The Rev. Ed Heller, pastor of Plains Presbyterian Church in Cranberry Township, addresses the crowd gathered Sunday for the unveiling of a historical marker dedicated to the church, which is celebrating its 200th birthday. In the foreground is Martha Cookson, at 94 the church's oldest member. She is holding the hand of her great-granddaughter, Chloe Kuntz, 2.

CRANBERRY TWP — Church members and friends gathered Sunday morning to celebrate Plains Presbyterian Church's 200th anniversary.

A historically themed worship service was held along with the unveiling of the township's fourth historical marker, which now stands at the corner of Franklin and Plains Church roads. The marker identifies Plains Presbyterian as the township's first church.

The new marker joins the township's other three historically dedicated markers: The Venango Path at the intersection of Route 228 and Franklin Road, Criders Corners along Dutilh Road, and Ogle View on Route 19, dedicated to the township's first post office.

"It was special for everybody to walk down the church road and to have it unveiled — to have our little church be known as the first church of Cranberry," said Traci Kuntz, whose great-great-great-great-grandfather Bejamin Davis donated the building site.

Kuntz and many of her relatives still live within a few miles of the church.

Kuntz's mother Beverly Magill, a church member and president of the Cranberry Township Historical Society, said the historical society was looking for an opportunity to place a new marker, and the 200th anniversary of the church was an excellent time to do it.

"Plains Church has a history of rising to the occasion, making changes as the needs arose, taking on challenges, moving ahead and always meeting those challenges with God's help and abundant blessings," she said.

Magill said the congregation was formed in 1806 with significant help from one of the township's original settlers, Mathew Graham, who is buried in the church cemetery.

That year, the church held its first worship service in a grove/tent setting after having sent supplication four years earlier to the Presbytery of Erie for preaching in the area.

About 14 years later, the congregation of 1806, called a society at that time, decided to build a log church on property donated by Davis.

This is the same site of the current church.

Additional property was later deeded to the church in 1940 from Davis' estate.

Another 19 years passed before Graham helped to build the brick church on this property in 1839.

The bricks were made on the Goehring farm, directly across Franklin Road from Plains Church Road. That farm is now the Franklin Ridge plan of homes.

The brick church may have been destroyed by fire around 1878 because the congregation was invited to hold worship services in the Baptist Church in Evansburg, now Evans City, for a time.

The present sanctuary was built in 1878 and was most recently renovated in 1990.

The education building was dedicated in 1977.

Plains has been the sponsoring church for three other congregations during its history: Evans City Presbyterian Church in 1833, Callery Junction in 1890 and Hope Lutheran Church in Cranberry in 1919.

Twenty-five pastors have served Plains Church. The Rev. Ed Heller is the congregation's current pastor.