Breaking Ground

Lakewood Village Community Church was founded in 1937. The Clark family dedicated the “Walter Clark Memorial Community Church” in remembrance of Walter Miller Clark who lost his life in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. The Clark family has been very involved in the development of Lakewood and Long Beach land since the early 20th century.
During WWII the Douglas Aircraft Company provided workers homes by building 1,000 homes in Northern Lakewood. At the end of WWII veterans returned to their families and, taking advantage of the new GI Bill’s clause that allowed veterans to buy homes without down payments, they moved in to Lakewood. Therefore, the church family grew during the WWII era.