Legacy Web Site for

History

Trinity Presbyterian Church

Wynnewood Presbyterian Church

Iglesia Presbiteriana Emmanuel

Trinity Presbyterian Church

Trinity Presbyterian Church was established in Oak Cliff in 1890, but was predated by a Sunday school class that met for almost a year. The Rev. Daniel Malloy took the lead in organizing the congregation -- originally called Oak Cliff Cumberland Presbyterian Church -- at a location in the "old section" of Oak Cliff -- on Lancaster between Jefferson and Twelfth.  Under the next pastor, the Rev. W. G. Templeton, two lots were purchased at the corner of Tenth and Cumberland, where a white frame building was erected in 1895.  When two branches of the Presbyterian church merged in 1906, the congregation was renamed Trinity Presbyterian Church.  The Rev. Glenn Sneed arrived in 1907 and served as pastor for twenty-three years.  This pattern of long pastorates was repeated in the subsequent ministries of Dr. Jasper Manton, Rev. Wallace Faris, and Rev. David Pittenger.

Under Rev. Sneed, the church reached its numerical high of over 800 members and built an impressive sanctuary on the site at Tenth and Cumberland, and later added an educational wing. During Dr. Manton's ministry the church experienced the difficult straits of the Depression and suffered the loss of the church building.  The congregation persisted by worshipping for a time in local schools, eventually purchasing in 1944 the site on North Zang Blvd., between Fifth and Sixth, occupied by the three-story Zang Mansion.  During World War II, Dr. Manton and the leaders of the church formulated an elaborate building plan for a sanctuary, complete with campanile, and educational building, but their dreams were never fulfilled. (for the story, see "A New Tower for the Skyline of Dallas.")

The present sanctuary was built in 1950 and the educational wing was added on the south side in 1959. Trinity celebrated its Centennial year in 1990, during the pastorate of Rev. Trey Hammond, with several special events and actions. An anthem (with text by Tom Manton) was commissioned from the composer Jane Marshall; a commemorative plaque from the Texas Historical Society was dedicated on January 21; and an oral history of Trinity church was compiled and edited by Sarah Perkins. Centennial Sunday -- August 28th -- was celebrated with the President of Austin Theological Seminary, Dr. Jack Stotts, as the honored speaker. A major element of the Centennial celebration was the renovation of the fellowship hall and the sanctuary, including the installation of stained glass windows and a hand carved chancel cross.  For more information and photographs, see Windows.

Wynnewood Presbyterian Church

The Wynnewood congregation merged with the Trinity congregation in 1991.  The leaders and members of both congregations came to the realization that the communities surrounding both churches had changed dramatically over the past few decades.  Through their mutual discussions, the vision emerged for merging the two congregations, with the Trinity site to serve as the center of worship and education, while the Wynnewood site -- located at Illinois and Vernon on the west side of the Wynnewood Village shopping center -- would serve as a community mission site. The Wynnewood congregation had been established on November 21, 1948 in an area of Oak Cliff that was booming during the post-World War II period.  The organizing pastor, Rev. Daniel Baker, served the congregation until 1958.  At the outset, the congregation met in a small construction warehouse, but that was soon  replaced with a chapel and educational building -- dedicated on march 4, 1951 -- on property donated by the Toddie Lee Wynne family, in conjunction with the Presbytery Extension Committee.  The congregation grew rapidly and passed the 750 member mark in 1954.  The second pastor at Wynnewood was Rev. Edwin Wathall.  With the continuing growth in membership, a new sanctuary designed for 450 persons was dedicated in April 1963. Rev. Wathall was succeeded by Rev. William Long, who served as pastor for five years, and then was replaced by Rev. Barry Kiger, who served for some thirteen years.  The congregation paid for its mortgage in 1978 and then sold a portion of its property to what was then the Wynnewood National Bank.  Throughout its more than forty plus years of ministry, Wynnewood had a full range of programs and was involved in community work with the Boy Scouts, the DCW Montessori School, and LIFT classes for adult literacy.  With the merger, the assets of the Wynnewood congregation were used to provide a generous gift to the Grace Presbyterian Village Caring Fund and to sustain the operating expenses of the Wynnewood facility.  By the 1990s, Head Start was the primary Monday-Friday tenant in the Wynnewood building, while on Sundays the Iglesia Presbiteriana Emmanuel held its worship services there for several years.  The Wynnewood building and property was sold (to a charter school) in 2002.

Iglesia Presbiteriana Emmanuel

This Hispanic congregation, organized under the leadership of Daniel Alatorre,  met for a time at Trinity but soon moved on to other premises.  Later, under the leadership of Rev. Horacio Quiroz, Emmanuel rented spaced at the Wynnewood center (at Illinois and Vernon) where it held worship services for several years. In 2000, when Trinity announced that it hoped to sell the aging facility at Wynnewood, the Emmanuel congregation moved to Irving, where it nested with First Presbyterian Church for two years.  In the fall 2002, soon after Rev. Quiroz had accepted a call to do ministry with the growing Hispanic population in Arkansas, the Emmanuel congregation was forced to leave Irving, because the leaders of First of Irving were considering selling their building.  After a careful search process, Emmanuel returned to Trinity, with their first worship service on January 5, 2003. Emmanuel offers Spanish-language worship services at 12:30 p.m. every Sunday, with church school at 11:00.  For details of the Emmanuel congregation's worship schedule, see Worship Services and Calendar.