Pleasant
Grove Church
Founded 1873
Where everyone is Welcome!
Current Church Information
Church History
Cemetery Information
Annual Ice Cream Social
Other Pleasant Grove Churches
Church History: 1939 to WWII
Compiled by Donna Jacobs
Another New Start
After 1933, the church was only used occasionally. In 1939, Mr. and Mrs.
Jay Wilson's daughter, Dolores, pleaded with Rev. C. E. Lookingbill to
reopen the church so she could go to Sunday School there. The Wilson's
lived a short distance just northeast from the church. Rev. Lookingbill
became interested and apparently the people of the community were ready
and willing to do what was needed to have their church open again.
People of the church collected donations from the community and pledges
of labor to reclaim the original appearance of the church. Men and women
from the community and neighboring towns had an old fashioned pioneer
"busy bee" day. That day 60 men and women came early and worked late. By
night the outside of the church had been brushed and painted a first
coat. The inside of the church had been cleaned, the pews, woodwork and
wainscoting had been given their first coat of paint.
This is a photo of the some of the people who came for a work day in
1940:
(Click picture to see larger copy)
An article was published in the Nevada Evening Journal on September 27,
1940, about the " rehabilitation" of Pleasant Grove Church. These are
some of the comments that were in the paper. "A group of 28 men and as
many women and children gathered here, Thursday, for a day of real work.
Ladders, paint brushes, hammers and saws were brought along by the men
and when the afternoon waned, the old church, built in 1873, had
received a new coat of paint and by tonight the new roof will be on"all
work and funds for material being donated.
Later, it is expected to have another bee and excavate a basement which
in time may house a heating plant. While the men were busy laying
shingles and wielding the paint brush on the outside, part of the women
were preparing the dinner, as the others were busy with paint brushes,
cleaning and repainting the seats, wainscoting and other woodwork in the
interior.
But that dinner "well it was one of the outstanding feeds in the lives
of at least a couple of Nevada men who happened to drop in at feed time.
"Never saw so much well prepared food in my life, and for once I learned
that chickens were not all necks," remarked one of them. Workers were
served a second feed about 4 o'clock and even then there was plenty left
to pack in the baskets and take home for a snack for supper."
Soon, the people of the church had put on a new shingled roof, and had
finished the second coat of paint to the outside and inside of the
church. The walls were papered with a beautiful colonial pattern of
wallpaper in soft grey tones. The wallpaper was donated by Mrs. Andrew
Buland of Cambridge, who was a former school teacher of the community.
Now, they felt that the church was a place to do just tribute to the old
pioneers who built the church. A rededication was held in October at the
church and there was an attendance of about 300 people. A former member
of the community, Dean, C. F. Curtis, was the guest speaker for the day.
Rev. C. E. Lookingbill and Dorothy Bielefeldt appeared on Herb
Plambeck's Saturday Farm and Home Hour to tell about the reclaiming of
Pleasant Grove Church. This program was aired on WHO radio in those days
and was a popular farm and news show.
A decision was made that the church should be raised and a basement put
underneath. This was started in 194l, as near as we can tell, from the
records we have. There is a record of donations for this project and
also for pledges of labor to finish the basement.*(See list added later)
The basement was dug by hand and with volunteer labor. People who helped
on the project have told us that a team of horses was used to pull the
loads of dirt out of the basement. A log chain was attached to a slip
(sled) and the men would fill this with shovels of dirt and when it was
full the team of horses would pull it out and it would be emptied and
this process would start all over again. Concrete block were laid to
form the basement walls. A floor was poured, steps built to the basement
and the church now had a dining room and kitchen and also a better place
to hold Sunday School classes. During 1939, electricity was installed in
the church, in the form of Delco Light. Later the church was hooked up
to the Rural Electric Cooperative power and is still serviced by the REC
at this writing.
Once again the people of the church were busy. Ladies Guild was formed
and their activities included selling lunches at farm sales, selling
vanilla to raise money, holding bazaars, and serving chicken suppers,
all this to help in the support of the church. Officers for Ladies Guild
in 1941 were: President, Mrs. Bertha Johnson; Vice President, Mrs.
William McCoy; Secretary, Mrs. Jay Wilson; Hostess, Mrs. Lookingbill.
The new church improvements were paid for and a coal furnace was
installed in the new basement.
In the summer of 1945, a bad storm soaked the wall at the front of the
church and ruined the wallpaper. The wall needed repairs and needed new
wall paper. The wall was repaired and new wall paper was put up by
Dorothy and Glen Keltner.
Some of the best lecturers and ministers in the state came to speak at
Pleasant Grove. I am told that Billie Sunday came through Story County
and once spoke to a large group here. Gov. of Iowa, B.B. Hickenlooper
was the speaker here one Sunday. Ida Honderd told us that 7 or 8 ladies
of the church cooked the dinner that day for the crowd. The Story City
band came and played early in the day. Just when they thought that they
were through serving the huge crowd that stayed for the dinner, the
Nevada Band came early to play for the afternoon meeting. Rev.
Lookingbill thought that they should be fed, too, and so the ladies
added more water to the chicken and noodles, made more sandwiches and
coffee. The cooks did without, but the rest of the people got fed. This
was in 1943.
Not only did people come to church in early days but, in 1944, a ground
hog had managed to find his way into the church and, of course, couldn't
find his way back out. Edna Hughes found the ground hog in the church
and went home and got a gun and shot it. George Roberts, at another
time, found a skunk in the church furnace room and had to shoot it. We
have also had a squirrel visit in the church some time in the past, but
he didn't care to stay. In an effort to get back out, he chewed on the
woodwork around the window glass and left an interesting pattern there,
which has since been covered with several coats of paint. Maybe, he
heard about the fate of the other two animals who couldn't get back out
once they got in.
During this period the congregation from the church had many of their
own serving in World War II. A service roll was displayed on one wall in
the church which held names of soldiers from the area who were in the
various branches of the military service. Two of the names were followed
by Gold Stars. The names on that roll that I have obtained were: Gene
Walston, Walter Jacobson, Russell Buttry, Kenneth Hughes, Dixon Harper,
Leonard Jones, Dale Sampson, Fred Matters, Donald Halverson, Earl Lee,
James Matters, Harlan Harper, Carroll D. Doolittle, Carroll Arneson, Joe
Alfred, Robert Alfred, Wayne Buttry, Merrill Johnson, Howard Johnson,
Edward Hagerland, Charles Sampson, Floyd Clark, Robert Comfort, Donald
Wakefield, Stanlery Gineskee, Eugene Arneson, Edward Eller, and Gordon
Bivens.
