We ran across another interesting aspect of Mount Pleasant history that we had never heard while researching the municipal water article. For several years in the 1930s, after the area north of Mt. Pleasant's official city limits became more developed it became an unincorporated community referred to as "North Mt. Pleasant."
A newspaper article says that North Mt. Pleasant was 1/4 mile long north to south and about 1/2 mile wide east to west. City council minutes reveal that the eastern boundary of North Mt. Pleasant started at a stake in the Hart's Bluff Road, which is now North Washington Street.
We are not sure where the City of Mt. Pleasant's north city limits were in 1937, and they are not stated in the city council minutes, but suspect North Mt. Pleasant started somewhere around Fifteenth Street and continued north to present-day Eighteenth Street. We know North Mt. Pleasant crossed Highway 67 and included the area around the present-day Chamber of Commerce and the W. A. Ford residence, which sits in the block between present-day West 17th and 18th Streets.
The lack of water, poor city water, and Mt. Pleasant's treatment of North Mt. Pleasant residents caused hard feelings in 1937. The City of Mt. Pleasant had run water mains to North Mt. Pleasant sometime before 1937. Then in July, 1937 the Mt. Pleasant City Council doubled the cost of water supplied to all users outside the city limits.
Needless to say, this didn't sit well with North Mt. Pleasant residents, who met on Friday night, August 6, 1937 and agreed on plans to install their own private water system and disconnect from City of Mt. Pleasant mains.
North Mt. Pleasant residents hired F. E. Berry to drill a shallow well fifteen feet in diameter and about 25 feet deep for their reservoir. The well was to be brick-curbed and an automatic pump and compressed air tank were to be installed to pressurize their small water system.
Arrangements were made to purchase enough 2-1/2" galvanized pipe for mains and smaller pipe for individual connections, and several citizens had already agreed to connect to the new system.
City of Mt. Pleasant officials said the city would only lose little revenue if the new water system was installed not much water was used outside of the city limits.
On Thursday, August 12 some North Mt. Pleasant residents told Hugh Cross, editor of the Mt. Pleasant Daily Times, that plans were being made to incorporate the community into a separate city. As soon as incorporation was complete, North Mt. Pleasant would divorce itself entirely from the City of Mt. Pleasant.
Those residents said the problems dated back about ten years. The residents claimed a petition was then circulated among North Mt. Pleasant residents in the hope of getting enough signatures to allow North Mt. Pleasant to annexed into the Mt. Pleasant city limits. All but two residents were said to have signed, but when the petition was presented to the City Council a clause was included asking the City to extend a water line from the city limits to Goates' store and east along the old Texarkana highway as far as Arch Rogers' home. This would have cost $400-$500, and the City was said to have refused. In return, North Mt. Pleasant residents refused to vote for annexation.
In July, ill feelings between North Mt. Pleasant residents and the city increased when the City Council raised water and sewer rates on everyone outside the city limits connected to its lines one hundred percent. North Mt. Pleasant residents claimed they were being taken advantage of and were being treated unfairly, and the Times felt they probably were.
The only thing keeping North Mt. Pleasant from incorporating was lack of sufficient population to meet government requirements of at least five hundred people. Only about four hundred currently lived in the area. Because of its rapid growth, though, residents felt the problem would probably take care of itself in a few months.
The North Mt. Pleasant water well was satisfactorily under way and was already down to about seven or eight feet deep. Some water had been found and plans were being made to erect the storage tank that had been purchased on W. A. Ford's land a short distance north and west of his home. We were told that the wells were located on property presently owned by Titus Regional Medical Center. When that was completed, everything would be ready and all that remained before incorporation was to secure enough population.
The well was completed on Friday, September 17. The round, brick-lined fifteen foot diameter well was twenty-two feet deep. Reports said clear, clean water stood within a short distance of the top.
More than enough water was available for all the planned connections. Piping water from the well to North Mt. Pleasant businesses and residences would start very soon, and some the residents had already begun piping their properties.
The mains were laid by Saturday, October 9, 1937 and water from the new well was being pumped into them. One man who served by ten city water meters in the past few months ordered them discontinued in favor of the new water supply.
