History:

Five years before President Grant admitted Colorado into the union (1876), Episcopal services were held in the Stewart Hotel. Originally, this part of the hotel that had been built c1866, had served as a bunkhouse for workers at the sawmill across the creek (where a service station now stands). The bunkhouse is now the west section of St. Mark's House.
From this first service (October 1, 1871) a mission was formed. In 1874 St Mark's-in-the-Wilderness held their first service in the new 24' x 50' white frame church, at the present site of the Evergreen Cemetery. The Mission faltered and closed in 1883, in large part because the area had only forty adults and clergy were supplied from Golden.
In 1893 Mrs. Mary Neosha Williams started lay services in a tent on her property (now the Hiwan Homestead Museum). In 1896 her daughter, Dr. Mary Josepha Williams married Charles Winfred Douglas, a minor canon at the cathedral in Denver. That same year Dr. Jo bought the twenty-room Stewart Hotel. Jock Spence, a Master Carpenter from Scotland, was hired, and over the next decade he converted the hotel into a space suitable for a church and vicar's quarters. Slash-pine logs were applied over the gray lap siding of the hotel and a cross incorporated onto the outside of the hotel dining room, which was to become a chapel. The first service was held on Christmas Eve, 1897, but the dedication of the Mission of the Transfiguration was not until August 4, 1899. To commemorate the first mission, the building was renamed St. Mark's House.
Canon Douglas, who became a renown composer and arranger of church music (1940 Hymnal), began liturgical music classes in St. Mark's and this grew into the Evergreen Music Conference.
The Bell Tower was built in 1911 by Jock Spence. It rang for services at Transfiguration, for the Conference, and also to alert the community of emergencies.
Mrs. Williams, Dr. Jo, and Canon Douglas became major benefactors of The Mission. Our church now owns, debt free, several acres which contain sixteen buildings. Among them are St. Mark's House and Bancroft House (1918), which housed the first public library in Evergreen.
In 1957 The Mission was granted parish status and on Ash Wednesday, 1963 the first services were held in the new church building. Some of the appointments from the old Mission are still in use: The Rood Beam figures and carved Stations of the Cross (1932), the crucifix above the altar belonged to Canon Douglas, and the fine Moller organ (memorial to Canon Douglas).
All the old buildings on the campus are on the National Historic Register. In 1990 volunteers fixed up four rooms in St. Mark=s for church offices. Renovation on this historical building has begun. This will provide a larger space for parish activities, a modern kitchen, workrooms, etc.
The Columbarium in the Bell Tower garden was completed in 1997. With the completion of St. Mark's, this garden will be more accessible to the parish for outdoor social events.
Mordecai Lewis (Bud) Marsh was vicar here from 1941-1957 and later served as the first Rector until 1963. Charles Hugh Blakeslee followed as Rector in 1964 and continued until his retirement twenty years later. Robert John Bryan was Rector from 1985 to1988. Jack Stapleton was Rector from 1989 until 1997.
The Reverend Catherine Tran was called as Rector beginning November 15, 1998. A strong spiritual leader with outstanding management skills, she has brought a new vitality and direction to our religious life here at Transfiguration.
The Church of the Transfiguration celebrated its Centennial in August 1999. As we enter our second Century we can appreciate our religious heritage and the spirit that has become Transfiguration today. We look forward with renewed faith, dedication, and enthusiasm to our next hundred years.