Pleasant Hill, Tennessee

Pleasant Hill is a town in Cumberland County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 563 at the 2010 census.

Pleasant Hill, Tennessee
Town
Pleasant Hill Town Hall
Location of Pleasant Hill in Cumberland County, Tennessee.
Coordinates: 35°58′37″N 85°12′1″W
CountryUnited States
StateTennessee
CountyCumberland
Incorporated1903[1]
Area
 • Total1.64 sq mi (4.25 km2)
 • Land1.63 sq mi (4.22 km2)
 • Water0.01 sq mi (0.03 km2)
Elevation
1,896 ft (578 m)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total563
 • Estimate 
(2019)[3]
556
 • Density341.10/sq mi (131.70/km2)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code
38578
Area code(s)931
FIPS code47-59240[4]
GNIS feature ID1297846[5]

History

Pleasant Hill was first settled by European Americans before 1819.[6] In 1884 a teacher from the American Missionary Association (AMA) established the Pleasant Hill Academy to provide broad liberal arts education for rural youth, while also giving vocational training in agriculture and local skills.[7] Supported by the Congregational Church, the school operated until 1947.[8] Its main building, Pioneer Hall, is still standing.

The Pleasant Hill Academy (now Pioneer Hall)

May Cravath Wharton, an early woman physician from Minnesota, established a medical clinic at the academy, where her husband was the director.[7] Wharton also cared for people in the community. They invited her to stay after the death of her husband Edwin.[7]

Wharton created a small hospital and, with successful fundraising in New England through the AMA, she was able to add a sanatorium annex for the care of people with tuberculosis. As no antibiotic was known at the time, rest and good nutrition were the only treatment. The Uplands Sanatorium was adapted as a retirement home when the hospital was relocated to Crossville, the county seat. The hospital is now known as the Cumberland Medical Center.[7]

Camp Crossville, a site just east of Pleasant Hill, was used as a prisoner of war camp during World War II, housing German and Italian officers from November 1942 until the end of the war.[9]

Geography

Pleasant Hill is located at 35°58′37″N 85°12′1″W (35.976915, -85.200229).[10] The town is situated in a hilly area along the western Cumberland Plateau. In the northwestern part of the town, Frey Branch is impounded by two dams, Lake Laura Dam and Lake Alice Dam, to create two small lakes, Upland Lake and Lake Alice, respectively.

U.S. Route 70 passes through the southern portion of Pleasant Hill, connecting the town with Crossville to the east and Sparta to the west.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2), of which 1.5 square miles (3.9 km2) is land and 0.64% is water.

Demographics
Historical population
CensusPop.%±
1910227—
1920148−34.8%
193016511.5%
19401787.9%
1950152−14.6%
196026775.7%
19702939.7%
198037126.6%
199049433.2%
200054410.1%
20105633.5%
Est. 2019556[3]−1.2%
Sources:[11][12]

As of the census[4] of 2000, there were 544 people, 273 households, and 143 families residing in the town. The population density was 350.0 people per square mile (135.5/km2). There were 314 housing units at an average density of 202.0 per square mile (78.2/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 98.53% White, 0.37% African American, 0.55% Native American, 0.18% Asian, and 0.37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.18% of the population.

There were 273 households, out of which 11.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.2% were married couples living together, 5.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.3% were non-families. 45.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 40.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.77 and the average family size was 2.40.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 11.2% under the age of 18, 2.4% from 18 to 24, 11.2% from 25 to 44, 11.4% from 45 to 64, and 63.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 72 years. For every 100 females, there were 64.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 58.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town is $29,554, and the median income for a family was $37,375. Males had a median income of $23,750 versus $20,250 for females. The per capita income for the town was $21,384. About 7.0% of families and 10.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.0% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people
  • Dora Read Goodale (1866–1952), a poet and teacher from Massachusetts, director of the Uplands Sanatorium in the late 1930s through 1941. Her book of poetry, Mountain Dooryards (1941), incorporated the traditional Appalachian dialect of the area.[13]
  • Helen S. Mitchell (1895–1984), died at Uplands Sanatorium.
  • Earl Webb, baseball player.[14]
  • May Cravath Wharton (1873–1959), an early woman physician from Minnesota, who created the first hospital and sanatorium in the area at Pleasant Hill, and later established Cumberland Medical Center in Crossville.[7]

Further reading
  • May Cravath Wharton, Doctor Woman of the Cumberlands: the Autobiography of May Cravath Wharton (1953).
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References
  1. Tennessee Blue Book, 2005-2006, pp. 618-625.
  2. "2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  3. "Population and Housing Unit Estimates". United States Census Bureau. May 24, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  4. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  5. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  6. Brief History of the County, Cumberland County Sesquicentennial website, accessed August 24, 2008
  7. Franklin & Betty J. Parker, "Wharton, May Cravath (1873-1959)", Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture, Ed. by Carroll Van West, et al. Nashville: Tennessee Historical Society, 1998, pp. 1050-1051, accessed 4 February 2011
  8. Guide to Manuscript Materials on Microfilm : MF. 1812, Tennessee State Library and Archives
  9. "Cumberland County Historic Sites", Tennessee Genealogy and History: TNGenWeb Project
  10. "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
  11. "Census of Population and Housing: Decennial Censuses". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
  12. "Incorporated Places and Minor Civil Divisions Datasets: Subcounty Resident Population Estimates: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012". Population Estimates. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 17 June 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  13. Paula Bennett, Nineteenth-century American Women Poets: An Anthology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1998, pp. 351-352, accessed 3 February 2011
  14. Earl Webb stranded in Tennessee home
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