History of Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant is a quaint Middle Tennessee town with approximately 4,500 residents. Founded in 1824, the town was known for nearly a century as the Phosphate Capital of the World after ore was discovered there in the late 1800s. The town became a hub for farmers, industrial titans and community members to gather. While the phosphate mines are gone, Mount Pleasant remains a hub of activity as the heart of Maury County’s manufacturing industry and the home of Maury County Regional Airport.
Mount Pleasant continues to be a family-friendly town after 193 years that is passionate about providing its citizens with the best quality of life possible. It strives to remember its past while moving towards its future as a “Hub of Reinvention” in its business, education and community.
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Future of Mount Pleasant
MCI cares about the long-term growth and health of Mount Pleasant as it continues into its future as the “Hub of Reinvention.” With long-term visions, Mount Pleasant is embarking on a downtown revitalization process that will restore its historic buildings and recruit new businesses to open up shop. This reinvention has already begun with several new downtown businesses and great strides in our schools.
In 2017, we welcomed Buckhead Coffeehouse, Clover Home and Hash, Tailored Tumbleweed and Jernigan’s on Main. Our schools became home to the first K-12 STEAM campus in the nation and Mount Pleasant High School received a $500,000 government grant to create an innovation lab for its students.
MCI also works closely with the public, the City of Mount Pleasant, Mount Pleasant’s Chamber of Commerce and the Community Development Corporation to ensure this revitalization and growth aligns with the interests of citizens and local businesses and keeps the community’s quality of life at the forefront.
MCI believes this restoration and revitalization process can move Mount Pleasant, Tennessee into the future while maintaining its history for years to come, truly celebrating the town as the “Hub of Reinvention.”
Seven Female Entrepreneurs of Mount Pleasant
"New Life for a Small Town ... and the Seven Women Walking the Walk" was an article featured in the July 2017 edition of Validity Magazine. The article looks at seven women entrepreneurs, 'some newbies and some local,' who have formed a unique friendship as they have created and developed their respective businesses, which range from a coffee shop and restaurant, to a hair salon and variety of cottage boutique stores.
Seven Female Entrepreneurs and the Metamorphosis of a Small Town
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When I revisited Mount Pleasant several years ago, a sense of impending change was in the air. Yet no physical existence existed.
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Historic brick buildings, falling into disrepair, lined the streets. Constructed during the first revitalization of the 1900s, 'drunk miners who smoked' to quote a local, may have been responsible for burning the mining town's previous wooden buildings.
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This was a rough and tumble town, a mining town," Community Development Corporation Director Donna Morency explained of Mount Pleasant's early settlement days.
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Fast forward to recent times when a group of like-minded business people realized, "If we want this town to endure, we have to invest in it," Morency told us.
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Formed was the Maury County Investment Group who laid the ground work by purchasing buildings and beginning renovations. then something started to happen. One after another, people began traveling through, falling in love with 'Maury County's Mayberry.' Even better, they began making Mount Pleasant their home.
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Today, houses sell before they are on the market or after only one or two days, Morency stated in awe. And housing prices are up.
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Young families are moving to Mount Pleasant, as well as active retirees interested in being part of the community and middle-agers with the ability to work from home. 'They choose Mount Pleasant because they love this community' Morency, a transplant from Nevada, continued.
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'It was nice to be able to move to a new town, buy a house, start a business. The investment group wanted that to happen," Vicki Jernigan, a new store owner, said.
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