With the profits that Hornbrook made from his hotel and trading post, he bought Mount Pleasant from the Rhodes brothers in March 1852. Major Hornbrook is described as a rather eccentric person, but his public-spirited character also saw him signalling all ships arriving into Lyttelton Harbour from the top of Mount Pleasant. Through a public subscription in 1853, a telescope, flagstaff and a set of flags were paid for. The walking track from adjacent Mount Cavendish down into Lyttelton township was Major Hornbrook's route for getting provisions to his hut on top of Mount Pleasant, and it is still known as Major Hornbrook's Track. Hornbrook went bankrupt in 1871 at a time when he owned 47,000 sheep across three stations (his Mount Pleasant run had 6,000 sheep), and the land was sold to Richard May Morten and William White. Morten and White dissolved their partnership in 1879 and put up the land for auction. Both of them bid for it, and Morten purchased the at £6 per acre. The old Hornbrook homestead just below the summit burned down just before World War I, and tearooms and accommodation opened in March 1914 on the site. The buildings, no longer accessible to the public, are still present and are located just above the junction where Mount Pleasant Road meets the Summit Road. On Morten's death, the land (by then ) was subdivided. The largest remaining block had , was owned by J. S. Scott and later on his son Peter Scott, and stretched from Mount Pleasant to the Rapaki Track.