St. Mark's Church, Frankford has historical significance because:

1. the work the church has undertaken to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in the community, the city, and the world beyond;
2. its longevity
3. the beauty of its physical structure; and
4. its membership and some of their specific ministries over the years.

St. Mark’s Church, Frankford is an active Episcopal Church in the lower northeast Philadelphia with deep roots in the community and a storied history. The church was planted along traditional lines during an intense period of evangelical mission work in the 1830s (1832) through the mission of Christian evangelists. 

The church is noteworthy because of important members:

1. William Welsh, an 19th century merchant who personally funded several church plants, was a member of President Grant’s Indian Affairs Bureau, and conceived the idea and implemented the Lay Cooperation of Ministry which attempted to take ministry out of the hands of the clergy and place it, rightly, in the hands of all the baptized. The Lay Cooperation of ministry was implemented across the United States;
2. James Ashworth, a decorated Union Army officer who raised a company from the men of St. Mark’s and was himself wounded four times during the Civil War;
3. Thomas Creighton, an important Hudson River School artist and vestryman; and of course,
4. Frank Rushmore Watson, vestryman, church musician, historian, and church architect, who designed churches up and down the eastern seaboard. Watson was a member of our church; he and the Rev. John Harding, then rector designed our vertical gothic church. 

The church building is also important because of the very structure itself.  It is a vertical Gothic church building, built for 1000 worshippers and to become the Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.  It is constructed of an outer layer of Port Deposit Granite and a liner built from 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 by church members. 

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.

There are specific records of Episcopal missions in Frankford that go back as far as 1709. In each case schools were reported, but it wasn’t until 1816 that the Reverend George Sheets, Rector of Trinity Church, Oxford in Oxford Township was given authority in Frankford and Holmesburg and the church was birthed among the people of these growing, though still largely rural communities.