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Pflugerville on Fire
Our first episode drops August 31! This podcast mini-series will inform you about the initiative to defund the Pflugerville Fire Department. Listen on all major podcasting platforms. Subscribe to get the latest episodes. We have some great guests lined up!
Pflugerville on Fire
Heritage House: Preserving Pflugerville's Roots and Frontier Spirit
What happens when three lifelong Pflugerville residents with over two centuries of combined local knowledge gather in a historic Sears kit home to share stories? Pure magic.
In this special heritage edition of Pflugerville on Fire, I sit down with Vernagene Mott, Glenn Schiller, and David Gabert at the beautifully preserved Heritage House Museum. Together, they recall stories of Pflugerville's past, from the legendary 55-game football winning streak that put our small town on the national map to harrowing eyewitness accounts of the 1971 fire that nearly destroyed downtown.
The conversation takes us deeper as my guests reveal what it was like growing up speaking German at home, learning English only upon entering school, and how World War II changed the cultural landscape of Pflugerville overnight. You'll hear about government authorities monitoring German-speaking residents, families butchering their own pork and using "every part of the pig except the squeal," and the cultural traditions that shaped our community's identity.
The Heritage House itself tells an extraordinary story - built from a Sears catalog kit that arrived by train in 1912, assembled by community members, and now standing as a living museum filled with treasures. Each artifact holds personal meaning for my guests, from the pump organ that entertained generations of children to the morning gown that represented a family's status and to the Main Street bench where townspeople gathered every Saturday.
Whether you're a history buff, a longtime resident, or new to Pflugerville, this episode offers a rare glimpse into the heart and soul of our community. Visit the Heritage House yourself on the first Sunday of each month, and consider supporting the Heritage House Partners in their mission to preserve these irreplaceable stories for future generations. After all, as Vernagene wisely notes, "We're leaving a heritage and we are also living legacies."
It works great. Yay, well, it can be greater because the bellows it's not getting. It's a pipe arping because it's based upon the bellows pumping the air through and making the sounds.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to Pflugerville on Fire. I'm your host, chris Wolfe. In this special edition of the podcast, we take a step back in time to explore the rich roots of Pflugerville's history. Join us for an afternoon at the Heritage House, where we sit down with Verna, jean, david and Glenn from the Heritage House Partners. Together we dive into stories like the legendary 55-game football win streak, the unforgettable fire of 71, and how the spirit of our early settlers still lives on in this beautifully preserved frontier farmhouse.
Speaker 2:I'm Vernee Jean Mott. I was born and raised in the farmland around Pflugerville, Went to Pflugerville High School and I came back and raised my family of three children here who went also to Pflugerville High School. I was a teacher at Pflugerville High School and served on the Board of Trustees for the Pflugerville Independent School District and been involved in church and many community activities, including the Heritage House Museum.
Speaker 3:I'm Glenn Schiller and my mother was a Preen who settled here in Pflugerville early on and we belonged to the church here, emmanuel Lutheran for many generations and I went to school here in Pflugerville, kindergarten through 12th grade, and my family grandfather and his brothers had businesses here in town and recently came back to Pflugerville in 2017 on the request of Gloria Kempel to volunteer with the museum and wound up being voted as president and in my fifth year as president.
Speaker 4:My name is David Gabert. I was born and raised here. I went to school. My great-grandparents immigrated from Germany and Switzerland. I went from Federal School from first through 12th grade, joined the Air Force and got a degree from the University of Texas, came back and been an artist my whole life Still paint.
Speaker 1:Can any community members see your art anywhere?
Speaker 4:life still paint. Can any community members see your art anywhere?
Speaker 1:uh yeah, here at the museum I did a portrait of mr hendrickson for hendrickson high school so if any, if any parents are at hendrickson high school, they can they can check out some of your handiwork right and, and both of y'all were here for the great football streak of 55 games, right.
Speaker 2:Yes, we were.
