St. Mark's United Methodist Church

St. Mark's United Methodist Church. 1890 - Today. , Throughout its history, St. Mark's has been a focal point of the Grove where residents would gather for community meetings, prayer, and activities such as the Emancipation Proclamation Celebration established in 1902, Laurel's longest running community events. The church participated in advocacy throughout the civil rights movement including organizing buses to the March on Washington in 1963., St. Mark's was founded in 1890 as the St. Marks Methodist Episcopal Church and the church here was constructed in 1923. In 1939, the church became St. Mark's Methodist Church upon the merger of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Methodist Protestant Church. In 1968, it became St. Mark's United Methodist Church upon the merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical Union Brethren., St. Mark's importance to Laurel's Black community also made it the target of the local Ku Klux Klan. Over Easter weekend in 1967, a Klan member burned three crosses in Laurel, and left a fourth cross unlit outside St. Mark's. Tensions reached a fever pitch on July 10, 1967, when a group of KKK initiates attempted to set St. Mark's ablaze., Realizing the cement block church would not readily burn, they attempted to set fire to a nearby residence, which was quickly put out., Nine days later, Rev. John E. Evans and Grove community leaders met with Mayor Merrill Harrison at the church's community hall. Residents requested improvements to the Grove and the integration of Laurel's pool, which was eventually integrated in 1968., To learn more about the effort to desegregate Laurel Pool, visit the sign outside the pool at 901 Main Street (0.6 mile walk)