Pleasant Valley was a way station on the Place Toll Road in 1865, and later a freight station on the railroad in 1884.[3][4] Early Oregon Trail settlers farmed in the area.[4] Pleasant Valley post office was established in 1868 and operated for only two months.[5] An office with the same name was established in 1890 and closed in 1962.[5] According to the authors of Oregon Geographic Names, the community later consisted only of a motel and a Union Pacific Railroad station.[5] By 2001, the motel had been converted into a residence.[6]
The Pleasant Valley area is the home of several stone quarries that supplied the tuff stone commonly used for building material in Baker City.[3][7] At one time Pleasant Valley was a community with enough population and settled arable land surrounding it to warrant a school district.[3] School District #12 was organized by superintendent W. F. Payton in 1874, with a two-room school house serving grades 1 through 8.[3] The district added classes for high-school-age students for a few years before consolidating with the Baker City school district in 1949.[3] The third and last schoolhouse was constructed of the nearby native stone and was later converted to a residence.[3] In 1900, the community had a Christian Church congregation.[8] Today the community proper is considered a ghost town,[3] however the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) lists it as a populated place.[1]
