Pflugerville was one of my Dad's favorite towns. I think he just liked to say it!
Pflugerville is one of many German towns in Central Texas, founded by German immigrants who flooded into Texas beginning in the 1840s.
Henry Pfluger came to Texas from Germany in 1849, and liked it well enough that he brought his family over 4 years later. The namesake of Pflugerville, however, is not Henry but most likely his grandson George, who platted the town of Pflugerville around 1900.
The state historic marker at the Chamber of Commerce reads as follows:
"PFLUGERVILLE
Henry Pfluger (1803-67), who migrated from Germany to Texas in 1849-50, moved his large family here in 1853. Other settlers joined them, and in 1872 a school was begun on Henry Lisso's farm. Immanuel Lutheran Church was founded in 1874. Primarily a farming settlement, Pflugerville had no commercial business until 1890, when Louis Bohls built a general store. A post office was opened there in 1893 with Bohls as postmaster. In 1891 two community organizations were formed: the German-American Mutual Assurance Association, to insure townspeople against natural disasters; and "Pflugerville Schuetzen and Kegel Verein," a shooting and bowling club.
The village began to grow when the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad arrived in 1904. George Pfluger (1834-1910) and his son Albert (1878-1969) platted the townsite, and George donated land for a train depot and a school. Early businesses included drugstores, groceries, a hotel, grist mill, cotton gin, ice factory, and a blacksmith. In 1907 La Rue Noton and Archie Ward started a telephone system. Farmers State Bank, chartered in 1906, became First State Bank in 1933. A newspaper, "The Pflugerville Press," was published from 1907 until 1942.
In 1958-62, the Pflugerville High School football team gained national fame by winning 55 consecutive games. (1976)"
From the Handbook of Texas online: (
visit link)
"PFLUGERVILLE, TEXAS. Pflugerville is on Farm Road 1825 fifteen miles north of Austin in northeastern Travis County. It was named for Henry Pfluger, who brought his family to the area from Germany in 1849. A community did not develop at the site until after the Civil War. Residents established a school in 1872 and a Lutheran church in 1875. A post office opened at the community in 1893 with Louis Bohls as postmaster.
By the mid-1890s Pflugerville had a population of 250. It also had a small assortment of businesses, though residents did their banking and shipping in Round Rock, eight miles northwest in Williamson County. In 1904 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line completed its track between Georgetown and Austin, passing just outside of Pflugerville; within ten years the Pflugerville population had doubled to 500.
The Press, a weekly newspaper, was published at Pflugerville from 1907 to 1942. In the early 1920s several area school districts consolidated with the Pflugerville high school. The community's population declined after World War II as people moved to Austin and other cities; by 1949 the number of residents at Pflugerville had fallen to 380.
Pflugerville began to grow slowly in the 1960s and at that time was incorporated. Its population rose to 452 by 1968 and to 662 by 1980. From 1980 through 1988 new development in Pflugerville made it the fastest-growing community in the state; its population estimates by the late 1980s were as high as 3,900.
The sudden boom was slowed considerably by the recession of the late 1980s, but population estimates, reported at 4,444 in 1990, indicated that growth was continuing. The population reached 16,335 by 2000. A weekly newspaper called the Pflugerville Pflag began publication in 1980."