Mount Pleasant municipal offices are located at 230 McWilliams Road, Bloomsburg PA 17815.
Phone: 570‑784‑5679.
Beginnings [1]
In 1818 Mount Pleasant Township was constructed from portions of Bloom, Greenwood and Fishingcreek Townships. It was a good farming section. The little villages of Canby, Welliversville and Mordansville have never developed into sufficient size to be classed as towns. The township was noted in the days of settlement of the county for the abundance of timber and the unfailing character of its water supply.
Most of the settlers of this region were of English descent, and natives of New Jersey. They did not come until after the Revolution and the settlement of the Indian troubles. The first to arrive were Peter Eveland and Jacob Force, the former locating near the site of Welliversville, and the latter near the spot where the Kitchen church was later built. Adam Welliver came soon after and settled between these first two arrivals, the spot being afterwards called Welliversville in his honor. Frederick Miller, a German from Northampton County, came some years later and settled at the site of Canby, the post office established here in 1831 by him bearing at first his name—Millertown. This office was for a time discontinued, but revived in 1873 under the name of Canby, from the gallant general whose death occurred in the Civil War. This office was replaced by the rural route. A dozen houses, a Lutheran church and a schoolhouse formed the town in 1914. The first stone house in Mount Pleasant Township, built by Philip Kistler, stands near the village. The storekeeper was A.M. Shultz.
John Kester located on the hill above Mordansville, where many of his descendants later resided. John Kitchen settled near Welliversville. The Vanderslices, Ikelers, Applemans, Crawfords, Bittenbenders, Whites, Hartzells and Howells were among the later arrivals. George Van operated a small woolen mill for a few years on a run in the eastern edge of the township, and a number of sawmills and lime kilns in the southern portion were the limit of industries, outside of Mordansville, in the early 1860s.
The Methodist churches in this township were located on the old Mount Pleasant Road, one in the southern end and the other in the north, near Wellivers. The former is called the "White" church and the latter "Kitchen's" church. Services were held in the schoolhouse and in the home of Harman Kramer until "Kitchen's" church was built in 1859. "White's" church was built in the year 1875. Some of the first members of the latter church were the White, Oman, Shipman, Melick and Hilborn families.
The English Lutheran Church at Canby was organized Nov. 18, 1859, in the Millertown schoolhouse, by Rev. E.A. Sharretts, of Espy. The church building was erected in 1861. It was served by the pastor at Buckhorn, Rev. E.A. Chamberlin.
All of the old schoolhouses of Mount Pleasant Township were located on the Mount Pleasant Road.
Peter Oman formed the first school in his home and employed a teacher at his own expense, his neighbors' children as well as his own being instructed. The first three schoolhouses were built on the lands of Joseph Gilbert, Aaron Kester and Andrew Crouse.
The population of Mount Pleasant Township in 1820 was 637; in 1830, 715; in 1840, 609; in 1850, 708; in 1860, 776; in 1870, 750; in 1880, 760; in 1890, 786; in 1900, 722; in 1910, 647. This was a remarkable constant average and evidences the pastoral occupation and contented character of the inhabitants.