St Marks Family Center

Despite its rich history, St. Mark’s risks demolition due to a decade of vacancy and neglect. Your support, combined with funding already secured from federal and local resources, will help Famicos restore St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church into a beautiful space for the Glenville community. Construction plans include repairing the character and defining features of the sanctuary, rehabilitating the basement and gym as event space, renovating classrooms for community use, and creating an outdoor garden for the neighborhood to enjoy. Please reach out to marketing@famicos.org if you are interested in larger donations or naming opportunities.

Famicos has undertaken the important task of preserving St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church with plans to renovate it into an affordable, multi-purpose community center for Glenville called St Marks Family Center.

St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church was built in 1911 in Glenville’s historic East Boulevard district, bordering the Cultural Gardens and parallel to bustling E. 105th Street. Throughout its history, St. Mark’s has played a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement in Cleveland. Rev. Isaiah Pogue Jr., pastor of St. Mark’s in the 1960s, was one of the four original co-chairs of the United Freedom Movement, which challenged discriminatory labor practices and segregation of Cleveland Public Schools. In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech to hundreds of residents outside of St. Mark’s, pictured above.