Highland Oaks congregation celebrates with 2,100 at worship


About 2,100 people attended worship services at the Highland Oaks church Aug. 7 as the congregation celebrated its 150th anniversary.

Six families — leaders in the small village of Dallas — came together Aug. 6, 1855, to share a common belief and offer worship to God. When Charles Carlton came to Dallas in 1863, the group began meeting in his schoolhouse, above a blacksmith shop, where he started conducting Lord’s Day school.

In 1867, the congregation built the first church to be erected in Dallas, church leaders said.

The anniversary celebration was titled “Reunions, Remembrance and Renewal.”