14 April.pdf 2014 Pleasant Hill Chamber Directory | Page 7

History

2014 PLEASANT HILL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DIRECTORY

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Pleasant Hill Depot, built in 1903, now houses the Chamber of Commerce
side of the Pleasant Hill Cemetery to rejoin
the line about a mile West of Pleasant Hill
(Old Town). But the chief engineer of the
railroad was killed in a tragic train wreck
and the new chief engineer changed the
plan. It was rumored that those who owned
the swampy ground profited greatly from
this change. Thus, the railroad came
through where it is today and the "New
Town" of Pleasant Hill was created. The
businesses moved almost overnight to New
Town and Old Town lost most of its businesses. One sideline of this exodus from
Old Town to New Town involved the community of Wyoming. This community was
bounded on the West by Wyoming Street
and lay south of the railroad tracks. One
possibility was that this "New Town" could
have become a part of Wyoming Street.
Ground for the right-of-way was given
to the railroad by Pleasant Hill pioneer
John M. Armstrong, who had a mercantile
business and blacksmith shop in Old Town.
Although the land was low and swampy,
First Street was laid out parallel to the railroad and as each new train arrived and un-

loaded its passengers, the town grew by
leaps and bounds. It is interesting to note
that some of these new businesses were
built on stilts and it was not unusual to see
people sitting outside a store and fishing in
the deep pools of water below.
Within a short time the southern branch
of the railroad was built and a large roundhouse was constructed in the "V" between
the southern and eastern branches of the
right-of-way.
Religion played a prominent role in the
lives of early Pleasant Hill Citizens. Soon
after the first settlers came to this area,
Methodist services were held in the home
of Reverend Ferrell and later in the village
school in 1845. When the congregation's
loyalties were divided by the Civil War, two
separate churches had to be built. The
Christian Church was organized in 1845 by
Elder William Packer. The first church
building was erected in Pleasant Hill (Old
Town) in 1848. It was used as a school
house during the week. During the Civil
War, it was used as a barracks for Federal
Soldiers and was burned by "Bushwhack-

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ers" in 1862. After the War, the congregation grew to over 300 members and a new
church building was constructed. Also in
1848, the Reverent Robert S. Symington
organized the Pleasant Hill Presbyterian
Church. That congregation was also divided by the Civil War and two churches
were built side-by-side on High Street. In
1867, the First Baptist Church was
founded from a branch of the Union Baptist congregation located west of the town.
Episcopal, Catholic, Congregational, Seventh Day Adventist, Christian Science, and
two black churches (Baptist and
Methodist) were organized in 1866 and
1867.
The first school in Cass County was
founded in 1830 by William Crawford on
Lexington Street near where the present
Methodist Church now stands. Mr. Crawford was the son of an Irish widow lady
from New York. The school house itself
has been described as an "architectural
wonder" by Margorie Pearce Buckner: "It
was built of round logs with the spaces between them chinked and then filled with