The Pleasant Grove Baptist Church is located on 1140 Pride Port Hudson Rd in Zachary, Louisiana directly off of Old Scenic Hwy., near an area referred to as the Plains.

Pleasant Grove Baptist Church was founded and organized in the year of 1857 under the leadership of the late Rev. Caddo Simms. Dr. T.L. Mills, Sr. and his wife Mrs. Mary Louise Young Mills (who was the driving force) donated the land where the first site of the church was built. The most important fact about this donation was that this was the period of time before the Civil War, which meant slavery was a well-known practice.

A small building was constructed and Rev. Caddo Simms and the people worshiped there until 1904. It was then that the church building was enlarged to about twice its original size. After Rev. Simms, Rev. Allen Governor served as pastor. Through the years the church elected several other pastors. They were Rev. Sam Watkins (elected twice), Rev. T.D. Smith, Rev. Dan Williams, and Rev. Rivers Johnson (elected twice).

Under Rev. Johnson’s leadership, the old church was moved to the site where it is today. This location was formerly the old Mills Rosenwald School located on land that was also donated by the Mills family also. Rosenwald schools were established in order for Blacks to be able to receive a free education

This effort was initiated through the vision of Booker T. Washington with financial support from Julius Rosenwald who was a Jew and understood the sentiments of persecutions. The Rosenwald property was adjacent to the original church property. In the late 1940s an even exchange of property was made between the Mills family and the members of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. The congregation then began worshiping in the Old Mills Rosenwald because the school was in better physical condition than the church and because the school was no longer needed

The neighboring children now attended the newly erected Northwestern High School. Northwestern High gave students in the area an opportunity to receive a high school education whereas Mills Rosenwald was limited to only grade school.

Bro. Lucious O’Connor united with the church in the late 1940s and later organized the first choir. In fact, he organized many choirs in the Zachary, Port Hudson and Ethel area.

The current church remains on the property of the old Mills Rosenwald School, but was rebuilt in 1960 while Rev. Rivers Johnson was still pastor. Pastor Johnson served until his sight failed him. The late Rev. Joe Thomas and Rev. Arthur Brown, Sr. served as associate pastors until their deaths.

Worship service was held twice a month recognizing testimony and Holy Communion. Prayer meeting was held weekly. Revival was held in July which consisted of a week of prayer and one week of preaching service. Sunday School was held every Sunday. A bell would tone at the church to notify individuals in the community of special events happening at the church such as funerals, weddings and baptisms. Baptisms were held in the rear of the Mills’ family home on the banks of the pond.

Rev. Rivers Johnson resigned because of his failing health, and in 1963 Rev. Lucious O’Connor who had previously been called into the ministry became pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. The cornerstone of the church was laid during the pastoral ship of Rev. Lucious O’Connor in 1974. At that time Ulysses Morgan was chairperson of the Deacons and the board consisted of Bro. West Hollman, Bro. Charlie Brown, Bro. Albert Dixon, Bro. George Spann, Bro. James Harrison, Bro. Tom Ricks and Bro. Al Green. Sis. Louise Brown Thomas was chairman of the Deaconess and the board consisted of Sis. Hettie Veals, Sis. Eola Green, Sis. Margaret Dixon, Sis. Doretha O’Connor and Sis. Beulah Franklin, Sis. Lottie Ricks and Sis. Irene Johnson. The cornerstone was laid by M.W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge. The church was renovated several times under the leadership of Rev. Lucious O’Connor. Under Rev. O’Connor the church began having Vacation Bible School one week in the summer for all of the community kids and weekly Bible study. Baptism was held in a pond behind the Mills’ family home. In the early 70s an outside pool was constructed and then in the early 80s renovations began which included an inside baptism pool as well as renovating the rear of the church and the purchasing of new pews inside the sanctuary of the church. During this time the parking lot was also paved. In 1996, Rev. O’Connor resigned as pastor after many years of service.

In 1997, Rev. Norwood C. Booker, Jr. was elected as our new pastor. For the first time Pleasant Grove began having worship services every Sunday. Services changed from 11:00 am to 8:00 am except Communion services which were still held on third Sundays at 11:00 am. He served faithfully until his untimely death in March 2011. Under his leadership the church purchased a van and also became listed as one of the oldest churches established in the Zachary area and in the parish of East Baton Rouge. Under Rev. Norwood Booker’s leadership, the church became more financially stable. A van was purchased and later sold due to lack of the van actually being used. Before his death, plans had begun to construct a new sanctuary on the original landmark.

