Mount Pleasant: The Immigrants' Journey

Low cost housing in Mount Pleasant in the decades following World War II made it an ideal place for immigrants to the area. Refugees fleeing World War II and the Cold War in Eastern Europe were the first group to arrive. A small Czech community lived along Park Road until the 1990s. In the 1980s refugees from wars in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua found a home in Mount Pleasant. Good wages -- often ten times as high as in their native countries -- continue to lure immigrants from Central America. By the late 1990s, 30 percent of Mount Pleasant's population was Latino, adding flavor to the many grocery stores, restaurants and vendors along Mount Pleasant Street.
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Michael K. Ross, Sculptor