Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ

In 1913 a small group of Christians began worshipping in J. T. Kincaid's Feed Store on the corner of Vickery Boulevard and Hattie Street in Fort Worth. Later the congregation met in an old Presbyterian church building until a brick edifice was erected on the Vickery Boulevard property in 1916. In about 1955 the Vickery Boulevard congregation relocated to the corner of Berry Street and Mitchell Boulevard and became known as the Mitchell Boulevard Church of Christ.

In September, 1928, W. H. Burcham and Fred M. Hayes were chosen as the first elders for the Oaklawn congregation. Three deacons were appointed at the same time. Now located in a much more favorable and accessible area, with a larger, more comfortable building, Oaklawn entered a period of slow but steady growth.

In 1963 several conferences were held between the leaders of the Oaklawn and Mitchell Boulevard congregations on the advisability of merging. Neither was large enough to maintain a staff, pay expenses, and still do the mission work they wanted to do. Under the theme "Merge for Missions" the two congregations of 316 families came together on August 4, 1963, at the location of the Oaklawn congregation. The newly formed congregation became known as the Glen Garden Church of Christ.

In June 1975, 9.6-acres of land were purchased just to the north of the 1-20 corridor. Seven more acres were quickly added, bringing the size of the future church site to a total of over 16.5 acres. On April 3, 1977, the Glen Garden Church of Christ in Fort Worth became the Pleasant Ridge Church of Christ in Arlington when the congregation met for the first time in the new facilities.

On the evening of November 9, 1992, a sensational five-alarm fire destroyed virtually the entire building. Classrooms, administrative offices, ministers' studies and all their contents were gone. Only the auditorium was spared, though it sustained severe smoke and water damage. In the following months, with God's blessings and the assistance of many friends and neighbors, the church continued to work and serve.

On June 5, 1994, the Pleasant Ridge family was able to move into new facilities. The 30,000 square feet lost in the fire had been replaced with a new structure of approximately 53,000 square feet.

The evolution of the Pleasant Ridge congregation is an exciting story combining the heritage of at least five other congregations reaching back in history to 1913. Although our roots go deep into the past, the Pleasant Ridge church is still a congregation in transition - seeking to establish its identity and mission in what has been an exciting existence of more than a quarter-century.