August 4, 2025 • 34 mins
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."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It works great.
Yay, well, it can be greaterbecause the bellows it's not
getting.
It's a pipe arping because it'sbased upon the bellows pumping
the air through and making thesounds.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Welcome back to Pflugerville on Fire.
I'm your host, chris Wolfe.
In this special edition of thepodcast, we take a step back in
time to explore the rich rootsof Pflugerville's history.
Join us for an afternoon at theHeritage House, where we sit
down with Verna, jean, david andGlenn from the Heritage House
Partners.
Together we dive into storieslike the legendary 55-game
(00:46):
football win streak, theunforgettable fire of 71, and
how the spirit of our earlysettlers still lives on in this
beautifully preserved frontierfarmhouse.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm Vernee Jean Mott.
I was born and raised in thefarmland around Pflugerville,
Went to Pflugerville High Schooland I came back and raised my
family of three children herewho went also to Pflugerville
High School.
I was a teacher at PflugervilleHigh School and served on the
Board of Trustees for thePflugerville Independent School
District and been involved inchurch and many community
(01:26):
activities, including theHeritage House Museum.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I'm Glenn Schiller and my mother was a Preen who
settled here in Pflugervilleearly on and we belonged to the
church here, emmanuel Lutheranfor many generations and I went
to school here in Pflugerville,kindergarten through 12th grade,
and my family grandfather andhis brothers had businesses here
(01:56):
in town and recently came backto Pflugerville in 2017 on the
request of Gloria Kempel tovolunteer with the museum and
wound up being voted aspresident and in my fifth year
as president.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
My name is David Gabert.
I was born and raised here.
I went to school.
My great-grandparentsimmigrated from Germany and
Switzerland.
I went from Federal School fromfirst through 12th grade,
joined the Air Force and got adegree from the University of
Texas, came back and been anartist my whole life Still paint
(02:41):
.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Can any community members see your art anywhere?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
life still paint.
Can any community members seeyour art anywhere?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
uh yeah, here at the museum I did a portrait of mr
hendrickson for hendrickson highschool so if any, if any
parents are at hendrickson highschool, they can they can check
out some of your handiwork rightand, and both of y'all were
here for the great footballstreak of 55 games, right.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yes, we were.
Yes, I was a cheerleader and myhusband was the fall Central
Texas running back, and so 55games was a long streak and it
nearly came to an end when weplayed Johnson City at Johnson
City and it was a Hail Mary passat the end that my husband
threw and my brother Willard was.
(03:29):
He caught it because somebodyelse missed the catch, and so we
survived.
I fell off the bleachersactually, and so it was a
national schoolboy championevent and we were very.
It made the town proud andpeople knew what Pflugerville
was.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
If you haven't heard the stories, the Pflugerville
Panthers football team wentundefeated from 1958 to 1962,
racking up 55 consecutivevictories, and it set a high
school record that stood all theway up until 1998.
If you want to go a little bitdeeper, check out the scoreboard
that's behind the old rock gymin Pflugerville.
(04:07):
It's preserved as a testamentto that remarkable era in our
sports history.
Tell me what are your memoriesof the 71 fire.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Okay, it was in July.
It was a hot summer day, but anarther had blown in, and so the
wind was high, and a young man,Sean Casey, was walking down
Main Street and happened to seesomething through the window.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
If you're fans of the show, you know that we did a
whole episode with ChiefMolenberg about the 71 fire, but
I could not let this piece ofhistory go while I had three
experts that were there to talkabout it.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And when he opened the door to the north, the
oxygen that came in with thatwind kind of ignited it even
higher.
It spread throughout thoseoriginal buildings which had
been built In 1904, when the MKTMissouri, kansas Texas Railroad
came through and the depot wasdetermined to be in Flintville.
(05:03):
That's what grew the villageand so they built the brick
buildings on the south side ofMain Street, and on the north
side of Main Street it was stillwood frame buildings.
So this whole west end of MainStreet was ignited and people
started reacting.
One young man, larry Hoddy, wasover at Tufts.
(05:23):
He was still in high school andhe saw what was happening and
the volunteer fire department atthat time had one truck and he
went and drove that over and ofcourse then the alarm went out
and fire departments from allover central Texas came.
One of the biggest hopes was thebig tanker truck that came from
Oak Hill.
(05:43):
Obviously water was the issuethat needed.
We didn't have a lot of waterand so those tanker trucks that
could help.
My brother, lloyd Hebby, wasworking for the Hobacker Paving
Company at that time and he wentout and got their truck and
they were able to start gettingwater from Spring Hill and from
(06:03):
different places, and some ofthe farmers had tanks on the
back of their pickups ortrailers that they could go to
their stockpile.
So because of the wind thatcarried the fire, it became I
don't know.
I thought five alarm You're thefireman.
Five alarm was big, this wasprobably a ten alarm fire and so
it was devastating.
A lot of the people that stoodand watched sat and watched and
(06:28):
were feeling quite helpless.
We had valiant, courageouspeople trying to do their best
to save the town and we thoughtit was going to all go away.
And that part that burnedactually had been the Lepine
hardwareware Store, which wasalso part.
They had coffins, they hadfurniture, they had horse
buggies, but in the 70s thosewere no longer items.
(06:52):
Princess Craft was amanufacturing company that was
situated in that building and sothat was—it spread from that
building to the next one andwhat we saw was is that the
buildings had firewalls inbetween, but the fire was so
high and so hot that it wentthrough the rafter beam that
(07:15):
connected one building to theother 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 ofthe developers there, kind of
in mid street, part of MainStreet where you can see a
little component of the fire.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, that's neat.
It's where the present dayVictory Tap is now.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
That is correct.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
If you're sitting on the patio, you're sitting on one
of the buildings that hadburned up.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And that's kind of I would call it a monument,
memorial, a remembrance issuethat we have.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
That's great.