Speaker 2:Yes, I was a cheerleader and my husband was the fall Central Texas running back, and so 55 games was a long streak and it nearly came to an end when we played Johnson City at Johnson City and it was a Hail Mary pass at the end that my husband threw and my brother Willard was. He caught it because somebody else missed the catch, and so we survived. I fell off the bleachers actually, and so it was a national schoolboy champion event and we were very. It made the town proud and people knew what Pflugerville was.
Speaker 1:If you haven't heard the stories, the Pflugerville Panthers football team went undefeated from 1958 to 1962, racking up 55 consecutive victories, and it set a high school record that stood all the way up until 1998. If you want to go a little bit deeper, check out the scoreboard that's behind the old rock gym in Pflugerville. It's preserved as a testament to that remarkable era in our sports history. Tell me what are your memories of the 71 fire.
Speaker 2:Okay, it was in July. It was a hot summer day, but a narther had blown in, and so the wind was high, and a young man, Sean Casey, was walking down Main Street and happened to see something through the window.
Speaker 1:If you're fans of the show, you know that we did a whole episode with Chief Molenberg about the 71 fire, but I could not let this piece of history go while I had three experts that were there to talk about it.
Speaker 2:And when he opened the door to the north, the oxygen that came in with that wind kind of ignited it even higher. It spread throughout those original buildings which had been built In 1904, when the MKT Missouri, kansas Texas Railroad came through and the depot was determined to be in Flintville. That's what grew the village and so they built the brick buildings on the south side of Main Street, and on the north side of Main Street it was still wood frame buildings. So this whole west end of Main Street was ignited and people started reacting. One young man, larry Hoddy, was over at Tufts. He was still in high school and he saw what was happening and the volunteer fire department at that time had one truck and he went and drove that over and of course then the alarm went out and fire departments from all over central Texas came.
Speaker 2:One of the biggest hopes was the big tanker truck that came from Oak Hill. Obviously water was the issue that needed. We didn't have a lot of water and so those tanker trucks that could help. My brother, lloyd Hebby, was working for the Hobacker Paving Company at that time and he went out and got their truck and they were able to start getting water from Spring Hill and from different places, and some of the farmers had tanks on the back of their pickups or trailers that they could go to their stockpile. So because of the wind that carried the fire, it became I don't know. I thought five alarm You're the fireman. Five alarm was big, this was probably a ten alarm fire and so it was devastating. A lot of the people that stood and watched sat and watched and were feeling quite helpless. We had valiant, courageous people trying to do their best to save the town and we thought it was going to all go away.
Speaker 2:And that part that burned actually had been the Lepine hardwareware Store, which was also part. They had coffins, they had furniture, they had horse buggies, but in the 70s those were no longer items. Princess Craft was a manufacturing company that was situated in that building and so that was—it spread from that building to the next one and what we saw was is that the buildings had firewalls in between, but the fire was so high and so hot that it went through the rafter beam that connected one building to the other and it spread into that area. And so when we look at it today, there's just a few remnants. And so when we look at it today, there's just a few remnants, but somebody did preserve one of the developers there, kind of in mid street, part of Main Street where you can see a little component of the fire.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's neat. It's where the present day Victory Tap is now.
Speaker 2:That is correct.
Speaker 1:If you're sitting on the patio, you're sitting on one of the buildings that had burned up. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:And that's kind of I would call it a monument, memorial, a remembrance issue that we have.
Speaker 1:That's great. All right, david, tell us where you were and what do you remember about that night.
Speaker 4:Well, let's see, I lived in Fulgorelle at the time, I guess, and I was across the street from the fire at my—I don't know if it was Marshall's Tavern at the time or Prince's Tavern Marshall's Probably Marshall's at the time, yeah, and I just stood there and watched and hoped it didn't jump the street and burn everything on that side of the—it was pretty bad.
Speaker 1:Were you pretty worried, pretty scared yeah absolutely, yeah, big fire glenn, you were. You were just a youngster, but you had memories as well, don't you very?
Speaker 3:young. I was only three years old at that time and we lived at third and walnut and just two blocks away and you could see direct line to downtown from the house and daddy had left that night to go down to there to see what he could do and mom had a number of uncles that were in the volunteer fire department that helped begin that from the very beginning, that were down there helping. But it was a huge fire because you could see it from far off, far off.
