| Marker Text |
Pleasant Hill is one of the oldest African-American communities in Texas. Pleasant Hill Baptist Church was organized in 1843. Prominent church members donated this land beside the Old Monterey Road, and a frame church and two-story schoolhouse were built here. In 1925, citizens built this school with help from the Julius Rosenwald School building program, established to improve education for African Americans in the rural South. The school cost $3450, with the Rosenwald fund matching the $700 contribution of African American citizens. It was built per Rosenwald plan 20-A, from materials salvaged from the previous schoolhouse plus new materials. The plan features an “industrial room” in the central bay and two classrooms originally separated by a movable partition. The school opened with about seventy students and two teachers, Della Lindsay Warren and Professor R. S. Guise. Approximately 1,200 students attended school up to eighth grade at Pleasant Hill; those who wished to complete high school attended Fairview School near Linden. In 1964, with attendance around 26, the school closed and the students were transferred to Linden. The one-story side-gable schoolhouse features a symmetrical front elevation with a central projecting gable flanked by two front doors. Craftsman-style detailing on the wood frame building includes wide overhangs, exposed rafter tails and knee braces. Large 9/9 and 6/6 light windows dominate the front and rear facades. The historic grounds also include a playground with swing set, merry-go-round and slide added during the Great Depression and a concrete storm shelter built in the 1950s. Twenty-three Rosenwald schools were built in Cass County, but today Pleasant Hill School – restored ca. 2009 and now a community center – is the only one remaining. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2010 |
