Life in The Grove: Pleasant Grove — 1954-1956
by Paula Bosse
Dairy Queen, 1238 S. Buckner — 1956 (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
The community of Pleasant Grove was first settled in the 1840s but didn’t officially become part of Dallas until it was annexed in 1954 after a huge postwar surge in population. Upon annexation, the schools that made up the Pleasant Grove Independent School District became part of the DISD, including Pleasant Grove High School, which was located on Lake June Road, between Conner and Pleasant Drive. PGHS closed when the brand new W. W. Samuell High School opened on January 28, 1957, halfway through the 1956-1957 school year. The photos here are from the yearbooks of the last three years that Pleasant Grove High School was open — most of the ads feature students inside or in front of the business establishments. And they’re great! (Click photos for larger images.)
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Photos of overcrowded Pleasant Grove High School and its numerous out-buildings, 1955.
Pleasant Grove Pharmacy, Grady’s Clover Farm Grocery, and Grove Shoe Store:
1954
Worthington Service Station:
1954
Schepps Dairy:
1954
The Eatmore Hamburger System (greatest name EVER!!):
1954
Dasch Cleaners:
1955
Harvey Hayes, “The Insurance Man”:
1955
Cassidy’s Conoco Station, Tee-Pee Drive-In Grocery, and Gay and Jones Motor Co.:
1956
Worthington’s Magnolia Service Station (again) and Barrett’s Used Cars:
1956
W. W. Hughes Magnolia Service Station, E & L Service Shop (bicycle and lawnmower service), and, again, Pleasant Grove Pharmacy:
1956
Billie Price Real Estate and Maridell’s:
1956
Martin’s Sinclair Service Station (with a DQ photobomb):
1956
The Kaufman Pike Drive-In, “The Theater With a Heart”:
1956
And lastly, a very dark photo of Pleasant Grove High School from the 1948 yearbook:
1948
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Sources & Notes
All photos and ads are from the 1954, 1955, and 1956 editions of The Bobcat, the Pleasant Grove High School yearbook.
More on the history of Pleasant Grove in southeast Dallas, here. More on the history of Pleasant Grove High School here and here. The confusing school changes revolving around the the PGISD/DISD switchover were a bit like musical chairs and affected attendance of numerous high schools (including Forest High School, Crozier Tech, and Woodrow Wilson), junior high schools, and elementary schools. Read about the details in the Dallas Morning News article “Mid-Term Switch Set for Students” (DMN, Jan. 6, 1957).
Google map showing Pleasant Grove and approximate location of PGHS, here.
As always, click pictures for larger images.
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Copyright © 2016 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
After Samuell opened, the building became S.S. Conner Junior High.
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The building actually carried the name “S.S. Conner” from its opening and was the official name of the “building” even while it was the home of Pleasant Grove High School.
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The old car at Martin’s Sinclair station is a Chevrolet, a 1928 model I think. Quarter-century-old Fords were fairly common in the mid-1950s, but Chevys were far less prevalent.
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That Arvid Martin in the letter jacket. Dad owned th station.
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Is this the same building as the current John Q Adams Elementary?
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No, that building is the high school. The Malones cost plus sits there now.
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Great pictures! Any chance anyone has pictures of the Garland Rd and Buckner Blvd intersection, particularly the GULF SERVICE STATION there, circa 1950-1960 or so?
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Thanks! Do you mean a Mobil station? There were (at different times, I assume!) Mobil (later Exxon) stations at the northwest and southwest corners of Garland Rd. and Buckner. Do you mean the later and better-remembered Jim Smith station (southwest corner)?
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I saw many movies at the Kaufman Pike drive-in theater when I was a kid.
(Kaufman Pike was the name of the road going out to Seagoville, and Kaufman, before it was renamed Hawn Freeway/Hwy 175)
The Dallas Police Department’s Southeast Division headquarters sits on most of the old theater property now.
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I wonder how many of these old service stations are now tire shops?
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Actually Paula Pleasant Grove High School was between Conner and Buckner Boulevard not Conner and Pleasant Drive, that is where John Quincy Adams is!
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Thanks, Kenneth!
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The first brick building in the PGISD was PG High School built in 1916.. It was a two story red brick building located where the JQA auditorium is now.
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Hi, my parents Bobby Joe Tucker and Janis Turner graduated from Samuell in 1957. Before that, of course, they went to PGHS. There is a Reunion on Oct 28th. Does anyone here have information or a phone number I can call to get more information.