Speaker 1:How do you think it impacted the town? Did it bring people closer together?
Speaker 2:It's one of those things that was etched in your memory. Like everybody can remember 9-11. How do you think it impacted the town? Did it bring people closer together?
Speaker 4:It's one of those things that was etched in your memory. Like everybody can remember, 9-11 in today's world, well our, younger kids can't.
Speaker 2:But those of us who lived there you know, and, like for the generation before us, they could remember Pearl Harbor Day. But for the local Flipperville people, that night was one of those that you just didn't forget.
Speaker 1:I have the distinct privilege of being with some history buffs and I'm a history buff myself but we're sitting in a very historic place. This podcast is being recorded at the Heritage House in Pflugerville, and my next question is for you, ms Vernagine how has this house and the contents within it shaped the identity of Pflugerville over time?
Speaker 2:I think it serves as a bold memory. If you've ever been to Williamsburg, virginia, you know that that takes you back to the colonial times, and so this home represents the common home that was built on the farmland. This even though it's in the city of Pflugerville right now, very close to the new downtown project that's going on. This was farmland and this was the homestead of the Bowles family, and so when Clarence Bowles was instrumental with his siblings that this and he served as mayor and then city manager of the city of Pflugerville, but he wanted to leave this home to the city, and so it took a while and we eventually birthed a non-profit and called it Heritage House Museum, because it does represent the heritage and, I would say, the contents of this house. Getting it going. It's like birthing something and then nurturing it and then getting it to grow, so getting everything with the Secretary of State for the nonprofit and then to start getting the contents and the vision for where it would be.
Speaker 2:So when I look at the contents of this house number one, I think you just come in and look how the people lived in their kitchen. They didn't even have indoor plumbing at the time, and so that's been modified. I think that some of the contents that are critically important is the 1893 document. When they decided to get mail for the people who lived here, the Bowles family sent a letter to the US government that we needed a post office, and when they filled out the application form they had to put something down, and so that was how the name came about. In addition to that, collecting the genealogy and the history of some of the early families we have some rare books here, whether it was the Timmerman family, the Weiss family, the Pflugger family, so many families we now have collections.
Speaker 2:My personal favorite, the Wolfe family, yes, and there were actually two different Wolf families and there are two different Weiss families that are not blood relatives but they had a similar last name, I think. The other thing is, for some of us who lived in those early days, like there's a sausage maker, there's the washing machine, there is the little potty by the bed, you know because you didn't have indoor plumbing. You see the kitchen little gadgets that you use to cook with. It has a pump organ. That was before you had the electricity.
Speaker 2:So all of these things it's very important. We're leaving a heritage and we are also living legacies and it's important to know the past as we live in the future and hopefully we can educate. That was preserve and educate was part of the mission. And so again in the initial days we took our story to the schools and told that to our elementary students and showed them pictures to generate interest. And having special programs here we have had we sponsored, like for the Mexican-American early settlers, for the African-American early settlers, those families, and then for the German Americans. We had that event and we continue to have special events to honor the past and to share the past with our current residents.
Speaker 1:It's great. I think one of the neat things about history is trying to imagine yourself in it. And if you've got kids and you're living in, like where Lacey and I live in a newly a new development, it's almost impossible to imagine what life was like out here in Pflugerville and walking in the front door of this house. The smells, the sounds, the artifacts, the items just bring you right back.
Speaker 2:And when the Pflugers came here to settle, it was part of the Blackland Prairie, which meant that it was very fertile soil. So, coming from Germany as immigrants, they had to find a way to make a living and survive, and so that's how they ended up in this particular area. So cotton became king and then, as we mentioned earlier, the MKT Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad. They donated land so that the depot would be here and that then spurred the business downtown. Then it became a village, but the city of Pflugerville did not really incorporate until 1965.
Speaker 1:So basically, it's a fairly young city government but a very rich history that goes back to the 1850s yes, yeah, you know we're talking about tying current pflugerville in in with the heritage house and giving people an idea of what was going on, and you can just listen to the name and know that there's some german ancestry here. But can you tell us how that impacted you growing up and how you see it today?
