In November 1872, the cornerstone for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church was laid on Locust Street in Johnstown Borough. The building was completed in 1874 and a rectory was built nearby within a few years. Both were destroyed on May 31, 1889 in the Great Johnstown Flood. The rector, Alonzo Potter Diller, and his wife, Mrs. Marion Diller, and their children perished in this disaster along with almost half of the congregation. On October 1890 the cornerstone of the current church building was laid at the same site. On May 31, 1891, Bishop Whitehead presided at its consecration. The reredos is inscribed with a quote from the Song of Solomon, “Many Water Cannot Quench Love”. This has been the motto of St. Marks which has survived and recovered from two more major floods (1936 & 1977).
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