Trader’s Point, continued from History of Indianapolis and Marion County – Pike Township – B.R. Sulgrove – 1884

Pleasant Hill Methodist Episcopal Church – The first meetings of the citizens in the northwestern part of the township for worship was at the residences of J.C. Hume and Orlos Babcock. Mr. Hume then lived on the south end of the farm now owned by Samuel Hornaday. The meetings were conducted generally by a Rev. Bramble, who was a local Methodist preacher. In 1828, Abraham Busenbarick donated one acre of land at the southeast corner of his farm (opposite the residence of David Delong) on which to build a school and meetinghouse. It was built and named Pleasant Hill, and the charge was then added to the Danville Circuit, and Joseph Tarkington was the first circuit preacher who preached in this township. The congregation continued to meet at the old building until 1853, when they built a new meetinghouse on the farm of Silas White, Sr., just south of his residence, on the west bank of Eagle Creek, and called it the Pleasant Hill Church. The first Sunday school was held in this part of the township in 1830, at the residence of James Duncan, on the Lafayette Road,(where Nelson McCurdy no lives) a quarter of a mile north of Trader’s Point. The school was conducted by James M. Ray, of Indianapolis. The first Sunday School was organized in the Old Pleasant Hill school, and meeting house, and John Alford, Sr. was Superintendent for a number of years.
The Pleasant Hill Church is still an organization but meets at Brooks’ Methodist Episcopal Chapel in Trader’s Point, the Old Pleasant Hill Church has been replaced by a new church at the Point, built in 1873, for the better accomodation of its members.
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About Ross Reller

I am pleased you have expressed interest in learning more about the historic Traders Point area in Indianapolis, Indiana. From 1980 to 1982 I was employed in the PR department at Conner Prairie Museum in Hamilton County. There I learned about William Conner, an important figure in Indiana's pioneer days. A decade later I became interested in the history of the Traders Point area and was surprised to learn that William Conner had been the first land owner in the area. In 1823 he acquired, through the Federal land office in Brookville, a patent for an 80 acre tract carved by Eagle Creek and an Indian trail that was about to be named the first toll roadway through the township (Lafayette Road). Thirty years later a village took shape within this tract. A grain mill on the creek, houses, churches, stores, restaurants, and two gas stations would take shape here in the creek valley hamlet of Traders Point. By 1962 all improvements (except a farmer's co-op) had been removed by the Indianapolis Flood Control Board to make way for Interstate 65 and a new reservoir. This blog is dedicated to preserving evidence of this historic area but I will occasionally use it to discuss related topics. To activate this follow, simply click the confirm button below. If you don't want to follow, ignore this message and we'll never bother you again. I am also a member of the Old Pleasant Hill Cemetery, a non profit association still selling burial plots for those who would like to spend all eternity in Traders Point, and I am an officer in the Pike Township Historical Society and the Traders Point Association of Neighborhoods.
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