"Charmed With Its Loveliness" ~ Late Century: 1860s - 1890s 205 Playbill. "Borderland" was first performed by Mount Pleasant young people about 1892 and repeated at the Old Boys' Reunion in 1908 because it was so popular. Lectures, concerts, recitals, and performances of all types enjoyed great popularity from the 1890s to the beginning of WW1. How earlier pioneer generations would have envied entertainment such as this amateur theatrical made possible by fine education, leisure time, and prosperity. in the 1870s, built by community volunteers with generously donated materials. They also recalled an earthquake in 1870 that rocked the octagonal school, knocking books off the shelves and causing school to be dismissed early for the day. That would have been a perfect opportunity for the boys of the village to run to get their bows and arrows in search of the flocks of migrating wild pigeons that often darkened the sky in those days.