North Mt. Pleasant residents realized the value of a good source of drinking water and went to considerable expense to get it. They completed a second well on Saturday, December 18, 1937 that was expected to add to their surplus supply.
The second well was twenty-five feet in diameter and 35 feet deep. It was currently standing about twenty feet in water. The second well's capacity was estimated at about 2,750 gallons per foot of depth, or about 96,000 gallons when full. Present capacity was about 55,000 gallons. The water was cold, clean and clear and was much better than the City of Mt. Pleasant's water supply.
The second well was directly connected to the first well's pump and water from it was pumped into the mains. Both wells together were expected to furnish sufficient water to meet North Mt. Pleasant's needs in any type of emergency.
However, North Mt. Pleasant's plentiful supply of clean water didn't last long. On Tuesday, September 6, 1938 a group of North Mt. Pleasant businessmen appeared before the Mt. Pleasant City Council to ask that arrangements be made so they could buy city water. North Mt. Pleasant's plant had become contaminated by overflow from ditches.
Mayor Ben Patrick appointed a city council committee to study the situation and if possible arrange to provide city water to North Mt. Pleasant residents. This would require that proper connections be made so North Mt. Pleasant's water could not mix with city water.
At its regular Tuesday, July 2, 1940 meeting, the Mt. Pleasant City Council went into executive session and approved arrangements to acquire North Mt. Pleasant's water system and to annex North Mt. Pleasant into the City of Mt. Pleasant if President Roosevelt approved the $104,000 WPA water and sewer project that Mt. Pleasant had applied for. The Texas WPA office had approved the project and it was forwarded to Washington, where it would likely be approved.
Minutes of the executive session read as follows:
EXECUTIVE SESSION:
At this time Mayor Patrick declared the council in executive session.
CITY PURCHASE EQUIPMENT OF NORTH MT. PLEASANT;
A motion was made by Ald. Beall for the City of Mt. Pleasant to accept the proposition of Odus Jackson, Phill Blackwell, J. H. Goates, Mrs. W. A. Ford and W. A. Gann to purchase the North Mt. Pleasant Water Equipment of 2800 feet of 2" Galvanized pipe, 43 meters, 1-5 horse power electric motor, one 1500 gallon pressure tank, one 50 gallon well pump that pumps 50 gallons per minute, complete with all the fittings, and that the Mayor be instructed to work out the details of the option for $1200.00 all of which be conditioned upon the territory known as North Mt. Pleasant being legally annexed to the City of Mt. Pleasant, and further conditioned upon the approval of W.P.A. Water and Sewer project now pending. And further that Mayor Patrick be authorized to execute the option agreement with the 5 owners after the same has been approved by City Attorney Brown, this motion was Sec. by Ald. Stephenson, upon being put to a vote all voted AYE and the motion carried. All pipe under 2800 feet shall be deducted 15 cents per foot.
If the City of Mt. Pleasant took over the North Mt. Pleasant water system's physical property, they planned to replace two-inch pipe in use with six or eight inch lines, install fire hydrants, extend the sewer system, and give complete water service to the area. The pipe removed would be used elsewhere in the city.
The new project also included plans for a 12-inch main from the filter plant to the standpipe and two large lines connecting with the rest of the water system. This would give three mains to furnish the town with water instead of the one presently in use, and would insure proper pressure at all times. Many sections of the city would be given water service that could not before.
President Roosevelt approved Mt. Pleasant's $104,000 WPA water and sewer project application.
North Mt. Pleasant was officially annexed into the City of Mt. Pleasant on Tuesday night, July 30, 1940 when the city council at a special meeting accepted a petition signed by most of its residents asking to be brought into the city limits.
According to the Mt. Pleasant City Council minutes, North Mt. Pleasant had 70 registered voters, and 64 of them signed the petition requesting to be annexed into Mt. Pleasant. Below is a copy of the petition as recorded in the Mt. Pleasant City Council minutes:
STATE OF TEXAS
COUNTY OF TITUS
Dated July 26th, 1940.