Speaker 4:Well, my great-grandparents and grandparents, my parents, all spoke German at home. I remember we had German church service, like once a month.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but then after the World War II they kind of had to quit Our preacher Kosiski. He was from Germany and he had a radio that he kept in touch with his people in Germany.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 4:And the government here was watching him.
Speaker 1:That is wow.
Speaker 4:Never heard that story before they were watching to make sure that he wasn't saying anything, or you know. But yeah, I remember hearing about that. But yeah, my sister Betty, who's the same as Vern Jean, they were together in school. She and I spoke German at home. We learned English in first grade.
Speaker 1:And Vern Jean, you grew up speaking German as well, right?
Speaker 2:Yes, and then I at the University of Texas took German, and when I came back to Pflugerville this was after the war, because they had to stop teaching German at that time.
Speaker 1:But when I returned in 1976 to teach.
Speaker 2:they wanted to teach German, so I was the teacher, the German teacher. Wow. But adding on to what David said, the US government came to Pflugerville or sent a letter not allowing people to gather and speak German in public during the war.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And they would watch. Sometimes they would paint barns to identify where the Germans were actually living. Wow, of course you raised everything on your farm, so that meant that you made all your worst. You butchered your pork and, going to school, we would have liverwurst sandwiches and they used every part of the pig.
Speaker 4:Except the squeal.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then the sweet German rice was a very common thing, and then there was traditional meals that you know were very important and a lot of German customs. My great-grandmother came from Switzerland, actually, and so it was through there. They were able to do like fine embroidery and linens and that, and so what the women were doing, they were able to sell them in Austin, and that provided them the monetary means to buy bulk things that they needed to continue doing whatever they needed.
Speaker 1:And there's some amazing examples of that. Upstairs here in the Heritage House I was looking at some of the embroidery that they had done on the quilts.
Speaker 2:And the quilts. We have two quilts that were called friendship quilts and that was an amazing gift to the Heritage House Museum, also because it helped us to identify some of the people who were living here and some of the names, the German names, like Neuenschwanter. Okay, that was, you know, 16 letters.
Speaker 1:You know, they got shortened down to something over the generations. No, yeah, no, kept it going Kind of funny. Here in the museum there's a phone book from 1958, and it's three pages.
Speaker 2:Well, that's right. And see, initially you had the switchboard in Pflugerville. Miss Frances Whelan ran that and so you had the rings, like ours was too long and too short 1611F22. When we finally got Southwestern Bell telephone and we got a 251 number, when I started dating in high school you could hear all of the party liners pick up whenever somebody would call me, and it was like oh, my God.
Speaker 1:No privacy to be had. Right, glenn, you are the current president of the Heritage House Partners. That's the nonprofit that Vernaging was talking about. Can you tell us a little bit about what the Heritage House Partners is and what is y'all's mission?
Speaker 3:So our mission is to preserve and protect and promote the history of Fleurville is the basic part of it. History of Fleurville is the basic part of it and it's very important to me because, having lost my grandparents early on, when I was only nine years old, you lose that history that you didn't know to ask at that time. And so that's why it's so important like the library does a project of recording history and such, why it's so important and I always say that anytime you get more than two or three people together at a table, they jog other people's memories so you come up with more history. And so when I came in 17 is when I started volunteering with the partners and it's been close to me because my first nine years I grew up here in town.
Speaker 3:My grandfather had Preem's Tavern on Main Street or on downtown, and so growing up, walking from the house to the tavern and being at Marshall's on Saturday with all of my great aunts and uncles and everybody else playing dominoes, you have that sense of family. And so when I'm trying to put programs together to promote the museum and events that are family-friendly, of course, because our kids are important, you know we always try to keep that in mind and keep it basic, family, fun and with the history. Because kids love to learn and I'm just a naturally born teacher, like Vernon Jean, and I think we all do here at the museum all of the volunteers and partners love teaching from that aspect of history.
