Mount Pleasant is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Iowa, in the United States. The population was 8,668 in the 2010 census, a decline from 8,751 in the 2000 census. It was founded in 1835 by pioneer Presley Saunders. In 1869, Mount Pleasant was the scene of a National Almanac-sponsored solar eclipse expedition, under the command of James Craig Watson. The total solar eclipse occurred on August 7, 1869. In the Union Block building in 1869, Arabella A. Mansfield became the first woman in the United States awarded a license to practice law. The third floor housed the Opera House or... Union Hall, a gathering place for the community, speakers included Frederick Douglass, Bronson Alcott, P.T. Barnum, Anna Dickinson, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This building is now considered one of the most endangered historic sites in Iowa. The Mount Pleasant Mental Health Institute was built in 1861. However, in 1936, a fire devastated the building leaving the hospital to be closed, with very little building left. Mount Pleasant's longitude and latitude coordinates in decimal form are 40.966977, -91.551203.
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| County: | Henry County |
| State: | Iowa |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Population: | 8,673 |
| Area: | 7.7 sq. mi. |
| Time zone: | Central Time zone |
| Also known as: | Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Henry County / Mount Pleasant city |