Friday, November 11, 2005

St. Mark's Church

This is the church in my hometown. I grew up near there, and it is a pretty big deal. I can see it from my parents' house, which is about 4 miles away. There's an interesting story behind the church.

There was a watch factory that opened in Wichita around the turn of the century that was made from big stone blocks. Business wasn't very good, so the factory closed down, and the people from the town purchased the stone from the factory, and carted it from downtown Wichita to St. Mark's, which is a LONG way, if you're going on a horse drawn wagon, and have to cross a creek. It took them pretty much all day to make a single trip.

I don't remember how long it took them to finish, but suffice it to say it was a long time. The church is close to 100 years old now. I don't know if there's anyone alive who saw it built. It seems pretty amazing to me that it's lasted that long, but probably because we live in a disposable society. Wal Mart's go up and are torn down in under 10 years. Seeing St Mark's Church makes me think of Europe. It seems that buildings there are built to last, and people expect them to.

It would be nice if we had some level of continuity about our architecture. Maybe it's part of what makes America, well, America. That things should be cheap, and functional, rather than enduring, and beautiful. At least architecture anyway. I'll post some pictures of the law school sometime to drive the point home. Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw your site and enjoyed seeing a picture of St. Mark's. I also was a member of the parish over 20 years but then got married in the church and moved away. I was born and raised there. My father was a farmer and we always went to Mass there on Sundays. I currently live in St. Louis but my Mother still lives on the farm that is located on 21st street. Well good luck.

dn said...

So I'm in bed, waiting to get sleepy, browsing Kansas' Blogger profiles, when I see Brad Fucking Raple's name pop up. We, like, totally rode on the same bus to St. Mark's. Crazy.