History

In 1842, the African American worshippers of Provident Church of Harmans, Maryland obtained permission from Mr. and Mrs. Gambrills to hold church meetings in a barn located on their farm in Hanover, Maryland.  In 1844, the Gambrills donated the land the barn was located on for the construction of a church, located off Ridge Road.    

 

The people themselves erected the first church, a wooden cabin called Gambrills' Church after the family who had given the land.  In October 1864, Gambrills' Church became one of the founding churches of the all African American Washington Annual Conference, Patapsco Circuit.  In 1866, the members of the Forest Grove Methodist Church, as Gambrills' Church was formerly known, were inspired to erect a new building on the original church site.  A new church structure was erected on the same site in 1900.  This building underwent extensive remodeling to accommodate a growing church family in 1926.  With this new facility came a new designation, St. Mark Methodist Episcopal Church.

 

In 1955, St. Mark Church purchased the old Harmans School building on Dorsey Road.  In June 1966, St. Mark became an integral part of the Baltimore Annual Conference, which was newly integrated to include both historically black and white Methodist churches.  Due to the rapid growth of the church and relocation of its parishioners away from the Ridge Road location, the old school building was torn down and groundbreaking services for a new edifice for the St. Mark congregation began in 1967.

 

The first services in St. Mark's current home, featuring its distinctive A-shaped sanctuary, were held in October 1968.  In addition, in 1968, due to a merger between the Methodist Church and the United Evangelical Brethren, St. Mark became St. Mark United Methodist Church.  The St. Mark United Methodist Church is proud of its 159 years of worshipping as a family and community church.