Speaker 1:And it's a great opportunity, I can say firsthand, walking in and talking to volunteers that feel that deep connection to the historical part of this community and just getting to talk with you all is a pretty special thing.
Speaker 3:It's great we have people that come in where I usually open the museum either before or after the Pflugger reunion on July the 4th, and so that family members can come in and see the house. And there are so many stories of them having been in here when they were little children and and they're in their 80s now and it evokes so many memories, and not just from Flugger families but other people that come in on our open houses on the first Sunday of each month express how wonderful it is and how many memories that it brings back to them of their own childhood, no matter where they came from of their own childhood, no matter where they came from.
Speaker 2:I would add to what Glenn said. We're thankful now that the City of Pflugerville Library is the umbrella under which the museum exists, and when the library expanded, we helped encourage this component there that digitalized a lot of our pictures and also oral recordings, and so that's access that people can look at. And the other thing is the volunteers are critically important in the museum partners. People are looking for things to spend their time doing, and so if this is a year that you have and you have the time, contact Glenn and there's something that you can do and you'll learn something on the way.
Speaker 3:Yes, we're always looking for volunteers and and it's sad, on one hand, because the history and those people that started this are going away we just lost a member last year in April, and so it hits hard on a personal level and a historical level because there are so many questions that we haven't asked those people.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you guys a question. This is for you, or David? Do you need to be a Pfluger, or have been here for generations?
Speaker 3:to help out? To help out, absolutely not. I always tell people that come in that we're here for all of Pflugerville and Pflugerville's history, not just the Pfluggers Black, brown, whatever it may be, native American, all of that because it's all part of our history, and so we have been very fortunate to have some wonderful volunteers that are not Flickerville people, and so we can use anybody, anybody that likes being around history and helping people and promoting history and the museum. Ms.
Speaker 1:Bernstein, what's your favorite item in the museum and why?
Speaker 2:I'm going to say there's a bench back here that was on Mr Nazy's, that was on Main Street. We were able to go to Pflugerville once a week with our grandfather on a Saturday afternoon and at that time it was called a drugstore afternoon and at that time it was called a drugstore In today's world. As I explained to young elementary kids, it would be similar to a pharmacy, but that's where you would go. But he had a soda fountain and scoops of ice cream and then you would get your ice cream and if it was cold he had little bitty chairs you could sit inside or you would go sit out on the bench and everybody would visit. You know they'd be walking up and down main street.
Speaker 1:It was kind of like mayberry in a sense so that brings back how many saturdays did you sit out there on that bench?
Speaker 2:oh, I mean you look forward to that every saturday and that that was one reason you stayed really good all week.
Speaker 4:You don't want to miss that trip.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great one. David, you and I spoke a little bit. Can you tell me about your favorite piece in the museum and why it's your favorite?
Speaker 4:Well, I think my favorite piece is the pump organ that belonged to my great-grandparents and as kids we all, all my cousins we had about 50 cousins on that side, first cousins and we used to play on that. They had it in the parlor big room in the back of the house and we'd play on it. Somebody one of the kids would push the pedals and the other one bang on that on the keyboards but I think that was my favorite and most kids probably have no idea how.
Speaker 1:How could you play an organ before electricity? And this is a great piece. You you can see the foot pedals and that's amazing. We'll have to get you to play a little bit for us. Well, I'll do the pedals.
Speaker 4:I'm a James Church organist.
Speaker 1:There you go.
Speaker 4:Wow.
Speaker 1:And you were the last one to play that right, or when it was up in—.
Speaker 2:We always had a really nice open house in December and you know we had light at villages Once upon a time. For several years we did historic home tours so we would have people would buy tickets that's how we raised money to provide some of the things here in the museum and I would play the pump organ and people could either just listen to the carols or sing along. So that was fun and we would bring school kids in because all of our high schools have the Yuletide singers and they would come in and do special music and we would play.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this house is so beautiful. I imagine it is really something in the holidays, all decorated, all right. So, glenn, you've got quite a connection to the museum. Do you have a favorite piece, and if so, why is it?
