Pleasant Grove, Dallas
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Pleasant Grove is an area in southeastern Dallas, Texas (USA). The Pleasant Grove neighborhood in the city of Dallas, Texas county of Dallas, Texas should not be confused with the town of Pleasant Grove in Wood County Texas.[1] The Pleasant Grove neighborhood in Dallas, Texas is located in the southeast portion of Dallas less than 15 minutes driving time from Downtown Dallas, Uptown Dallas,The Arts District, Fair Park, Deep Ellum and White Rock Lake and less than a 20 minute drive to Lake Ray Hubbard.[2]
The Pleasant Grove area today consist of a collection of distinctive neighborhoods that include Buckner Terrace, Everglade Park, The Piedmont Addition (formerly Piedmont), Urbandale, Parkdale, and Pleasant Mound. Some areas of Pleasant Grove seem urban, while other areas still seem like the country. This is because the majority of Pleasant Grove was developed in the mid-century. In the 1940's Pleasant Grove was a small developing community with the first businesses established at the corner of Buckner Boulevard and Lake June Road.
Pleasant Grove, or "The Grove" as it is called by locals, is one of Dallas's most diverse ethnic and socioeconomic areas. Most of the houses built as part of the original developments are relatively inexpensive per square foot when compared to other parts of the city of Dallas. There are many new developments throughout the area ranging from the low to high income housing range. Housing prices have appreciated in the area in part because of new real estate and economic developments, such as The Trinity River Audobon Center and Eastfield College Pleasant Grove Campus, DART's development of the Green Line light rail line access and revitalized appreciation of Keeton Park Golf Course. In addition, a 2003 bond program allocated over 6 million dollars for a new green state-of-the-art Pleasant Grove Library.
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[edit] Boundaries
The boundaries of Pleasant Grove are clearly defined by many sources including the Dallas Morning News article entitled Pleasant Grove Area Faces 'Pleasant' Futureby Jim Key published in October 5,1966.[3]. The Key article provides a shaded map and defines the Pleasant Grove area as a 45 square mile territory including "that portion of the city of Dallas south of Highway 80 (Thornton Freeway) and east of White Rock Creek and the Trinity River." Another Dallas Morning News article entitled ‘Pleasant Grove Outlook Favorable’[4] by Dorthie Erwin dated November 26, 1967 specifically includes a map that defines the northern most boundary of Pleasant Grove as I-30 Thornton Freeway. These articles are among many about the Pleasant Grove Area that can be viewed online through the 'Database' section online at The Dallas Public Library. Here also is a 1941 Road Map of Dallas County, Texas, by the Dallas County Engineering Department[5] and the 1900 Sam Street's Map of Dallas County, Texas.[6] To view maps in fulls-cale here is a plug-in.
[edit] History
Lisa C. Maxwell recites the history of Pleasant Grove in The Handbook of Texas as follows: "The center of old Pleasant Grove was at Lake June Road and Buckner Boulevard, but the area now considered Pleasant Grove includes portions of Pleasant Mound, Urbandale, Parkdale, and Piedmont. The first settlers in the Pleasant Grove area in the 1840s included W. B. Elam, who held the original land grant, Richard Bruton, and Cornelius Cox. By 1875 a wooden building was used as a union church and school. An early teacher at one of the schools built in the 1880s was Don Lebow, who named the school Pleasant Grove after its location in a grove of cottonwood trees. The name was then applied to both the school and the community. In 1900 Sam Street's map of Dallas County showed Pleasant Grove as a small community with a store. In 1916 the first brick schoolhouse was built.
Due to a post-World War II housing boom the population grew from 120 to 3,500 between 1943 and 1952. By the late 1940s Pleasant Grove had seven businesses, including a new bank. Businesses remained less important than the residential areas, but in 1952 Pleasant Grove Shopping Center, a major retail center, was built. In 1937 Pleasant Grove formed its own school district, which by the late 1940s had fourteen buildings. In June 1954 the Pleasant Grove school district merged with the Dallas Independent School District. Pleasant Grove twice fought incorporation movements and remained unincorporated. The city of Dallas started annexing areas of Pleasant Grove in the late 1940s, and by 1962 all of Pleasant Grove was within the Dallas city limits. In 1962 the Greater Pleasant Grove Chamber of Commerce was formed to promote business in the area. In the 1990s Pleasant Grove continued to be known as a separate community, although it was officially part of Dallas and received all its city services from Dallas. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dallas Morning News, November 26, 1967. Pleasant Grove Shopping News, April 14, 1971."
