Hide Article Text (OCR)
.....n#*tl.4l;: ...r 1 - ■ W I x I t 4 ,4 Jf . . k - r I► •i - v m • ■ ■ I hpr'....i:!!!«;il«| a?m«f H?=f?i nm?=: ?!: s? ^■ •VVf«#t. •«rvP|.| 4 4 4 1 .,. . r I . ......I lt;f.#*. f ' ...........M » 4 f k ■ r 4 4♦'MO*•#«lt;« - ■ P- 4 • » • V100 Years of Grand Prairie History%Jr . ., . ai,...l«l,,.,,,M,...... «. .. M. mh*i i«i !•*lt; n m iiiim ilt; i« ....... in....... ...... .............•'*' 1 ............... ■ - •• . . .alli.«1a|4ialt;*#4«rO■ - - - • - • - • - TTTTrr « ■ * x ■I • ‘ a--. - - - * w . m s« • - * • '*♦♦ 4»OOilkMlai4,|rO.»i4 M1#i lt;• ♦J • • rlt; 4 I 4♦ ' * * 1 «•*••*» 4 4 • a lt;a 4 U « 4 r4 •• • t . a pA**J*'«Ai4-aa*B4(11(441 4 4 4 ia4k(IB(k !««■ » / •r‘4r//»»/y v a • • . . tl• I 4 4 4«(*a«ar i !*■• |B«i « 4 a . • 4 « 4•M'MOOk.,...... , . 4 4x k-%# - r| ...■.......... • - a..............Il.ll:: r(Continued from Page 1)a new church was to be erected. The pastor introducedcw?J- Hight who broke the first ground for the newbuilding.B^?9re Hie year 1929 ended the construction of the base-member the-new Baptist Church building was completed;it vya*Oji tgi basement the members held their worship services frrrttrtrnext ten years.Among the ministers during this time were Hulon Coffman, L. I, Fagan, and H, H, Bridges who was followed by'Dr, W. H. McKenzie. By the close of 1940. during Dr. W. H, McKenzie's pastorate, the construction of two floors of*the Baptist Church had been completed. At that time the churchroll showed a few less than one-thousand members in the Church.In 191s Reverend Clardy became the pastor of the Presbyterian, Church which had a membership of eighty. In 1919 the; congregation bought three lots on the corner of Church ancC Northeast Second Streets, where construction was begun on Za nw.\ church building. After the basement had been dug ancf ihe foundation had been constructed the building contractor abslt; ndcd with the building funds, Because of this indebtedness there followed a period of years in which very little though: could be devoted to finishing the building program. Through the efforts of W* P. Roberts, who was the pastor pi this church in 1923 and 1924, the debts were cleared by so 111r.c o:ie ut the lots owned by the church.Reverend Roberts was recalled to serve this church in 1928and NT* .mi again in 1937. He_died one month after returningin I'M . Reverend Roberts was a popular and well loved pastor in the community, where he was often called upon tocorjluc* funervjJL^fur aB denominations. Reverend J, M. DickeySU^eedc,l«yr beTtS.. as' the postor of the Presbyterian Churchanofchy N4fl the membership was approximately 150.In 1912 G. W. Quinn and John P. Newman rented a hall fromW. I. Britton and began a Pentecostal meeting. From thisplace of assembly the small congregation moved to one ofthe Morton Buildings on Main Street. The church then pui-chased a tent in which services were held for several months.This small group next purchased a lot on which they builta tabernacle at Dallas and Third Streets, In 1922, throughthe efforts of C. M. Ward, a permanent church was foundedwhich was known as the Assembly of God Church. Ths firsiminister of the church was Monroe Clemens. In 1940 thischurch has seven members.ID the early 1920‘s the Church of Christ was located across the7streel and directly east of the present (1953) Grand prairie ScHool Administration Building, The church membership was very small when the church'was located at this site. After the loss of two strong leaders the churqhwas soon disorganized.The Church of Christ was reorganised in 1938. After attending a summer revival that had been conducted in a tent tne eleven members rented a vacant building for a place to worship. The first minister of* this reorganized church group was a student who was attending Abilene Christian College; soon afterward, however, a minister from Dallas pastorec the church. Members of the Sunset Church of Christ of Oak Ciiff helped the church by visiting the services and making small contributions. By 1940 there was a membership oj about rhirty-seven.T»here is conflicting information as to the exact date oi the*, erect ion of the First Christian Church building in GrandPr|irie. Till-: GRAND PRAIRIE TEXAN issue of June 18, 1909, stated that this church group was still meeting in the Town°n. r ?a?0, Another issue of this paper, October 3,uit l reported in an article, containing the history of the fan! chJ’lstlan Church, that the ‘ sanctuary was erected innf rh^Vi ^^runer ofchurehand Hall Streets. The membership of the First Christian Church in 1940 was near one hundred.Few changes m the building were made until the ministry ofD n Morgan, in 1937, when two classrooms were added to the front of the sanctuary.The first services for about twenty people of the Catholic faith were held in the home of Hugh Cowdin in 1914, Eventually a movement was begun to establish a church, andi r°IJ®]1 J? £enci-'osity of the late S, A. Mcllhenny two lots, located at Da 1 wo it h and Sixth