Shelby County Indiana History, Moral Township

Shelby County, Indiana
Historical Articles

Pleasant View

Moral Township
Township 14N, Range 5E, Section 14

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A Shelbyville Newspaper
April 1, 1949
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LAW LEAVES FOLKS LIKE
LARRISONS LITTLE CHOICE
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From a rocking chair which sits near the dining room window, Charles A. Stanly looked out on the land that has been good to him and his wife for nearly a half - century. "It'll be a terrible bother to us, I tell you," he said. "They think they can move the earth now." Mr. Stanley's wife, who is 83, sat nearby and helped with the questions that escaped his ears, grown dull now after 91 years. For 32 years they have lived the common, good life of farm folk in a fine two - story brick house a half mile northwest of Pleasant View in Shelby County. Here the twilight of life has come to them, calmly and gracefully but for an interruption that intruded not many months ago. The Michigan Road, from New Bethel to Shelbyville, is being widened, and the state must have the land on which the old Stanley home sits.
SHE PLANNED IT ALL
    It has not been an easy thing for the Stanleys to accept. "She planned it all with the carpenter," Mr. Stanley said, pointing to his wife. He spoke of the house where a Stanley grew to manhood. Every couple, it is said, dreams of building their own home, and this was the home that the Stanleys built when life for them had reached its full bloom. "We had the best carpenter in the land," Mr Stanley said. "And the best brick layers and the best plasterer. "It was built good, I tell you. All the timbers hard beech." No wonder, then, that the Stanleys found it hard to make the decision that they had to make. Theirs was the choice of either giving up their home completely, selling it to the state, or having it moved back. She will not give it up. It will be moved back. But gone will be the garden, the orchard, the towering trees which shield the house from the road. In a way it will be like beginning over again. "I don't think they need it as much as they talk about," Mr. Stanley said.
MOVERS WILL COME
"I don't expect to be here to see the new road." The remark probably did not escape his wife but she gave no notice of it. In the spring, the house movers will come. Farther down on the old Michigan Road, just beyond Pleasant View, stands another brick house, covered with stucco now, which has sheltered three generations of Larrisons. Peace and war have come to the country many times since its thick walls began to rise. Abraham Lincoln? He had not been heard of, generally, when the Means brothers, so closely associated with the birth of Pleasant View, dug the footings for a new home. Mrs. Charles E. Larrison sat on a sofa in a front room there the other day and told of the old house's history. Her father had cut timber for the fires over which the brick that went into it was made. That was in 1841. Forty years later, her father bought the house, here, on New Year's Day in 1895, a young bride came slowly down the staircase and into the parlor.  With the old sacred vows she became Mrs. Charles E. Larrison, the same who sat on the sofa and told of the house in which most of the big events of her life had happened. "I hate to see it come," she said, speaking of the widened Michigan Road. When the builders are done, the edge of the right-of-way will be only two feet from the Larrison's front steps. A spacious front lawn will be gone. "I hate it on account of the trees and my flowers," Mrs. Larrison said. "I don't think they need that 50-foot strip." Future plans for the road call for a dual-lane divided highway. "If they'd leave that out, it wouldn't be so bad." But the house which arose before automobiles were dreamed of now must suffer their zip-zip-zip as they speed down the road a few feet from the front door. "It'll be terrible in the summer," Mrs. Larrison. "but we'll have to put up with it." The law leaves folks like the Larrisons little choice.
Contributed by Marlena Linne

