On Sunday mornings, near an old crossroads in southeastern Marshall County, one lone church bell rings across the rolling hills, calling the faithful to worship.

Pattonsburg Christian Church, which is nearly all that is left of a once-thriving community, is observing the 175th anniversary of its founding charter this year.

Early settlers came to site near the headwaters of Crow Creek in the late 1820s, and one of their first priorities was to gather and worship. They met in cabins, houses, barns and fields, some having to travel several miles each Sunday.

In 1845, a group of 15 decided to establish a congregation in Pattonsburg itself. It took them until 1856 to build their first church, which burned down and was replaced in 1865 by the current building.

At that time, Pattonsburg – which is a few miles southwest of Toluca – had three churches, a school, post office, grocery store, a blacksmith, livery and an inn. Pattonsburg Christian Church itself had more than 100 members. Pattonsburg had two streets and even a raised boardwalk along Broad Street, complete with hitching posts – it was a true pioneer community, one where the houses of worship figured prominently.

Most of that is gone today; just fading memories or old stories told among the few elderly residents who were "born and raised" there.

But Pattonsburg Church remains, its open doors welcoming all who enter. It still sits atop the same low hill above the creek, where countless baptisms were witnessed, and its bell still sounds the service every Sunday morning.

The congregation has diminished. Some Sundays, there are less than a dozen worshippers. But they remain true to the original charter, a small tattered book now 175 years old and still in the church’s possession. It states the intent of those early settlers, to obey “The Bible on the word of God, for our faith and practice.”

This year was a difficult year, and Pattonsburg Church’s 175th celebration had to be postponed for healthier times. But not all is lost to the past; there is a future, too.

Recently, the church announced a new pastor, Jonah Steele, a Lincoln Laureate and current graduate student at Lincoln Christian University. The church still supports missions on a global scale in places like Myanmar, India, England, Japan and Haiti, as well as local charities like the Salvation Army and Peoria Rescue Mission.

There is much to the past, but also much ahead in the future, and those in Pattonsburg are this year remembering and honoring their forefathers, their founders, in the little white church at the crossroads.