St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Pleasant Hills
St. Elizabeth was established in 1941. The origin of the parish can be traced to the movement of population to Pleasant Hills in the late 1930's. Catholics in Pleasant Hills had to travel to the small church of St. David in Willock to attend Mass. As the population in Pleasant Hills continued to grow, it soon caused overcrowding in St. David. Rather than building a larger church in Willock, the pastor of St. David proposed to the bishop in 1941 that a church be built in Pleasant Hills. The bishop agreed and chose the name St. Elizabeth for the new parish (Elizabeth was chosen because it was the name of the pastor's mother). Land for the new church was purchased in 1941 and on May 24, 1942, ground was broken for a school that would contain a temporary church in the basement. The building was completed in December of 1942 and the first Mass in the new church was celebrated on Christmas Day.
Before the church was built, St. Elizabeth was a mission of St. David. Once the church was built, the two churches reversed status with St. David becoming a mission of St. Elizabeth. In September of 1943, the school opened with three classrooms. In 1944, three more classrooms were added and in 1948, an additional six classrooms were added to the building.
In 1951, work began on a new church. The finished building was dedicated on November 16, 1952. The space in the school building that had been used as the church was converted to class space. In 1973, the status of St. David was changed from a mission to a Chapel of Convenience. Both churches remain open and continue to serve the parish today.
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| School building that served as the first St. Elizabeth Church, 1943 | St. Elizabeth Church, 2002 | Interior of St. Elizabeth Church, 2002 | St. David Chapel, 2002 |
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