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History
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AHUMC |
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| HISTORY
HIGHLIGHTS ... |
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What had been an old WWI hospital barracks
building became the first building for
members of the new Arlington Heights
Methodist Episcopal Church South in
1923. Forty-eight people arrived for
the first services on March 14, 1923, in
the old 30x60-foot wooden building that
the new pastor, Rev. E. H. Lightfoot,
signed a personal loan to obtain.
Obstacles
other than financial had loomed in the
path of those first worshipers. They
learned of a legal maneuver to prevent the
establishment of a church on the
property. Three civil courts turned
down the protesters' injunction sworn out
to halt the church. The courts'
rulings cleared this final obstacle so
that Arlington Heights could hold its
opening services on schedule.
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our church building in
February 1929 |
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At the close of the fifth year, membership
had grown to 548. A building
committee was established and empowered to
undertake the building of an adequate new
church. By the time pledges were
made and funds were raised to begin
building, there was a new pastor, Rev. W.
W. Ward. The decision was made to
build what was needed as it was needed,
Sunday School space being the first
priority since there were now over 700 on
Sunday School rolls.
Twenty-eight
years passed - six in the old hospital
building and 22 in the Educational
Building - when ground was broken in 1950
for the new sanctuary. In 1951 more
strides were made in progress with the
completion of the sanctuary and the bell
tower. Then the Symphonic Carillon,
the Rose Window and the Sutton Fellowship
Hall completed the church, whose
membership totaled over 1,500. The
parking lot on Hillcrest Avenue was
completed in 1967.
R. J.
LaPrade, Roy A. Langston, T. Edgar Neal,
Finis Crutchfield, S. A. Gus Barnes, Oran
Stephens, and William Lee Hankla all
served as pastors following Rev.
Ward. Dr. Clarence Sutton came in
1949 and stayed 21 years. Maggart
Howell came in 1970, followed by James
Campbell, and Henry Radde. |
THE FIRES ...
In 1982 a major fire severely damaged the
West Education Building. Repairs
would cost over $600,000. Suddenly
in October 1987, just as children were
dismissed from pre-school, another fire
broke out destroying the sanctuary.
The 700-seat sanctuary had only been
completed in 1952. Work on the
Atrium was to have been finished in
November; the 104-foot-tall spire was
spared by the fire, although the carillon
was damaged. It had been dedicated
in 1951, the first of its kind in Texas
and the third of its kind in the United
States.
Thankfully,
no one was hurt or injured in either
fire. Total structural damage,
however, amounted to $3.5 million.
The Rev. Thomas Q. Robbins saw the
membership through the recovery and
rebuilding process.
Rebuilding began almost immediately.
The Rose Window was miraculously
undamaged. Services in the totally
rebuilt sanctuary resumed in February
1989. Homer Kluck and Timothy
Walker served as pastors until Charles
McClure came in 1993. In 1995, the
hail storm to end all hail storms hit the
Fort Worth area, including our
church. Severe roof damage occurred,
but the Rose Window and other stained
glass windows escaped damage.
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| our
church building in the '90s |
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remodeling and modernizing of the East
Education Building was completed in
1992. The new Maas-Rowe Carillon was
installed after the 1987 fire.
Special memorials helped to pay for the
wonderful Schulmerich Handbells for the
Foster and Murray Bell Choirs. The
new organ, replacing the one destroyed in
the sanctuary fire was designed,
manufactured and installed by the Ross
King Co. Thirty trees, given in
memory or in honor of loved ones, were
planted around the church in 1997.
Dr. Jay Beavers was serving as senior
pastor at that time, seeing us into the
new century, followed by Dr. Jerry Chism
who came to us in 2002. |
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Over the years, from the humble beginnings of
the first 48 persons to call themselves
members of our Community of Faith, to our present membership of over 2,000,
Arlington Heights is the second largest UMC in Fort
Worth.
Great, however,
cannot be proven
by numbers, rather by the moving of the
Holy Spirit among and through the people.
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magnificent Rose Window describes
symbolic representation of the New
Testament Characters, the Twelve
Apostles, each illustrated in the
petals and around the outer rim of
the window. In the center is
shown the head of Christ. It
was fashioned after Michelangelo's
original rose window in Milan. |
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