St. Mark's Episcopal Church

This is on my way home from seeing the Audubon Print Exhibit at the Art Museum (no photos allowed, naturally), and as you can see, it started to rain. Stopped at a red light, I give you this church. Regardless of your beliefs, this is an exquisite building with some historical significance.

Back in the 1800s, the Grand River had an 18 foot drop that stretched over a mile through what is now downtown. This became quite inconvenient with the growth of manufacturing and river traffic.

A series of canals was built to shift the river's course, and the industrious citizens of Grand Rapids hauled away the limestone beneath the rapids for building material. The rapids were obliterated, but the city name remained :)

There are two buildings still standing that were built with this limestone, and St. Mark's Church is one of them (the other is a house). The Church, built in 1848, also claims to be the oldest public building still in existence in Grand Rapids. Someday I will take a proper image :)