We, the undersigned inhabitants of the territory hereinafter described, adjoining the limits of the City of Mt. Pleasant, Texas and duly qualified to vote for members of the State legislature, hereby cast our votes in favor of becoming a part of the said City of Mt. Pleasant, Texas, said above named territory being described as follows; to-wit;
BEGINNING at the present Northwest corner of the City of Mt. Pleasant, Texas; THENCE NORTH 587.5 vrs. a stake; THENCE EASTERLY on a line running parallel to the present NB line of said City of Mt. Pleasant 1662.5 vrs to a stake in the center of the Harts Bluff Public Road; THENCE SOUTH 587.5 vrs with said center of said Harts Bluff Public road to a stake in the present NB line of said City of Mt. Pleasant, Texas; THENCE WESTERLY along said line 1662.5 vrs to the place of beginning.
Odus Jackson
C. E. Gaddis
Katherine Ford Gaddis
B. B. Poag
Joe B. White
A.E. Combs
Mrs. J. R. Stephens
Phill Blackwell
J. C. Gage
Letha Gage
J. S. Bell
Mrs. Odus Jackson
Mrs. Morris W. Smith
Wallace Wilson
Mrs. A.G. Hunt
Mrs. Joe B. White
Mrs. J. I. Justice
Mrs. P. A. Williams
Mrs. Jessie Copelin
Edgar Amerson
Edd Roberts
Robert Davis
Mrs. Mollie Davis
Mrs. Robert Davis
O. L. Ragain
Mrs. O. L. Ragain
Mrs. Gary Gallagler
A. G. Hunt
J. D. Holcomb
James L. Smith
J. D. Stone
Mrs. Allen LaPrade
Mrs. P. E. LaPrade
Frances LaPrade
J. W. Campbell
Mrs. Phi11 Blackwell
P. A. Williams
Billy Jackson
John M. Allen
Mrs. James S. Combs
C. D. Hooks
Mr. & Mrs. Leon Rhea
Joseph Kamel
Wille Copeland
Mrs. Leland R. Bell
Mrs. Bud Green
Mrs. A. B. Rogers
Mrs. J. W. Cambell
H. M. Jackson
R. L. Bell
A. B. Rogers
Felix Justice
Allen LaPrade
Marvin Crow
Mrs. R. L. Bell
Mrs. H. M. Jackson
Mrs. Bulah Cochran
H. A. Snodgrass
Mrs. H. A. Snodgrass
Mrs. Marvin Crow
J. E. Wallace
Bernice Wallace
STATE OF TEXAS
COUNTY OF TITUS
TO THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MT. PLEASANT, TEXAS
This is to certify that the affidavit attached hereto, signed
by Odus Jackson, Joe B. White and A. B. Rogers has this day been
filed with me.
That it appears from said affidavit, and I hereby so certify to your Honorable Body, that more than a Majority of the inhabitants qualified to vote for members of the State Legislature of the territory adjoining the limits of the City of Mt. Pleasant, Texas, hereinafter more particularly described, have voted in favor of becoming a part of said City.
That the City Council may by ordinance receive them and said territory as a part of said City; that from thenceforth the territory so received shall be a part of said City; and that thenceforth the inhabitants thereof shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of other citizens, and bound by the acts and ordinances made in conformity thereto and passed in pursuance of the laws of the State of Texas.
That said adjoining territory does not exceed one-half mile in width and is described by metes and bounds as follows;
BEGINNING at the present Northwest corner of the City of Mt. Pleasant, Texas; THENCE NORTH 587.5 vrs., a stake; THENCE EASTERLY on a line running parallel to the present NB line of said City of Mt. Pleasant 1662.5 vrs. to a stake in the center of Harts bluff public road; THENCE SOUTH 587.5 vrs with said center of Harts Bluff public road to a stake in the present NB line of said City of Mt. Pleasant; THENCE WESTERLY along said line 1662 vrs. to the place of beginning.
WITNESS MY HAND AND OFFICIAL SIGNATURE this 30th day of July, 1940
With North Mt. Pleasant's annexation, the council planned to begin work to extend water mains to the newly annexed area. Fire hydrants were to be installed to protect property in the area. Six-inch mains were to be laid with smaller extensions to furnish an adequate supply and plenty of pressure.
