Missouri suburb with rural location and commutability to KC
Just southeast of Kansas City, Pleasant Hill is a small city that offers commutability, walkable shopping and a quaint, suburban environment. "Even though Pleasant Hill is its own city, it's really more of a bedroom community for Kansas City," says Laurence Smith, a local broker who also owns Reece & Nichols Smith Realty. Rich farming land in the surrounding areas of Cass County made this area hotly contested leading up to the Civil War, and continues to provide a naturally scenic environment for residents of Pleasant Hill.
Nowadays, the city's population has climbed to over 8,680 people and continues to attract new businesses and employers. Commuting into Kansas City is one of the most common ways to find a job, though other local employers are also available, including plants and manufacturers like Dogwood Energy and ICF Industries.
If you are looking for coffee in Pleasant Hill, Press Monkey Studio has a wide selection of drinks and gifts.
Pleasant Hill combines a historic downtown with a mix of suburban housing options that span from the early 1900s to the modern day.
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A wealth of new Cass County homes mixed with older builds
Pleasant Hill combines a historic downtown with a mix of suburban housing options that span from the early 1900s to the modern day. "The city has become a very growing alternative to the KC Metro. "There's a lot of new infrastructure as well as new subdivisions that bring in new homes," Smith says. With a median listing price of $370,000, homes in Pleasant Hill are considered more affordable than the national median, but about even with Kansas City's median. This recent growth in the housing market has been driven by a wealth of newly constructed single-family homes and townhouses. Older homes range from midcentury ranch-styles to wooden-sided cottages and traditional homes with custom builds. Most properties sit on grassy quarter-to-half-acre lots and are surrounded by ornamental trees and lawn scaping.
Many older homes in Pleasant Hill may be made of masonry and built in the colonial style.
Split-level homes in Pleasant Hill offer 3-4 bedrooms and 2-3 car garages.
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Pleasant Hill R-III Schools and academic options
Pleasant Hill R-III Schools gets a B grade from Niche and is rated as the third-best school district in Cass County. The district serves over 2,190 students with five different schools. In addition to Advanced Placement coursework and an advanced academic program called PHYRE, students can participate in athletics like track and field, volleyball and wrestling. Another popular choice is show choir. Pleasant Hill has four competitive show choirs that compete annually in the Battle of the Best.
Pleasant Hill Middle School offers Roosters Football and Chicks Softball sports teams.
Teenagers move on to Pleasant Hill High School offering a reward winning musical program, athletics, student centered clubs and academic groups.
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Cass County parks and a Midwestern climate
Pleasant Hill Parks and Recreation Department oversees 20 parks throughout the city, ranging from Best Friends Dog Park to the MoPac Trail, a three-mile extension to the greater Katy Trail State Park. Replacing an old, unused railroad, the Katy Trail is a 240-mile walking and biking trail that traverses Missouri's scenic countryside. Known for being the longest developed rail-trail in the country, Visitors can travel all the way from Clinton in the west to Machens, just outside of St. Louis. Machens in the east Other popular options include City Lake, which has fishing, a boat ramp and disc golf, and the gazebo and flower garden at Children's Memorial Park.
Pleasant Hill has a temperate, Midwestern climate with four seasons. Winters bring an annual average of 15 inches of snow and flooding from Big Creek is also possible in heavy rain. The city has conducted several risk assessments and flood management efforts, including a flood alert system and flood map. Pleasant Hill is also in Tornado Alley, with the last major tornadoes passing through the area in 2003.
MoPac Trail in Pleasant Hill is a three-mile extension to the greater Katy Trail State Park.
Best Friends Dog Park sits northeast of downtown Pleasant Hill and is the perfect spot for you and your bestie.
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Pleasant Hill's historic downtown and other shopping
Although not large in size, Pleasant Hill has its own walkable downtown area. Known as Historic Downtown Pleasant Hill, this area is the center of shopping for the city and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Districts. While getting coffee, eating out or exploring boutiques, residents can appreciate the Classical Revival architecture of 40 different buildings, with the oldest dating back to 1865. Notable locations include thrift stores like Brown's Vintage and Variety as well as restaurants like Big Creek Cafe. For more errands, Dollar General and Cosentino's Price Chopper both line Missouri State Route 7.
State Route 7, just north of downtown Pleasant Hill is lined with big box stores like Price Chopper.
Pleasant Hill residents head to Big Creek Cafe for a bite to eat at lunchtime.
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Civil War history in downtown Pleasant Hill
Due to Pleasant Hill's location near the Missouri-Kansas border, the city was hotly contested between the North and South during the Civil War. Both sides generally destroyed the city during skirmishes like "Battle of the Ravines." Other than "The Burnt District," the only antebellum home that residents can visit is the old Henley Home, which was used as a Union headquarters.
As a bedroom community of Kansas City, Pleasant Hill offers a sense of community, spaciousness and easy-living that's hard to find in bigger cities.
To learn more about Civil War history, Pleasant Hill residents can visit the old Henley Home, which was used as a headquarters by the Union.
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Getting around Cass County with State Route 7
The 36-mile commute into Pleasant Hill's larger neighbor, Kansas City, is made possible by State Route 7 connecting to Interstate 470. International flights are also available at Kansas City International Airport, which is 56 miles north of Pleasant Hill. In the case of medical emergencies, Cass Regional Medical Center is 13 miles south in Harrisonville. Those looking for day trips without driving can also head to Pleasant Hill's train station to find the Missouri Pacific Railroad, a passenger railroad system that goes to St. Louis and other destinations.
Important to know
According to the FBI Crime Data Explorer, violent crimes in Pleasant Hill have increased slightly since 2015, while property crimes have decreased by about 47% in the same amount of time. Despite this small increase in violent crime, Pleasant Hill's rates for violent and property crime are both significantly lower than the national average.
Since 1995 I've been licensed in Missouri and Kansas as a Real Estate Agent and Broker, selling Residential, Commercial and Land to hundreds of Clients. After owning my own company for several years, I joined Keller Williams in 2015. I am a lifetime resident of Cass County.
Disclaimer: Certain information contained herein is derived from information provided by parties other than Homes.com. Our sources include: Accuweather, Public Records and Neustar. All information provided is deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate and should be independently verified.
