Pflugerville, Texas (unnamed copywriting)

Pflugerville, Texas, a suburb of Austin, located in Travis and Williamson counties was founded in the 1800s. It went through periods of growth, rapid decline, and finally resurgence. It successfully fought annexation from Austin and is now its own municipality and suburb.

The namesake of the town, Henry Pflueger, Senior, was a German immigrant and one-time wealthy farmer. However, while still in Germany, Pflueger lost his fortune and found financial ruin. The Prussian War caused all of Pflueger's land to be taken from him. Pflueger fled Germany and emigrated to the Texas area. With his final $1600 he purchased 160 acres of land 2 miles east of Austin. He and his family stayed on this land for a few years and in 1849 he traded the land for larger plot about 5 miles east of what is now Pflugerville. They are, he and his family built a five room log cabin and started farming.

It was not until after the Civil War that Pflugerville would start to find settlers. Another family, headed by William Bohls, followed the Pfluegers and built a house on the neighboring property. The Bohls family opened a general store and a post office in their home, and named a post office after Pflueger. Shortly thereafter, a Lutheran church and a small community school or opened, and residents started pouring in.

In 1904, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad completed a line between Austin and Georgetown. This line ran just outside of Pflugerville, as a result over the next two decades, the population of Pflugerville doubled from 250 to 500. During this time, Pflugerville built a thriving Main Street, despite the fact that most residents did the majority of their business and shopping in the town of Round Rock, located 8 miles to the northwest.

The railroad attracted a lot of businesses to the area, which in turn attracted a lot more settlers. The first business to land in the area was a steam powered cotton gin, which attracted cotton farmers from around the county. Later an ice factory was built beside the cotton gin, in 1913, a movie theater was built in the town, the Skye Dome Theatre. The theater played silent movies, accompanied by a piano player.

The depression and later, World War II, caused a sharp decline in population in Pflugerville, as many left for bigger cities in the attempt to find work. After World War II, the population fell back to a level of only 250 people. It was not until the 1960s that Pflugerville would find its resurgence. In 1965 the town was incorporated, and had a population of 750 people. This number would slowly grow until the population boom felt in Austin in the 70s had its effect here as well. Since then, Pflugerville has thrived as a suburb of Austin, and by 2000, its population had skyrocketed to over 11,000 people.