Pleasant View United Methodist Church in Union Township is celebrating the Sesquicentennial of the construction of their church building in 1872. To commemorate the occasion, the church will hold a special worship service at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 23 and a 1:00 p.m. Sesquicentennial Service of Music and Remembrance followed by the dedication of a Legacy Tree and Commemorative Stones. All are welcome to attend these services.
The Pleasant View Church story actually began several decades before the construction of the current building to the earliest days of Hancock County. By the time the church was built, the congregation had already been meeting for 28 years. The first known meeting of a United Brethren Church in the area was in 1844 consisting of approximately 28 people with P. J. Thornton being the first pastor. The church initially met in the homes of its members. In the fall of 1851, a wooden structure was constructed on the South side of Township Road 37 which would serve the congregation for the next 20 years. The building became known as the Clymer Church after Francis Clymer and his family who donated the land on which it was built. While there is conflicting information about whether the Clymer Church was destroyed by fire or had just became inadequate for the size of the congregation, it is undisputed that the original church was last used in 1871.
On Sept. 27, 1871, David Nicholes Dukes and his wife Arvilla sold a ¼ acre tract of land on the North side of Twp. Rd. 37 across from the old church for the sum of $25.00 to the newly renamed and organized Pleasant View United Brethren in Christ Church. The main part of the red brick structure presently standing on this land was built and dedicated in 1872, 150 years ago this year with 56 members.
Originally, the structure was heated by 2 stoves on either side of the sanctuary. In 1899, the members decided to install a furnace to replace the stoves. Since the church did not have a basement, a hole was dug under the center of the building just big enough to accommodate a furnace with one register in the floor. At first, the church was lighted with kerosene lamps, then gasoline lamps and finally in 1926, electric lights were installed.
The early 1900s saw the slanting of the floor in the sanctuary and the construction of the balcony with two classrooms being created underneath at the back of the sanctuary. The next major change came in 1949 when the men of the church hand dug a basement under the church and with the help of a contractor finished it off to include classrooms, a kitchen and a new oil furnace. 30 years later in 1979, a building addition was constructed wrapping around the front of the old church adding offices, a nursery, restrooms, classrooms on both the sanctuary level and in the basement. This additional also provided a ramp on the west side of the building to make the sanctuary handicapped accessible. The last major building project at Pleasant View was in 1987 when there was a major restoration and renovation of the church belfry.
At the time the church was built in 1872, Pleasant View was a part of the Tawa Circuit of the United Brethren in Christ Church with 3 other churches. Later, the church was moved to the Rawson Charge with Olive Branch UB Church and the Rawson UB Church. In the mid 1900’s Pleasant View and Olive Branch were on a charge of their own through the denominational merger with the Evangelical Church in 1946, when each became an Evangelical United Brethren Church. In 1951, Pleasant View joined a charge with the Mount Cory Zion EUB Church. These two churches remain together in a charge to this day although they both became United Methodist Churches when the EUB denomination merged with the Methodist Church in 1968.
The first pastor at the United Brethren Church in Union Twp. (later Pleasant View) was P. J. Thornton in 1844, the first of at least 6 circuit riders that served the congregation between 1844 and 1872. According to D. B. Beardsley’s History of Hancock Co. published in 1881, the first white settler in Union Twp. was Philip Cramer in Nov., 1830. The book states that “Philip Cramer lived to a very old age, and was the pioneer minister of the United Brethren Church”, although it is not clear if there was a second U.B. church in the township. The first pastor in the newly constructed Pleasant View U.B. Church was Robert French who served from 1872 – 1875. He was then followed by 13 other ministers through 1904. The records between 1904 and 1952 were destroyed in a fire at the parsonage although there is a list of names that people could remember who served during that period. From 1952 to present, there have been 15 pastors at Pleasant View, the most recent being Leland Brehm (1999), Dana Hakes (2005), Jerry Lewis (2007), Mark Fuerstenau (2014) and the present pastor, Mike Noggle, who came in 2020.
Music has been provided for services at Pleasant View in a number of ways over the years. In its early years, music was provided by a “singing group” led by a “singing teacher” aided only by a pitch pipe. In the late 1800’s, a reed organ was purchased with Emma Hughes State serving as the first organist. In 1901, a Packard piano was purchased with $250 bequeathed in memory of Mrs. C.L. Carnahan. This instrument remains in the church basement to this day. A Thomas organ was purchased in 1961 when the present pews and worship center were installed. In 1962, the piano currently in use in the sanctuary was purchased through the generosity of Oscar Rickly in memory of his wife Vera Harris. In 1974, a new organ was purchased to replace the one form 1961 but neither organ remains in the church today. In recent years, weekly music has been led by a praise team made up of piano, guitar and usually 2 lead singers.
The church is located in the southwest corner of the county on Township Road 37 across the road from Clymer Cemetery. It is a quarter of a mile east of the Hancock-Putnam Countyline Road approximately 3 miles north of Bluffton.
