Most of Pleasant Hill was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2002. Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1960.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1871.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Pleasant Hill’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pleasant Hill is more historic than 2% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pleasant Hill’s overall grade.
Iowa towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Iowa town has 9.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Pleasant Hill’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (17% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±1.5 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1956.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Pleasant Hill’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Oakwood Station
1871–1883
Oakwood
1885–1891
Youngstown
1891–1899
Carbondale
1899–1901
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CarbondalePleasant Valley Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Carbondale Post Officepost officeOakwood Post Officepost officeOakwood Station Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Pleasant Hill
Oakwood
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Pleasant Hill on the map, 1905 to 1971
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pleasant Hill. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1905Des Moines sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pleasant Hill.
On November 20, 1983, an explosion of an explosives storage bunker just south of Pleasant Hill occurred. Reports were that two teenagers were hunting around the area. One of the teenagers may have shot a bullet from a hill which penetrated the bunker ceiling, which was deemed the probable cause of the explosion. The two teenagers were killed in the explosion, leaving only small pieces of shirts. The explosion was felt 45 miles away from the site. At least 25 homes within a one-mile radius of the explosion suffered damage, doors and windows were blown out, ceilings fell and houses were knocked off their foundations, police said. One house, 300 yards directly up the valley from the shack, suffered an inch-wide crack the entire width of its basement wall.
listed August 22, 1862; promoted to eighth corporal January 23, 1863; wounded and captured at Pleasant Hill, La., April 9, 1864; discharged June 21, 1865. Luellen, Francis, private, company K, enlisted August 15, 1862; wounded and captured at Pleasant
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Pleasant Hill, 1871 to 1956
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1956, according to Wikidata. Pleasant Hill’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1960 counted 397 people here.
How does Pleasant Hill rank for history?
Pleasant Hill is more historic than 2% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Pleasant Hill?
1% of Pleasant Hill’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 2002.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2021
2010
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