La Prada Drive Church of Christ
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This congregation first met in members' homes at the end of the 19th century. In 1907 three trustees of the church -- Chester Williams, G. M. Purcell, and Claude Hocker -- purchased property near what would become Fair Park. An existing white frame building was used for 47 years, with the name of the church changing in accordance with street name changes. Members helped form the Ewing Avenue Church of Christ in Oak Cliff in 1949. Moving to a new site on Bruton Road in 1954, the congregation contributed their money, time, and talents to construct a red brick sanctuary, which served for many years. By the 1970s many members had moved to the northeast Dallas suburbs. In 1976 elders purchased more than four acres of land on La Prada Drive. Due to the rapid sale of the Bruton Road facility, services were held in a Mesquite school until a new church building was completed in December 1979. In keeping with the traditions of its founders, the church is guided by elders and deacons; male members do all speaking and teaching. There is no Sunday School. Singing without instruments is practiced. The congregation is active in foreign and domestic missionary service and community outreach. (1998)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This Church of Christ congregation began meeting in members' homes at the close of the 19th century and in 1907 bought property near what became Fair Park, worshipping in a white frame building for decades as street names—and its own name—changed around it. It helped found a sister congregation in Oak Cliff in 1949, relocated to Bruton Road in 1954, and followed its members to northeast Dallas, dedicating a new building on La Prada Drive in 1979. It preserves the Restoration Movement traditions of elder-led governance and a cappella singing.
Why it matters
Its moves trace both the growth of the Restoration Movement in Texas and the postwar suburbanization that reshaped American cities.
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Themes & tags
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