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Origin of the cities’ names

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Written by Jim Dawson Friday, 07 October 2005

Pflugerville

Pflugerville was named in 1860 when William Bohls established a general store and post office in his residence, and officially named the town in honor of first settler Henry Pfluger.

Pfluger first arrived in the area in 1849 after leaving Germany to escape the Prussian War. He first purchased 160 acres of land two miles east of Austin from his brother-in-law, John Liese, who immigrated before him.

In 1853, Pfluger exchanged the land for a larger farm five miles east of present day Pflugerville. The family lived in a five-room log cabin and raised corn, wheat, rye, beans, sweet potatoes and sugar cane. They also raised cattle that Pfluger and his sons drove to market in Kansas City on the Chisholm Trail.

The country at this time was a prairie, covered with sage grass an average height of four feet. The buffaloes were numerous and caused lots of excitement as they would get in the pens with the milk cows. Indians would also be seen roaming the country.

In 1872, a school began on the Henry Lisso farm, and in 1874 Immanuel Lutheran Church was founded.

The Pflugers’ farm prospered and they added two additional buildings and a blacksmith shop. It was not until the Missouri-Texas Railroad arrived in 1904 that the town experienced real growth.

George and William Pfluger, two of Pfluger’s eight sons, built the first cotton gin, and George and Albert Pfluger platted the town site of Pflugerville, in 1904.

Round Rock

Originally the town of Round Rock was not named Round Rock, nor was it in its current location.

Early pioneers settled near the banks of Brushy Creek and called their town, Brushy. The round rock in the middle of the creek marked a nearby low water crossing for cattle and wagons and became known as a good watering hole.

In the spring of 1848, Jacob M. Harrell, one of Austin’s first mayors, moved his shop and house to the north bank of Brushy Creek, thus becoming one of the first ever to escape to the suburbs.

The Harris Stagecoach Inn, also known as the Inn of Brushy Creek, opened along the creek close to the rock in that same year. The Inn served stagecoaches carrying mail and passengers from Brownsville to Salado and Helena, Arkansas to San Antonio.

Reports from 1853, tell of local citizens gathering at the Inn to await the arrival of stagecoaches. The arriving coach driver sounded a horn about a mile away. Harris kept a flock of geese at the hotel who responded by honking back, bringing much attention to the arriving stage coach.

The Brushy Creek Post Office was established in a section of Thomas C. Oatts’ store near the Inn in May 1851. Three years later postal authorities asked Oatts to provide another name for the settlement because there was already a town in Texas calling itself Brushy.

Oatts thought of the large Brushy Creek rock where he and Harrell often sat and fished.

On August 24, 1854, the name Round Rock was officially given to the community.

Despite several floods, the new town along the creek grew. In 1876, the International and Great Northern Railroad laid tracks one mile east. The commercial area of Round Rock moved to its present location on Main Street.