PLEASANT HILL, TEXAS. (McLennan County.) Pleasant Hill, which was located eight miles northeast of Waco in McLennan County on a rise overlooking the Tehuacana valley, was developed by Capt. James Parrish, who moved to that area from Pleasant Hill, Dale County, Alabama, in 1865. He established a cotton plantation, built the first bridge across Tehuacana Creek, and gave the community its name. The Pleasant Hill school originated soon thereafter and was taught for several years by former Confederate major John W. Clarkson. Benjamin F. Deveny, a prominent early settler, established the Pleasant Hill Church of Christ about 1885 and served as its preacher for the next thirty years. The community had one store. In 1927 the three schools and five teachers of the Pleasant Hill School District consolidated with nearby Axtell.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dayton Kelley, ed., The Handbook of Waco and McLennan County, Texas (Waco: Texian, 1972).
