Madison Moultrie Miller was a Texas Ranger who settled in what is now present-day Lancaster, Texas, in 1846. He married Mary (Polly) Parks Rawlins, the daughter of pioneer settler Roderick Rawlins. Miller opened a store in his home on the road to Johnson’s Station and gave a site for the first local school. He enlarged his home to 15 rooms in 1848 and built a warehouse and a store that imported goods from New York, ranging from fine silks to hardware, medicines, and saddles. He also had a grist mill, a stage stand and hotel, woodworking, tin, and blacksmith shops. He was first postmaster of Pleasant Run in 1848.
In the 1850s, Miller laid out a town and sold lots in an effort to benefit Pleasant Run and Dallas County. He also tried to secure Trinity Navigation and Railroad Service for the area. Unfortunately, Miller passed away at the age of 46, and the closure of his store and other enterprises halted the growth of his town. However, his family home remained until the 1950s, and his post office building still exists as part of a structure on Elm Street. Today, the town’s name is memorialized in Pleasant Run Road in Lancaster.