Pleasureville Historic Historic

Pleasureville is a small village of frame dwellings, outbuildings and a few public buildings along North Sherman Street, northeast of York. It began as a crossroads settlement in the second quarter of the 19th century, when Diehl's Mill Road served farms between York and New Holland. Emanuel G. Keller opened a general store in 1859 that he operated into the 20th century. A two-story school of about 1870 and a meeting hall of about 1875 gave the village its educational and social functions, and the United Brethren congregation built a church in 1859. By 1886 the village had 63 houses, three stores and several cottage industries, including cigar making. The district is significant for its commercial and social role for the surrounding farms, and for its plain vernacular buildings, which retain their late 19th and early 20th century layout and scale. Automobiles ended its commercial role by the 1920s, and suburban growth surrounds it today.