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When did the Highland Church start?
The Highland Church was organized as the Fountain Head Seventh-day
Adventist Church August 7, 1909, but the charter members originally
moved here in 1907.
Who were the charter members and where did they come from?
A
young man named Braden Mulford started the Adventist work in Sumner
County. He came south with E.A. Sutherland in 1904 and went to
school at Madison for two years. He cofounded a school like Madison
near Ridgetop with another man, then came to Fountain Head on his
own. His sweetheart, Pearl West, agreed to come back from teaching
school in Africa to marry him, and her brother, Forrest West, and
his wife Lula, sister of Braden Mulford, also agreed to come. They
and other relatives started a school on a farm here in 1907 and a
sanitarium in 1913, operating as a unit of Madison College.
So it sounds like the church started as a part of the school and
sanitarium.
That’s right. For years, the Adventist jobs were mainly on campus.
Farming formed the basis for the local economy, with most of the
land taken. A few Adventists operated businesses or found work
locally.
Then how did it get to be the second largest church in the
Kentucky-Tennessee Conference?
Growth and excitement characterized Middle Tennessee in the 1970s,
and with it came more Adventist kind of jobs. The completion of
I-65 made Portland a good location for industry, especially since a
railroad also ran through town. A positive school situation
attracted Adventist families with children. Adventist retirees also
found the Highland area a good place to live.
What families can remember when things were different?
The Cases joined the church in 1928. The Parrish and Dittes
families moved here in the 1940s, the Ladds in the 1950s. Anyone
joining the church since 1980 will know of only the present
sanctuary with a seating capacity of 800. |