[Side A]
Pleasant Hill dates back to Missouri's early pioneer days. As early as 1823, there was a trading post located two miles east of the present town that was operated by a French Canadian by the name of Blois.
In 1828, David Creek settled on land in this part of Missouri that had been ceded by treaty to the U.S. Government by the Assuage Indians three years earlier.
William Wright and his wife, Melinda, came to this part of western Missouri from Kentucky in 1836 and established a mercantile business with Methodist circuit rider William Ferrell.
W.W. Wright platted the first addition to be recorded as the "Original Town of Pleasant Hill" on October 8, 1844, on the ridge near what is now the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.
Pleasant Hill was an overnight stop for the stagecoach routes between Fort Scott, Kansas and Lexington, Missouri. A 3-story brick tavern erected by the Wrights in 1846 was a popular haven for travelers and is said to have had a "beacon" on top of a 12-foot pole that welcomed weary travelers to town.
The town of Pleasant Hill was chartered in 1855 and Dr. Logan McReynolds was its first mayor.
Bitter fighting between southern guerrillas and federal troops during the Civil War led to [O]rder No. 11 which required people living in Cass County and three other counties on the Missouir-Kansas border to vacate their homes unless they could prove their loyalty to the [U]nion.
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[Side B]
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The Christian Church built in 1848 was used to house federal soldiers during the Civil War and was later burned by "Bushw[h]ackers." The Presbyterian congregation was divided by the Civil War and two churches were built side-by-side on High Street.
Southern Colonel Hiram Bledsoe commanded "Bledsoe's Battery" at Civil War battles in Missouri, Tennessee and Georgia. After the war, he served on the Cass County Court and Missouri Senate. He was buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery after his death in 1899.
Work on the Pacific Railroad was finally completed all the way across Missouri in 1865 and the railroad brought new prosperity to Pleasant Hill. Although land between the hills was low and swampy, First Street was laid out parallel to the tracks and the business district moved from "Old Town" to what is now downtown Pleasant Hill.
The Kellogg greenhouses were built in 1880 and for many years were considered the largest west of the Mississippi. During its heyday in the early 1900s, Colonial Poultry shipped millions of laying chickens to locations all over the world.
Lemuel Green and his two sons, Ralph and Lawrence installed a 500 kilowatt electric generator in Pleasant Hill in 1917 and founded what would become Missouri Public Service Company.
(Industry & Commerce • Railroads & Streetcars • Settlements & Settlers • War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Text on the Front (North) Plaque:
Stands a monument marking the site of the first commercial well in the Richburg Oil Field. Completed April 27, 1881. This marker was erected by local oil producers and the site provided by the Richburg Board of Education.
Kateri Tekakwitha
This testimonial is dedicated by the North American survivors, colleagues of E.A. VanValkenburg during the quarter-century in which he directed the publication of the Philadelphia North American. As its editor he inspired and directed public opinion for the advancement of the civic, economic and legislative interests of the people of Pennsylvania and of the United States.
Replica erected by the
A founder of Wellsboro
One of the earliest remaining architecturally significant buildings in the city. Originally the residence of Judge Charles Tessier, first Probate Judge of East Baton Rouge Parish, who acquired the property in the early 1800's through the claim of Richard Devall (Devall Town).
Site of third West Baton Rouge Parish Courthouse. Saved by the efforts of the West Baton Rouge Garden & Civic Club, who established the first library on the 2nd floor of this building July 11, 1933. After partial demolition in 1957 Clerk of Court’s records vault opened as the West Baton Rouge Museum in 1970. In honor of 75 years service by the oldest civic organization in West Baton Rouge Parish.
The Oak Ridge Jail is believed to be the only surviving pre Civil War wooden jail in Louisiana. The parish sheriff used it to lock up any criminals, whether free or slave. It is of plank construction with no corner posts or framing materials. The walls, floors and ceiling are fabricated of three sets of heart pine, laminated together with thousands of nails. This construction technique created a four inch thick wall that could not be penetrated with an axe or hatchet. Chains and shackles were located on the walls of the two small cells.
Look over the water and across time. Do you hear the paddling of Native American dug-outs? Thunderous volleys from the Civil War gunboat pictured above? Perhaps Mark Twain piloting a paddle-wheeler or P.T. Barnum beckoning with his showboat's calliope? Maybe explorer LaSalle, a young Abe Lincoln or nature artist J.J. Audubon, who all sailed past this very spot? Listen and you'll hear the history of America on the currents of this river.
The First Baptist Church of Moody was organized in 1855 in the community of Perry (2 mi. N), with Elder S.G. O'Bryan serving as first pastor. Another early minister, the Rev. John McClain, had been present at the church's organization and served the congregation for many years. In 1883, two years after the Santa Fe Railroad bypassed the town of Perry, the Baptist church moved to this site in the new railroad town of Moody. The church has ordained several pastors from its membership and has contributed much to the heritage of the surrounding area.
This ancient burial ground of Central Ohio was established in a bend of the Scioto River in 1799 and is known as "Old Franklinton Cemetery". The pioneers buried here are about one hundred in number. Seventy-one graves are marked largely by sandstone slabs, many having elaborately carved drawings and quaint inscriptions.
Incorporated January 25, 1834, the church was built on this site in 1836, Charles K. Marshall, Pastor. Enlarged under the leadership of the Reverend William E. M. Linfield in 1860, it was used until March 28, 1926, when the congregation moved to a new church on the corner of East and North Boulevards. The church that began here is now the First United Methodist Church.
Unanimously elected
Indians lived at the mouth of the Miami River (200 yards southwest of this spot) for more than 15 centuries before White men came. The principal town of the Tequesta Indians, including six mounds used for dwelling, burial, and religious rites, was discovered here by the Spaniards. They built in it the earliest White settlement in S. E. Florida, a fort and Jesuit mission, in 1567. When the British obtained Florida in 1763, most of the Tequesta departed with the Spaniards to Havana and thereafter vanished as a tribe.
Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Adelantado of Florida and founder of St. Augustine, landed here at the chief village of the Tequesta Indians early in 1567. He returned several Indians held captive on the West Coast and established friendly relations with the Tequesta chief. Father Juan Rogel and brother Francisco Villareal organized a Jesuit mission near the thirty man fort built by the Spanish. Brother Villareal wrote the first letter known to have been written in Miami - 1568, and described the life of the Indians, complained of the mosquitoes and recorded the first plays staged in this area, one a religious comedy about the flesh and the devil.
