In 1919 the congregation of St Mark’s Anglican Church, Te Aroha, resolved to erect a peace memorial church. The foundation stone of the new church was laid on 13 April 1926 (by which time it was referred to simply as a memorial church rather than as a peace memorial church). The Gothic-style stone and brick building was designed by an Auckland architect, D.B. Patterson. It was dedicated on 24 October 1926.
St Mark’s does not display a roll of honour, although there are plaques inside in memory of M.J. Milliken and Alan Gordon, who died in the First World War, and G.S. Bygrave, who died in the Second.
The old St Mark’s church building was moved to Waihou, south of Te Aroha, where it was reopened as the Waihou memorial church.
Sources: ‘Te Aroha Peace Memorial Church’, NZ Herald, 5/9/1919, p. 5; ‘Memorial Church Building at Te Aroha’, NZ Herald, 15/4/1926, p. 13; ‘New Anglican Church Consecrated at Te Aroha’, Auckland Star, 22/10/1926, p. 8; C. Kingsley-Smith, This is Te Aroha, 1981, p. 54; St Mark’s Anglican Church, Te Aroha: 75th Anniversary, Hamilton, 2001, pp. 5-6.
Images and information: Bruce Ringer, Auckland Libraries, 2014