A Shelbyville Newspaper
March 15, 1949
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NEW HIGHWAY PUSHES
PLEASANT VIEW NEARLY
OFF MAP
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At the graveside of Alexander Means, there are no sounds except the winds through a high, gnarled tree and the whine of cars as they speed down a highway to the west. This has worked its ravages on the stone so that the poetic inscription below the name there remains but one word, "Gone". It is a prophetic one. Alexander Means, of course, has been gone 86 years. Now, a few hundred yards from the place where he lies, time is also erasing one of his dreams. This was the dream of Pleasant View, a hamlet of scarcely more than a hundred persons on the old Michigan Road in northwestern Shelby County. Progress for Pleasant View had worked in reverse. Roads came to the lush wilderness of early Indiana and in coming, they made a thriving town little more than a cluster of houses on a famous road. Now it is the road itself which threatens the quickest, deepest blow of all. Agents of the State Highway Commission have bought an additional 75 feet of right-of-way on the south side of the thoroughfare. By next winter, roughly half of Pleasant View will be gone, for this is a hamlet which lies half on one side of a road and half on another. Expansion of Road 29 is going to take the south half. Thus goes the dream of a man whose body lies so close by. Alexander Means laid out Pleasant View with 31 lots of four by ten rods on July 6, 1836. A year earlier Frederick Thatcher had moved a small stock of miscellaneous goods there from the Means place a half mile east, thus becoming the first merchant of what was to become a thriving town. In time, Pleasant View became a station for the stage coach, a distinction that gave it all the excitement of travelers going and coming and tired, dusty horses being replaced with fresh ones for the onward journey. A hotel was built and soon another. Here the traveler could find refreshment or, if the hour was late, a night's lodging. The promise of prosperity was upon the town. Merchants came one after another. Adamson and McDougal, Joseph Kennedy, John Stanly and McCracken and Berry. Doctors followed the trend. A Scotchman, Hutchinson, was first and then Tyner and Leavitt. In the cemetery nearby, a tall shaft marks the grave of Dr P. C. Leavitt who, with his ministrations to the people, played his role in the growth of a new town. Education was not neglected. A two - story grade school building of brick went up, as fine as any in the county. A woolen factory prospered and other enterprises were launched to share the good times. For a while it looked as if Pleasant View would long remain a center for the rich country which lay about her. But the bright vision of the future faded before the coming of railroads and in a half century, it had faded altogether. The new Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St Louis and Chicago Railroad (Big Four) was built through Brookfield two miles away, drawing to it the prosperity that might have been Pleasant View's. Today Brookfield also is only a shadow. By 1897, O. F. Mann was the only merchant who still held forth against the trend to Brookfield. Even the post office had gone to the neighboring town. Today the projected expansion of Road 29 is about to wipe out half of what remains. In his grocery store on the east side of the road, Curtis Hawk leaned against his candy case and looked across the way at homes whose days are numbered. "There's 15 houses over on that side and only four of them will be left," Mr. Hawk said. "Mrs. (Nora) Wilkinson was in here this morning and I told her, "You'll never be satisfied to leave here." "She was born in the house she lives in now."  The Pleasant View Church will be moved back and a basement put under it and some of the householders who must give up their homes by June plan to build again back of their present sites. But no one thinks that all those who now call Pleasant View home will be there this time next year. A broad, divided concrete highway is about to finish off half of what remained after the snorting locomotives of the Big Four passing through Brookfield sounded the death knell for the future of Pleasant View.
Contributed by Marlena Linne

The Shelbyville News
Saturday March 20, 1948
Page 5
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YOUR TOWN — PLEASANT VIEW
By Hortense Montgomery
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          With these subjects today we finish the villages of the county before beginning with our own city of Shelbyville. We hope we have offended no one by what we have left out or put in. We have given credit for all we knew but we could now tell many more nice things after the sketches have been published.
          We often wonder as we pass through the village of Pleasant View how the country looks from the windows of the homes in the village, we can quite well imagine that it deserves the name of Pleasant View, because of its high situation and overlooking the fine farmlands about it. It is in Moral township on State Road 29.
          It was begun as a trading post in 1835 by Frederick Thacher, uncle of Hon. G. C. Thacher, at one time a member of the Indiana Legislature. It was platted July 6, 1836 by Alexander Means, one of the three Means brothers. Mr. Thacher began his post-stage store with only a small stock of goods.
          Besides being beautifully situated Pleasant View was conveniently situated on the old Michigan Road now known as State Road 29, which was then the main artery of travel for all this part of the country. Thus situated it was a stage station where produce was exchanged for merchandise and it was an overnight and short stop for travelers, it had two hotels where travelers could be accommodated, and it had several stores and numerous shops. At one time it had a post office and a woolen mill which created much trade. For some reason it was a favorite place for physicians, just why we were unable to learn. There were a school, a church and a blacksmith shop.
          With the building of the railroad followed in succession by more modern means of transportation, its importance began to wane. It has served well the needs of a pioneer country. The large brick building along the highway which was the school building is now used as a residence. The village still has its Baptist church, there are two filling stations and a general store. Here or about live the descendants of the early pioneer families of long ago, the Means, Smiths, Pollards, Pfendlers, Dakes, Stanleys, Larrisons and House. Mr. David Smith, lawyer, has his office in Shelbyville, but lives in Pleasant View, his daughter Miss Melba Smith gave up the profession of teaching for scientific farming; near here is the home of Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Perdue, who both have devoted their lives to better farming and rural improvements.
Contributed by Barb Huff

