development of the frontier west. The church register records the burial service of a cavalryman killed by Indians, the wedding of an acting governor, and use of the Parish Hall as a social and cultural center.
The Rev. George Rafter, Rector, was asked to "pray over" Tom Horn during his public hanging in November 1903.
In August 1915, the wife and three children of General John J. Pershing were buried with solemn military rites from this church. They lost their lives in a tragic fire at the Presidio, San Francisco. Hundreds of cavalry troops from Fort D.A. Russell participated in the burial procession.
On Sunday Oct. 11, 1936, President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt worshipped here.

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Show me all markers in:  Cheyenne, WY  |  Laramie County  |  82001  |  Wyoming  |  United States of America

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