[edit] Geography
The geography of Pleasant Grove varies significantly. Most of the eastern portion lies on the flat grasslands like those that can be seen outside the city. Prairie Creek also runs through this area, and most of the area's trees are located along its banks. Prairie Creek is dammed south of Bruton Road to form Lake June. The southern, more rural parts of the area, especially south of US 175, are located in the Trinity River basin and are heavily forested. Moving to the west, the plains become separated from the White Rock Creek bottomlands by rolling hills and limestone cliffs.
[edit] Recreation
Pleasant Grove is the location of Keeton Park Golf Course and The Trinity River Audobon Center. Pleasant Grove contains many neighborhood parks. In addition, Pleasant Grove is a 15 minute drive from White Rock Lake and less than a 20 minute drive to Lake Ray Hubbard.
[edit] Shopping
Pleasant Grove is less than a 15 minute drive from either The North Park Center in Dallas or The Town East Mall area in Mesquite. In addition, Pleasant Grove has many local shopping areas along Interstate 30, Buckner Blvd and Lake June.
[edit] Education
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Pleasant Grove used to have its own school district (Pleasant Grove Independent School District). It was later annexed by the Dallas Independent School District.[citation needed]
High Schools
- The Skyline Career Development Center is know known as Skyline High School.
- Pleasant Grove High School was replaced with W.W. Samuell High School.
- H. Grady Spruce High School
Elementary schools
- Pleasant Grove Elementary School
- Rufus C. Burleson Elementary School
- John Quincy Adams Elementary School
- San Jacinto Elementary School
- John Ireland Elementary School
- Annie Webb Blanton Elementary School - Home of the Lions
- Edward Titche Elementary School
- John W. Runyon Elementary School
- B.H. Macon Elementary School
- Nathaniel Hawthorne Elementary School
Adelfa Callejo Elementary School will open in Pleasant Grove in 2012, and Thelma Elizabeth Page Richardson Elementary School will open in Pleasant Grove in 2013.[7]
Middle schools
- Fred F. Florence Middle School
- John B. Hood Middle School
- E. B. Comstock Middle School
- Fred F. Florence Middle School
Ann Richards Middle School will open in Pleasant Grove in 2012.[7]
[edit] Libraries
The Pleasant Grove area is served by two public library branches the Pleasant Grove Libraryand the Skyline Library. In addition, a 2003 bond program allocated over 6 million dollars for a new green state-of-the-art Pleasant Grove Library.[8]
[edit] Transportation
[edit] Trains
A freight line runs through the northern edge of Pleasant Grove, as does another along the edge of the Trinity Forest and US 175. The DART Green Line will be constructed parallel to this line.
[edit] Light Rail
Lake June Station Buckner Station
Another DART light rail line along Scyene Road has been recommended by the DART 2030 Plan.
[edit] Highways
[edit] Famous residents
- Maceo Baston grew up in the Pleasant Grove area and attended Nancy Moseley Elementary School. He plays for the Toronto Raptors in the NBA.
- C.J. Miles of the Utah Jazz grew up in pleasant grove and attended Skyline Career Development Center. As a senior in high school he was named to the McDonald's all-high school team.
- Former NBA player Larry Johnson grew up in the Pleasant Grove area and attended John B. Hood Middle School and Skyline High School. He later gained fame as a member of the 1990 NCAA champion UNLV Rebels basketball team and was the first player chosen in the 1991 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets. His brother Michael Johnson also attended Skyline High School, gaining fame as a US Olympic Gold Medalist, setting numerous world records in Men's Sprinting.
[edit] Resources
- 'Miss Adas Pleasant Grove Community' by Carothers, Meredith
- 'Pleasant Grove, yesterday and today' by Samuell (W.W.) High School. 1979 English 501-503 Class
- Housing Values for Pleasant Grove
- Pleasant Grove, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
“Maps provided courtesy of the Dallas Public Library Texas/Dallas History & Archives Division.”
[edit] Notes
- ^ Pleasant Grove in Wood County Texas.
- ^ Google Maps Time.
- ^ Pleasant Grove Area Faces 'Pleasant' Future'.
- ^ ‘Pleasant Grove Outlook Favorable’by Dorthie Erwin dated November 26, 1967].
- ^ Road Map of Dallas County, Texas, by the Dallas County Engineering Department
- ^ Sam Street's Map of Dallas County, Texas.
- ^ a b "New Schools-2008 Bond Program." Dallas Independent School District. Retrieved on January 8, 2010.
- ^ Hidell and Associates.
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