Our History

At the end of World War II, the Right Reverend Harry Tunis Moore, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas, pursued his war-delayed dream of establishing a new Episcopal parish for the growing area then referred to as “North Dallas.” A small group of individuals were ready to form the new mission and met for their first worship service on a hot August Sunday in 1945 in a Boy Scout hut located on the grounds of the University Park YMCA. Several months later, on the Feast Day of Saint Michael and All Angels, the group, which by then had become several hundred persons, executed the charter and formed Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church.

Since those humble beginnings, Saint Michael has grown to become one the largest Episcopal parishes in the United States, serving approximately 6,000 communicants in the Park Cities, Preston Hollow and surrounding areas. We have been led by eight rectors and other priests, many of whom have gone on to lead other parishes as rectors or other dioceses as bishops.

After meeting in the YMCA Boy Scout hut and the Fondren Library Auditorium on the Southern Methodist University campus, our founders built a Gothic stone structure, which we now call the Saint Michael Chapel, on land they bought for $21,000 on the northern edge of University Park. Several years later, they added a two-story church-school building for Christian Education programs and for The Saint Michael School (which was founded in 1950). Over the intervening years, we have expanded our campus by about 150,000 square feet to meet the needs of new ministries and increasing attendance.

Although we are now much larger and have far better physical facilities, we believe that people are drawn to the parish for the same reasons that brought those first parishioners to the Boy Scout hut. People come to Saint Michael and All Angels to worship God in the dignified beauty of the liturgy and the music. They come seeking the sacraments and Christian formation for their children and for themselves. They come to be comforted and reconciled and to be inspired to live out their baptismal vows in service to God and neighbor. They come to hear an expression of the Christian faith that does not require them to disengage the minds God gave them. They come to find supportive Christian friends who are loyal companions and who will stand by them in sorrow and in joy.