Speaker 3:The last time, when we first met, I was trying to think and I couldn't really think of anything. And last week we were upstairs looking at and talking about the clothing that we have on display up there. And we have I believe it's George Flickr's wife's morning gown and cap up there. So I would have to say that that aspect of it is probably one of my favorite pieces here, because it's something that is so personal to somebody and because you showed yourself through what you wore and we still do it today, what you wore and we still do it today, and so that is a piece of history that I think is. There's another one because I like teaching.
Speaker 3:So we have a set of puzzle blocks that are from the 1800s Wow when there are six-sided blocks and each side has a different piece of a puzzle on it or a picture, and I actually sat in here for probably three and a half hours one day Going through it, putting those together and taking pictures of each of those puzzles, which is not very easy. So I think probably those two. That's amazing Because it's so personal. I think that was the think.
Speaker 3:Probably those two, that's amazing Because it's so personal.
Speaker 2:I think that was the precursor to the Rubik's Cube.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, well, we've got to check out these puzzles. Well, and the house itself is so pretty. Can you give us a little history on the house?
Speaker 3:The house is actually a kit house from Sears. The house was started in 1912, almost at 2012. 1912 and finished in 1913 by Gauntlet Bowls and they shipped that to you here in Fleurville on the railroad. And then everybody got together in the community and built the house, put it together like a Rebus cube.
Speaker 2:And is that?
Speaker 3:no, it's like 3D and yeah, it's your 3D puzzles, and so when we tell people that come in here, they're really amazed that that's possible or was possible back then. But if you look at it, there's an amazing amount of different styles of homes and there are probably others here in town as well.
Speaker 1:But yeah, All right, well, I encourage people to come by Heritage House open on Sundays, the first Sunday of each month from 1 to 4.
Speaker 3:Here recently the farmer's market started opening from 11 to 3 on Sundays, so either myself or one of our other partners may start coming in at 11 o'clock, but typically 1 to 4 on the first Sunday of each month.
Speaker 1:So it's like a two-for-one Check out the farmer's market, check out the Heritage House Absolutely Come by. Well, it is such a privilege to get to speak with all of you and I feel so happy that we've recorded this and got some memories down. Thank you for being on the show.
Speaker 4:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:All right, so we got to get some recording of that pump organ.
Speaker 4:Brenna Jane the tail fixer no.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 4:No, let's see.
Speaker 1:Are we done, yet it works great, yay.
Speaker 2:Well, no, it can be greater because the bellows it's not getting, it's all. It's a pipe arming because it's based upon the bellows pumping the air through it and making the sounds and those bellows are not functioning.
Speaker 1:Well, I hope you had as good a time listening to that as I had recording it and getting to spend time with those special guests in the Heritage House. So definitely plan to go visit Open the first Sunday of the month. While you're in there, you can purchase a t-shirt, you can ask them about purchasing one of the amazing books about the history of Pflugerville and then, really, you know, this whole season is based around what can we do to get involved in our community? And the Heritage House partners could use your help. If you're at all interested in history and you would like to volunteer, that's a great place to start and make sure you check out some of the amazing special events that they have coming up, like the Founders Day, which is coming right up the second Saturday in August. So thanks so much for staying tuned and hope to see you on the next episode of Pflugerville on Fire.
Speaker 1:Pflugerville on fire. On the next Pflugerville on fire, we're going to sit down and talk to Augustus Reina and Glenn Gilman, two experts from Travis County that specialize in wildland fires and emergency management, coordination and response. Both of these guys are incredibly active in our community and they come on to talk to us about flooding and wildland fires and what we can do to be as prepared as possible to meet these challenges in our own Pflugerville community. Finally, I want to give a shout out to one of our fans, ben, who took the time to write in. He said he listened to the podcast and really enjoyed them, and he was interested in learning more about the Stop the Bleed class. Ben man, thank you so much for being a fan of the show and for sending us some mail. Definitely check out all of the classes that we offer, whether CPR, stop the Bleed, at the Pflugerville Firefighters Foundation Web page and you can get that at pffirefoundationorg. Thanks for listening.