The Shelbyville Republican
Friday, October 21, 1898
Page 1
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CORRESPONDENCE.
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MORAL.
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          The infant of Oscar Means is very sick at this writing.
          Mrs. Joe Land, sr., is crippled very much with a gathering on the hand.
          Mrs. Jane Dake, of this place, visited her daughter, Mrs. Sherman Gould, last week.
          Several of the Germans of this vicinity attended the services held at Palestine Sunday.
          John Perkins, who has been home from the army on a two months furlough, has returned.
          Arel, the little son of Joe Land, is quite sick. His symptoms are thought to be of typhoid fever.
          We understand invitations are issued for a wedding in the near future. Both parties have the best wishes of all.
          Wes Rouse, while working on the "magnificent mansion" of Joseph Edwards last week, fell and hurt himself severely.
          Fanny Ferris, of Shelbyville, who has been visiting relatives at this place for the last three weeks, returned home Saturday evening.
          Quite a number of our men and boys attended the sale of Mrs. J. G. Perry last Saturday, bringing home with them many useful articles.
          Mr. and Mrs. Sam Pfendler, sr, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Pfendler, jr, accompanied by Mrs. Harry Means, took advantage of the excursion to Louisville Sunday. They report a good time and a jolly dinner.
          To the author of the piece published in The Republican of recent date, concerning the township convention, we wish to extend our greatest thanks for the remarks he made of old Moral. We heartily agree "Moral is all right ."
          Ed Pritchard, of near London, has charge of the school at this place this season. We can not say anything against Ed, but if he succeeds in breaking some of the pupils of their rude ways (or break their necks) we will praise him beyond comprehension.
CRACKER JACK.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming

          Pleasant View was laid out by Alexander Means, July 6, 1836. Surveyed the same day by John H. Messinger for said Means. Recorded July 20th, 1836, thirty-one lots, all regular full-sized lots 4x10 rods --- forty square rods --- one-quarter acre, Michigan State Road recorded 100 feet wide, adopted as the main or principal street. Sycamore Street is spelled Sickamore on this plat. First addition was made September 1st, 1837, and the record fails to show by whom. Sixty-two lots more laid off, all full lots 4x10. Michigan Road 100 feet wide platted as Main Street. All other streets in said town twenty-four feet wide.
          Pleasant View was in early times the principal town in the northwestern part of the county. The town began its existence as a trading point about the year 1835, when Frederick Thatcher moved a small stock of goods from the Means place about one-half mile east of the village. He is said to have been the first merchant in the township, and after locating at Pleasant View did a good business for some time. The town was situated on the old Michigan road, and was for many years a stage station, where horses were changed and the weary traveler could find refreshments according to his taste. A hotel was among the early institutions of the place, and the number was soon increased to two. Merchants multiplied and doctors grew plenty. Among the merchants, Adamson & McDougal, Joseph Kennedy, John Stanley, McCracken & Berry, and others, were some of the leaders. The first doctor was a Scotchman named Hutchinson; the came Tyner, Levitt and many others. Levitt was probably one of the leading physicians of the county. Until the building of the railroad, Pleasant View was a flourishing country village, and gave promise of a bright future, but after the completion of the railway, it gradually declined to its present condition. A woolen factory at one time did a flourishing business, and other small enterprises were commenced. The present and only merchant is O. F. Mann. The post office has been discontinued at that place, but under the same name is now at Brookfield, less than two miles away, upon the railroad.
History of Shelby County, Indiana, Chicago: Brant & Fuller, 1887, pg 450.

Pleasant View

Plat of the Town of Pleasant View – laid off on Section 14 in Township 14, North of Range 5 East & bound on the west by the North & South line dividing So. Section & on the W1/2 of the N. E. Gr. & off on a scale of ten rods to the square inch.

N.B. the course of the Michigan Road is eighty degrees North of West & one-hundred feet 3wide & all regular lots contain one fourth of an acre, being four by ten rods square. Lot NO. 10 contains twenty-five square rods of ground. Lot NO. 11 contains five, lot No. 12 contains four rods, Lot No. 13 contains twenty, Lot No. 26 contains five rods, Lot No. 25 contains thirty-two, Lot No. 28 contains eleven, Lot NO. 29 contains thirty & Lot NO. 31 contains 7 ½ rods. Walnut Street is laid out 16 ½ feet wide and Sycamore Street is laid off 24 feet wide & Main Street is on the Michigan State Road is 100 feet wide. Surveyed July 6th 1836 by John H. Messenger for Alexander Means, Proprietor.

Recorded July 20th 1836.
M. Robins, Recorder S.C. Ind.

Sycamore Street must be the street that was not named on the plat map and runs at an angle.

Contributed by Melinda Moore Weaver

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