The stone deteriorates more slowly than other materials, making them appear as though they could stand forever. This church has so far stood for 124 years and hopefully it is still in its infancy.
Anaconda has about a half dozen pre twentieth century churches, with this one being the only stone church. The facts that it's built of stone and happens to be on main street probably make this the most photographed church in Anaconda.
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
Anaconda grew quickly after Copper King Marcus Daly established it as his smelter town in 1883, but the community’s Episcopalians needed to wait seven years before they could lay the cornerstone for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on October 21, 1890. Before then, they had depended on priests from Deer Lodge and Butte, or on visits of Bishop Richmond Leigh Brewer from Helena. Services were held in the Methodist Episcopal Church South building and later above Foskett’s saloon. At the latter site, water for a baptism by the Rev. A. B. Howard of Deer Lodge once was supplied from downstairs, and in a beer mug. Even after having their own building, the congregation was dependent on the smelter’s fortunes, and St. Mark’s closed for some months in 1892 when the smelter was shut down. The buff sandstone for this Romanesque Revival church was quarried near Garrison. The original floor plan was that of a Latin cross except for the square entrance bell tower; and a brick one-story addition has squared off the space between transept and apse.
From the NRHP Plaque