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Hello Karina Tucker, I am Harold D. Smith, I was the last Sophmore Class of Pleasant Grove High School as people of the Community labeled it. But the comment about S,S, Conner having his name on the Building between Conner Drive and Buckner Blvd, and bordered on the South side of the building was Lake June Rd. About the reunion. I was receiving invitations to the PGHS Reunion, which I never attended, You asked . about any one who ever went to PGHS & how to attend. In the Fall of 2019 I stopped receiving them and in the fall of 2020 I did not receive an invitation to attend. I believe apparently the attendance died out and they stopped holding the reunions. in 2019. The comment about the PGHS being built in 1916, I’m only assuming that information is correct, but if 1916 is correct the building their talking about that as the High School was an all grades built building with eight class rooms which had a closet for book storage on the first floor and a closet like Office just big enough for the Principle’s Office. The building was located where the now John Quincy Adams Elementary School Offices, Gymnasium, & Cafeteria are now occupying. The Building was more to the front where the Cafeteria is. Their used to be an old Concrete Water Fountain located on the East Side of the Oldest Building on the John Quincy Adams Campus. That’s the building that its west end faces Conner Dr. S. S. Conner. On the Pleasant Grove Pictures of the long red Brick Building their was a Header Stone with the name of the high School which was “S. S. Conner High” This name S. S. Conner is the Farmer who owned the School Property and he donated it for the school, So he donated two separate pieces of property which are on each side of the intersection of Conner Dr. and Lake June Rd being between Pleasant Dr. and Buckner Blvd. I know that when started School, in the fall of 1947, their was no building that is between the center section, offices, gym, & cafeteria. I saw them actually build the foundation, lay bricks and by the end of the spring 1948, they had a building shaped up. By the way under the tile floors is an old wooden plank floor in the now oldest building on the campus.
My first grade was spent in a Portable Building. Their was only one Brick out door out house, one side for boys and one side for girls, which was about where the gym is today. My first grade building was next to it. I went to school that full year of 1947 and spring of 1948 in that portable and when it was cold & believe me it was very very cold we huddled around that stove gas stove. We don’t have winter like that any more. It snowed, & sleeted multiple times during that winter, as well as many more while I attend school clear through High School, but school was still held regardless.
We also had a Cafeteria, but it was a bring your own lunch in a brown paper sack that your mother saved, folded up, and was ready for her to make up and put your lunch in it. No one in those days would think of buying a paper sack. They didn’t have the money, and if you had your sack left over after you ate your sack lunch, you took it home to use again!
Don’t believe any politician who says there is no such thing as climate change. I’m 80 years old, and I’ve lived with the climate changing and it has changed greatly. How long has it been since anyone in Dallas even seen one snow in Dallas. Its years now. We used to have four or five Snow or Sleets. On January 5 of 1969 the temperature got to 5 degrees above 0 and it froze my antifreeze protected car’s radiator, and water pump, ruining both of them. We had a lot winters like that and they were common, very common!
In the Fall of 1948 the new building was built and ready for use. I started my 2nd grade in that building with Mrs. Henry. Mrs. Dickson was my first grade teacher. I have a picture of that school and my class. Miss Ada Bruton was my Principle in my first grade year. The next year we got Mr. Shelton. He was a good principle.
By the Way, until the fall of 1948 their were only 11 grades to Graduation in Texas, through all schools in Texas. In the Fall of 1948 the 12th year was added to Texas Schools by the State Legislature.
Their is more.
If you want to contact me – talk to the president of the Kiwanis Club in the Grove.
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Thank you for all this detailed information, Mr. Smith!
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The Tee-Pee Drive-in was owned by my uncle, Eugene Thomas and my daddy, James Pitts — Tee for Thomas and Pee for Pitts. Lots of fun memories for me as a young child.
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I thought it was Tee-Pee for the Spruce Apaches.
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I never knew you could buy polio insurance, but it’s listed on Harvey Hayes’ Insurance sign. Interesting.
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The Suburban Tribune Newspaper donated all their old papers to the Dallas Public Library. They are a wealth of information about Pleasant Grove.
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I have Pleasent Grove Bobcat yearbooks from 1949 to 52. They belonged to my mother. I’m not selling them. I’m Giving them back.
Paul Douglas. Son of Charlotte Bell. Class of 52
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Connie Cornell December 23, 2020
My father, Willard D. Cornell, graduated from Pleasant Grove High in 1948. I have a stack of the school newspapers from 1945 to 1948. It was called “The Leaflet” and later became “The Cat’s Tale.” Any suggestions for where I might donate them?
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[…] on Pleasant Grove can be found in the Flashback Dallas post “Life in The Grove: Pleasant Grove — 1954-1956,” with material gleaned from Pleasant Grove High School […]
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Does anyone know about Pleasant Grove Christian School? It has a high school, as it played varsity football against some of the other private schools in DFW (Dallas Christian, FW Country Day, Cistercian, Greenhill, others). This was during the late ’60s and early ’70s, then the school seems to have vanished. Any idea what happened, where it was, etc.?
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Can anybody tell me what building was located off of 175 by Lake June Road in the early 70’s?
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Hi, I’m trying to find information or images of the Army/Navy surplus store that was, as I remember, located just east of the Eatmore on Lake June Road. I worked at the Kaufman Pike Drive In snack bar around 1960-61.
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