In January 2012, Rev. Dennis Lawrence was elected as pastor. We were very thankful for his leadership and looked forward to the construction of our new sanctuary. The church mission statement is: “We are a spiritual team striving for excellence through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, realizing that no one is perfect, yet continuously striving.” In 2013, the church invested a substantial down payment in a metal building to begin construction on the old original church site.

This became a controversial situation with the Mills and the deposit made was forfeited and those plans were discontinued. Plans for new construction continued and another set of building blueprints was developed with a decrease in the size of the building. Unfortunately, those plans were not able to be actualized because of the decline of membership and finances. Later on the church had to make a decision on renovating the annex of the church because of the deteriorating roof and back wall was replaced. Rev. Lawrence continued with making an effort to improve the interior of the sanctuary. Rev. Lawrence led the effort to improve the light fixtures in the church sanctuary and all light fixtures were replaced. In 2018, Bro. Willard Peterson, the chairman of the Deacon board was instrumental in the purchasing of a lawn mower and a storage building to house the equipment. In 2019, under the leadership of Rev. Dennis Lawrence, the land swap was renegotiated. The Mills family and the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church agreed to allow the church to remain at its present site with an increase of 80 square feet on the side adjacent to the old church landmark. Another set of blueprints were developed to reduce the size of the new church construction once more and also reflect the added 80 square feet of land donated by the Mills family.

The end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church went through a most grievous period. The death angel came and claimed first a loyal deaconess, Sis. Marie Jones, then later another usher, Sis. Rosemary Duncan, who served on the usher board for many years. The death angel continued to ride and claimed one of our most dedicated and loyal servants, song leader and president of the choir, Sis. Juanita Thomas Hill. While our hearts were still grieving, the death angel claimed another dedicated and faithful servant on the usher board, Sis. Beulah Rene Richardson Collins. Embedded in all of this the world was stricken with a contagious deadly pandemic virus known as COVID-19 that shut down this nation and eliminated worship service as we knew. We were then forced to have our worship service from March 2020 to the present, October 2020 on a conference call line every Sunday. Sunday school started at 7:00 am and worship service started immediately afterwards at 8:00. In the process of all of this the federal government realized that the economy was at an all-time low and offered small grants to organizations, including the churches. Pleasant Grove was awarded a small one-time grant to help with the falling revenues going into the church. The church was able to pay some of its employees a one-time payment but could not continue to pay because of the loss of revenues. The local government also is making decisions to allow citizens access back into our local churches as well as businesses. The church has gone through a deep sanitizing cleaning, but we have not returned for worship at this present time.

After the duration of the pandemic in 2020 the membership was drastically in decline. In 2021 conversations moved from rebuilding the church to remodeling and reconstructing the walls as well as the roof of the church. A search for a construction company was launched in January of 2021. The church decided on Top Builders Construction Company owned by Casey Alexander. Because of the weather, construction started in April 2021. All services were held on the communication line during the construction period.

The first official Sunday back in the church was held the first Sunday in August of 2022. At this time Rev. Dennis Lawrence resigned his position as pastor of the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church.

The church had to immediately switch gear to a pastor search. The search continued from August 2022 to December of 2023. In January 2024 the church selected Rev. Chad Cooper as pastor of the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. Pleasant Grove Baptist Church hosted the installation and ordination service for Rev. Chad Cooper on March 9, 2024.

Rev. Chad Cooper began his leadership by encouraging the congregation to reach one as we are reminded of our purpose of discipleship. The church presently meets for Sunday school every Sunday and worship service on first Sundays and Holy Communion on third Sundays and Bible Study every Tuesday at 6:30pm. Rev. Cooper also led the deacon board in completing needed work on the inside pool as well as the handicap ramp. Our hearts still sing” What A Great God We Serve”, for we know that God is still in control. The Pleasant Grove Baptist Church congregation has been known through the generations as mostly a family-oriented church with close community ties. Its membership has fluctuated through the years from semi large to now relatively small. From 1857 to 2025 which is a total of 168 years the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church family gives thanks, praise and control of our lives to our Heavenly Father and we shall march on.