PLEASANTVILLE

News of Pleasantville
By
Kathy Coffaro
Published in The Titusville Herald 11/24/09

Pleasantville Municipal Building
Bound project specifications as thick as Manhattan phone books and huge maps marking the spots of all 67 Pleasantville manholes cover Harold Jackson�s desk at the Municipal Building. Jackson, who heads the Department of Public Works, manages the four major projects currently underway. Driven by the national economic downturn, a historic federal spending program funded the $6 million upgrades. When not in the field, Jackson and his team mull over plans inside walls built by another great federal program inspired by even leaner times. The Pleasantville Municipal Building began as a 1934 Work Projects Administration (WPA) job, but an entire community banded together when federal funding fell short and finished up.
Harvard educated architect Manley Colton Beebe drafted the building plans at his home office on West State Street. Designed with a full basement and two stories, the Municipal Building went up on the old downtown funeral parlor lot. Masons, carpenters and laborers worked through the winter and completed the foundation in late 1934. Stones from local fields were collected for the exterior veneer, set in a pattern called rubble which is made by arranging irregularly shaped stones. The veneer conceals a sturdy timber frame. The newly formed Pleasantville Fire Department (1932) organized several fund raising events for the building that housed both their department and city offices.
In January 1935, they performed a �Minstrel Show� at the school auditorium featuring men in blackface makeup. A group called �Plantation Harmony� showcased musicians �gaily dressed as colored gentlemen.� They collected $100 and held a springtime dance at the IOOF hall that raised another $31.10 for furniture and light fixtures. The Pleasantville Women�s Club chipped in $20 toward carpeting, and many individuals donated both cash and time. The finishing work and landscaping were all volunteer projects. Pleasantville scribes submitted articles to The Herald detailing progress and requesting locals to assemble for community work days.
Hundreds gathered for the June1935 grand opening celebration. An orchestra played and folks enjoyed refreshments on the lawn. Members of the PFD showed off their new space. The first floor included two rooms, one for �Red Robin,� the 1929 fire engine, and a smaller room with a massive stone fireplace used for meetings. The same steep flight of stairs still leads to the second story, once the hub of community activity. The borough council used to meet there. So did numerous group political and social organizations. John Peterson rented the space during his tenure as U.S. Congressional Representative. Recently, oversized shelves were built for old records and new documents generated by the current waterworks projects. Jackson said GPS maps and large blueprints can be stored flat on the new shelving, made from 2 x 4�s and OSB.
The council and fire department hammered out an agreement in 1970 for use of the main room downstairs. The fire department released the room in exchange for a 1 mill tax hike and for $600 worth of new fire hose. By then, the PVFD had built the large steel garage across the street. A Victorian cast iron safe said to hold old borough records sits to one side of the council�s three meeting tables which are positioned into a U shape. Near it hangs a painting of early Pleasantville settler Aaron Benedict. Manley C. Beebe was related to the Benedict family.
Beebe died a decade after he designed the building. He was elected Justice of the Peace shortly before the 1934 project start. He continued the job and became postmaster on Aug. 11, 1945, the day before he turned 62. Beebe usually walked the short distance between his West State Street home and the post office on East State. Four months later to the day, on Dec. 11. 1945, Beebe decided to drive his 1929 Ford coupe. It was 7 a.m., dark, and cold. The sun had not yet risen. Had he made it, Beebe would have passed the Municipal Building yet another countless time, but he never reached the crossroads.
Beebe lost control of the Ford halfway between his home and the post office, skidding into a tree. He then backed into the path of an oncoming 1940 Dodge sedan that struck the Ford�s rear right. The impact ejected Beebe from the door and his head struck the pavement. He remained alert while the ambulance was summoned. Doctors sutured the six inch scalp laceration at Titusville Hospital. Beebe had complained of hip pain since the accident. While waiting for X-rays at 9:15 a.m., he died from a massive brain hemorrhage. He lived with his sister, Mildred Beebe, who was The Herald�s Pleasantville correspondent until her death in 1967.

Contributed by Kathy Coffaro
kcoffaro@roadrunner.com