Streets, were purchased.Af iQoC°Atru,ction, of tllL‘ clllirch building began in the fall9n ^arcd 10, 1918, c. J. McCarthy conducted thecm- ln, xthe new sanctuary o£ the Catholic Church.Mom 1)18 to 1941 the number of members of this church was about fifty.At the close of World War I the school plant of Grand9ir?u/e, ]!icl1lI,ded an ^ht room brick building, located at -14 West College Street, and a negro school southwest of town.J« A, Wrutener, Mr. Platt, and J. A, Summerhili were superintendents of schools from 1915 until 1919. High School classes were conducted on the second floor of the building and the elementary grades were taught oh’ tffe first floor. lTLApril 1919, the superintendent made application for fifteen affiliated units; however the application was not approved since the school term was only seven months. AverageEARLY CAR . . .. . , Was an Overland owned by the late Dr. J.E, Payneand driven by L.M. Pittman,rSTEADY GROWTH OVER THE becan one.rarion vmh ' Founder of the flour Is hint?k l r r k k x x xk . k 4 4 k . . a4l| ... ( 9 • 4 k r • 4 • VPS B • • 4 4»« daily attendance of the school system for the term 19.19-1920 was 518, In 1920 the superintendent appealed to the community for more money for school operation. This appeal was attacked by the editor of THE GRAND PRAIRIE TEXAN, Fred Kreiger. In his editorial Mr. Kreiger stated that the reason railroad “section hands” received more pay than school teachers was that railroad workers contributed more to the community. In 1919 the average salary of a teacher in the Grand Prairie system was $71.50 per month.On October 29, 1920, the enrollment was over six hundred • including the white and negro schools. On July 6, 1921, Mr. Hutcheson, superintendent of the Grand Prairie schools, received a letter from the State Department of Education giving an official notice of approval for state affiliation of the following subjects; English and Latin, two units each; ancient history, modern history, and general science, one unit each; and American History, onc-haif unit. Pupil enrollment at the beginning of the 19J 1 - 1922 school year was still below six hundred. There were sixteen members in the1922 graduation class.On June 27, 1922, the school board president, G. [[. Turner, received a letter from the state superintendent, Miss Anne Webb Blanton, stating that nine additional units had been approved for affiliation making a total of sixteen accredited units. Excluding the Negro school, the 1922-1923 enrollment was 530. There were fifteen graduates.On December 23, 1923, notice was given of an election to be held January 26, 1924, on a $20,000 school bond issue. The results of this election revealed one hundred votes for and forty-nine against, the bond issue. At this time property in the school district was valued at $ 1,040,423.B. M. Hudspeth was superintendent of schools in 1924 when the school board awarded a $20,000 building contract. The contract called for the erection of n tv.■•-so.rv additior to the already constructed plant. The addition included five classrooms, modern sanitary toilets, and shower baths foi the athletic classes.The size of the graduating classes remained fairly constant for several years as is shown by the following statistics: *1925, twenty-five graduates; 1926, twenty-five. .1927. twenty-seven;. .1929, sixteen; and 1921, twenty-eight. School enrollment also remained rather constant during this period, as the enrollment in 1931 was 523.In 1924 the parent-Teacher Associ.it ion of Grand Prairie showed its concern about the welfare *f the lt;bildrcn when parents began serving lunches at the svhonl. a menu of one of the lunches listed hot chili, snmiwh. h*.-s. pit., doughnuts,nuts, milk, fruit, and candy.On January 18, 1932. the school board paid the remaining five-thousand dollars on the 1905 bond; on jannarv 10, 1933, refunding bonds were issued to the amount of twontv-thousand dollars in order to redeem the bonds votes in N24.In 1935 L. A. Roberts began his third yeai as superintendent of the Grand Prairie Schools. It was during this* year that the local school board selected a Cin.u-iM AdvisoryvCommittee to survey facilities of the school system ami to make recommendations to the school board m accordance with its findings. The Citizens' Advisory Committee reported the following needs; (i) a new fuur-room grade school located in the south section of town; (2) tin. complete remodeling of the high school building; (3) and a larger auditorium, more conveniently arranged and better adapted for genera) use. As a result of this report the school Nurd forwarded to the Public Works Administration an application which(Continued on Page 4)
Newspaper Details
Grand Prairie News Texan
Grand Prairie, Texas, US
Sun, May 26, 1963
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
James B.
TX, USA 27 Oct 2021
Other Publications Near Grand Prairie, Texas
Grand Prairie Texan
Grand Prairie Daily News Texan
Grand Prairie News Texan
Grand Prairie Daily News
