Wyoming's oldest Episcopal parish, an 1888 Gothic Revival landmark in downtown Cheyenne whose bell tower carries a century-old legend of a stonemason said to be entombed within its walls.
1908 Central Avenue, Cheyenne, WY 82001
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to visit during open hours and services; the congregation welcomes visitors. The bell tower itself is closed to the public for safety reasons.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved sidewalks downtown; historic stone church with level main entry
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1888 · National Register of Historic Places (1970) · Oldest Episcopal parish in Wyoming · Gothic Revival architecture by Henry M. Congdon · Cheyenne cattle-boom-era landmark
St. Mark's Episcopal Church traces its parish origins to 1868, the year after Cheyenne sprang up as an end-of-track railroad town, making it the oldest Episcopal congregation in what would become the State of Wyoming. The parish acquired lots at the corner of 19th Street and Central Avenue in 1885, during the cattle-boom prosperity that followed Cheyenne's lean early years.
The present church was designed by New York architect Henry M. Congdon in an Old English Gothic Revival style, reportedly inspired by the medieval parish church at Stoke Poges, England, immortalized in Thomas Gray's 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.' Construction proceeded between 1886 and 1888, and the first services were held in the new stone building on August 19, 1888.
The distinctive bell tower was not finished with the original construction. According to parish history, work on the tower stalled for decades, and the upper portion was not completed until the late 1920s, when roughly sixty feet were added and bells were installed rather than a steeple. The unfinished tower and its long, troubled construction are the seedbed of the church's enduring legend.
St. Mark's was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and remains an active parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming. In 2018 the congregation marked 150 years of continuous worship. Long-serving clergy include Rector Eugene Todd, who led the parish for more than two decades beginning in the mid-1960s, and later Rector Rick Veit, who served from 2005. The building continues to function as a place of worship and a downtown architectural landmark.
Sources
The best-known legend of St. Mark's centers on the long-delayed bell tower. According to the story recounted by Cowboy State Daily and Cheyenne's WyomingNews, two Swedish immigrant stonemasons were hired to build the tower because they possessed masonry skills then scarce on the frontier. One of the men is said to have lost his footing and fallen to his death inside the tower. Fearing he would be blamed or deported, the surviving mason allegedly sealed his companion's body into an unfinished section of the wall and left town, reportedly traveling as far as South America.
The tale, as told locally, holds that the truth surfaced only by deathbed confession: an elderly man summoned a priest and admitted to having walled up his fellow worker decades earlier. Accounts attach this confession to Rector Eugene Todd, who is said to have received it around 1966, early in his tenure at the parish. The names of the two stonemasons are not recorded in any source, and the church itself has historically treated the story as folklore rather than documented fact.
Reported phenomena attributed to the legend include whispered voices and unexplained noises heard by workers, faint pipe organ music in a building where the original organ was long ago removed, and bells said to ring on their own. The slim windows partway up the tower are pointed to by storytellers as marking the small chamber associated with the entombed mason.
It is worth noting that the parish presents itself as a place 'filled with love and light,' and that documented church history does not record any construction fatality. The legend is best understood as one of Wyoming's most durable ghost stories, repeated by regional newspapers and ghost-tour writers, rather than as a verified historical event. According to Cowboy State Daily and local reporting, it remains the church's most retold tale each Halloween.
Notable Entities
Attend a service or stop by the active parish to admire the Gothic Revival stonework and the bell tower at the heart of Cheyenne's most enduring ghost legend. The tower interior is sealed for safety, but the exterior and sanctuary are open to respectful visitors.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Cheyenne, WY
When the railroad reached Cheyenne in the late 1800s, a network of underground tunnels and service passages was built connecting the depot with several downtown buildings. The passages have long been closed to the public, and officials discourage exploration due to asbestos used in their construction. Rumors that they reach the Wyoming State Capitol remain unverified.
Casper, WY
Built in 1923 by businessman Charles H. Townsend and designed by Garbutt, Weidner & Sweeney, the five-story Townsend Hotel was Casper's premier hotel and a hub of its early social and political life. Closed in 1982 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, it was purchased by Natrona County, renovated in 2008-2009, and reopened as the Townsend Justice Center.
Lewiston, ID
The Anne Bollinger Performing Arts Center in Lewiston, Idaho was built in 1907 for the First Methodist Episcopal Church. The Lewiston Civic Theatre occupied the sandstone building from 1972 until it was condemned in 2016 following a roof truss failure. A private buyer acquired it in 2024 with plans to restore it as a community event space.