Editing Mount Pleasant, Iowa (section)

== History ==
[[Image:UnionBlockMtPleasant15.jpg|thumb|left|Historic [[Union Block (Mount Pleasant, Iowa)|Union Block]] building (2015)]]
The first permanent settlement at Mount Pleasant was made in 1833.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.amtrak.com/stations/mtp.html | title=Mt. Pleasant, Iowa | publisher=Amtrak | access-date=12 March 2018}}</ref> Mount Pleasant was incorporated as a town in 1842, and again in 1851.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/historyhenrycou00cogoog | title=The History of Henry County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, &c | publisher=Western Historical Company | year=1879 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyhenrycou00cogoog/page/n498 504]}}</ref>

In 1869, Mount Pleasant was the site of a [[solar eclipse]] expedition, under the command of James Craig Watson and sponsored by ''National Almanac.'' The total [[Solar eclipse of August 7, 1869|solar eclipse occurred on August 7, 1869]].<ref>[[:Wikisource:''Popular Science Monthly''/Volume 19/September 1881/"Sketch of James Craig Watson"]]</ref>

In the [[Union Block (Mount Pleasant, Iowa)|Union Block]] building in 1869, [[Arabella A. Mansfield]] became the first woman in the United States to be awarded a license to practice law. She had passed the bar exam with high scores and won a court case for entry to the bar. The legislature changed its statute.

The third floor of the Union Block housed the Opera House or Union Hall, a gathering place for the community. It attracted national speakers on tour, including abolitionists [[Frederick Douglass]], [[Sojourner Truth]], and [[Anna Dickinson]]. [[James Harlan (senator)|James Harlan]] also spoke there, as he was president of [[Iowa Wesleyan College]] in the town, and later was elected several times to the [[United States Senate]]. This building had been considered one of the most endangered historic sites in Iowa.<ref>It reopened in August of 2014 housing businesses on the first and second floors.  The ballroom was restored and updated on the third floor making it a beautiful hall used for a variety of community gatherings, events, and private parties.

[http://www.preservationiowa.org/programs/endangeredArchive.php?endangered_year=2008 "2008 Most Endangered Properties"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105095015/http://www.preservationiowa.org/programs/endangeredArchive.php?endangered_year=2008 |date=2016-01-05 }}, [[Preservation Iowa]],</ref>

The [[Mount Pleasant Mental Health Institute]] was built in 1861. However, in 1936, a fire did great damage to the original building.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/buildings/mountpleasant/|title=Mount Pleasant State Hospital - Kirkbride Buildings}}</ref> Beginning in 1976, many of the hospital facilities were transferred to the [[Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility]], which still occupies the campus. The hospital itself was closed in 2015.

On December 10, 1986, Ralph Orin Davis, a resident, walked into a city council meeting and shot Mayor Edward King and two council members. Mayor King died of his wounds after being shot point blank in the head. The 69-year-old gunman had attended a couple of previous meetings, complaining about a backed-up sewer and wanting the city to pay for damages to his house. The two council members were seriously wounded.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=266&dat=19861206&id=8hgsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Y20FAAAAIBAJ&pg=881,5175947 "Mayor killed, 2 hurt in meeting gunfire"], ''Kentucky New Era'', 6 December 1986</ref> [[Tom Vilsack]] became the replacement mayor, later serving as [[List of Governors of Iowa|Governor of Iowa]] for 8 years, and then [[United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture]] under the [[Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet|Obama]] and [[Cabinet of Joe Biden|Biden]] administrations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/kyle-munson/2015/10/23/mount-pleasant-fountain-mayor-edd-king-shooting-tom-vilsack/74274030/|title = Tears flow as memorial fountain to slain mayor is removed| website=[[The Des Moines Register]] }}</ref>
[[File:MT PLEASANT CITY HALL-1.jpg|thumb|Mount Pleasant City Hall]]