Our Church History

Groundbreaking of NorthPark Presbyterian Church, 1962

We trace our heritage to 1850 and a Cumberland Presbyterian minister named Daniel G. Malloy who preached wherever he could in Dallas and the surrounding area. From this beginning the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized in 1867 by thirteen charter members who met in the courthouse with Rev. A. J. Haynes as their pastor. The wooden church they erected near the Trinity River and Pacific Avenue in 1868 is cited by The History of Texas as the first Presbyterian church and the second house of worship built in Dallas. By 1880 the congregation had moved, along with its new building, to a new site on Harwood Street, between Bryan and Live Oak, the suburbs of the time.

By 1897 the congregation began construction of a red brick church nearby, at the corner of Harwood and Commerce Streets, taking occupancy in January of the following year. From this building, they hosted the Cumberland General Assembly meeting in 1904 at which reunion with the Presbyterian Church USA was debated and approved, leading in 1906 to the congregation's name change to Central Presbyterian Church.

On Thanksgiving Day in 1915 ground was broken at Patterson and Akard Streets for our third church, intended by its large size, facilities, and downtown location as both a house of worship and a benefit for the whole community, which at the time had no public halls for lectures, concerts, or recreation. The City Temple of the Central Presbyterian Church was dedicated in 1917, and the congregation shortly dropped all but City Temple from its name.

Our fourth church, at Park Lane and North Central Expressway, was constructed in 1962 and dedicated in March, 1963. In order to better reflect the new location, the name was changed in 1966 to NorthPark United Presbyterian Church, and following denominational reunion in 1983, to NorthPark Presbyterian Church, (PCUSA).

We celebrated groundbreaking for our current building in December, 1989, and dedicated its cornerstone one year later.

In 2010 NorthPark conducted a capital campaign for the purpose of updating our current building. The church now features a new narthex, new youth lounge, and more accessible handicap parking. An important part of the capital campaign also funded the construction of a new eye clinic in Tumutumu, Kenya and launched a new project in the Vickery Meadow area of Dallas to help prevent homelessness.

In 2017 NorthPark will celebrate its 150th anniversary as an organized church.