All right, david, tell us whereyou were and what do you
remember about that night.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Well, let's see, I lived in Fulgorelle at the time,
I guess, and I was across thestreet from the fire at my—I
don't know if it was Marshall'sTavern at the time or Prince's
Tavern Marshall's ProbablyMarshall's at the time, yeah,
and I just stood there andwatched and hoped it didn't jump
(08:19):
the street and burn everythingon that side of the—it was
pretty bad.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Were you pretty worried, pretty scared yeah
absolutely, yeah, big fire glenn, you were.
You were just a youngster, butyou had memories as well, don't
you very?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
young.
I was only three years old atthat time and we lived at third
and walnut and just two blocksaway and you could see direct
line to downtown from the houseand daddy had left that night to
go down to there to see what hecould do and mom had a number
(09:14):
of uncles that were in thevolunteer fire department that
helped begin that from the verybeginning, that were down there
helping.
But it was a huge fire becauseyou could see it from far off,
far off.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
How do you think it impacted the town?
Did it bring people closertogether?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
It's one of those things that was etched in your
memory.
Like everybody can remember9-11.
How do you think it impactedthe town?
Did it bring people closertogether?
Speaker 4 (09:40):
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 (09:45):
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 Flippervillepeople, that night was one of
those that you just didn'tforget.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I have the distinct privilege of being with some
history buffs and I'm a historybuff myself but we're sitting in
a very historic place.
This podcast is being recordedat the Heritage House in
Pflugerville, and my nextquestion is for you, ms
Vernagine how has this house andthe contents within it shaped
(10:15):
the identity of Pflugervilleover time?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I think it serves as a bold memory.
If you've ever been toWilliamsburg, virginia, you know
that that takes you back to thecolonial times, and so this
home represents the common homethat was built on the farmland.
This even though it's in thecity of Pflugerville right now,
very close to the new downtownproject that's going on.
(10:38):
This was farmland and this wasthe homestead of the Bowles
family, and so when ClarenceBowles was instrumental with his
siblings that this and heserved as mayor and then city
manager of the city ofPflugerville, but he wanted to
(11:00):
leave this home to the city, andso it took a while and we
eventually birthed a non-profitand called it Heritage House
Museum, because it doesrepresent the heritage and, I
would say, the contents of thishouse.
Getting it going.
It's like birthing somethingand then nurturing it and then
(11:22):
getting it to grow, so gettingeverything with the Secretary of
State for the nonprofit andthen to start getting the
contents and the vision forwhere it would be.
So when I look at the contentsof this house number one, I
think you just come in and lookhow the people lived in their
kitchen.
They didn't even have indoorplumbing at the time, and so
(11:44):
that's been modified.
I think that some of thecontents that are critically
important is the 1893 document.
When they decided to get mailfor the people who lived here,
the Bowles family sent a letterto the US government that we
(12:05):
needed a post office, and whenthey filled out the application
form they had to put somethingdown, and so that was how the
name came about.
In addition to that, collectingthe genealogy and the history
of some of the early families wehave some rare books here,
whether it was the Timmermanfamily, the Weiss family, the
(12:25):
Pflugger family, so manyfamilies we now have collections
.
My personal favorite, the Wolfefamily, yes, and there were
actually two different Wolffamilies and there are two
different Weiss families thatare not blood relatives but they
had a similar last name, Ithink.
The other thing is, for some ofus who lived in those early
(12:47):
days, like there's a sausagemaker, there's the washing
machine, there is the littlepotty by the bed, you know
because you didn't have indoorplumbing.
You see the kitchen littlegadgets that you use to cook
with.
It has a pump organ.
That was before you had theelectricity.
So all of these things it's veryimportant.
(13:08):
We're leaving a heritage and weare also living legacies and
it's important to know the pastas we live in the future and
hopefully we can educate.
That was preserve and educatewas part of the mission.
And so again in the initialdays we took our story to the
schools and told that to ourelementary students and showed
(13:31):
them pictures to generateinterest.
And having special programshere we have had we sponsored,
like for the Mexican-Americanearly settlers, for the
African-American early settlers,those families, and then for
the German Americans.
We had that event and wecontinue to have special events
(13:52):
to honor the past and to sharethe past with our current
residents.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
It's great.
I think one of the neat thingsabout history is trying to
imagine yourself in it.
And if you've got kids andyou're living in, like where
Lacey and I live in a newly anew development, it's almost
impossible to imagine what lifewas like out here in
Pflugerville and walking in thefront door of this house.
The smells, the sounds, theartifacts, the items just bring
(14:24):
you right back.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
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 asimmigrants, 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
(14:50):
MKT Missouri Kansas TexasRailroad.
They donated land so that thedepot would be here and that
then spurred the businessdowntown.
Then it became a village, butthe city of Pflugerville did not
really incorporate until 1965.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
So basically, it's a fairly young city government but
a very rich history that goesback to the 1850s yes, yeah, you
know we're talking about tyingcurrent pflugerville in in with
the heritage house and givingpeople an idea of what was going
on, and you can just listen tothe name and know that there's
(15:27):
some german ancestry here.
But can you tell us how thatimpacted you growing up and how
you see it today?
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Well, my great-grandparents and
grandparents, my parents, allspoke German at home.
I remember we had German churchservice, like once a month.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Really.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
Yeah, but then after the World War II they kind of
had to quit Our preacher Kosiski.
He was from Germany and he hada radio that he kept in touch
with his people in Germany.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
And the government here was watching him.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
That is wow.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Never heard that story before they were watching
to make sure that he wasn'tsaying anything, or you know.
But yeah, I remember hearingabout 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 firstgrade.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And Vern Jean, you grew up speaking German as well,
right?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yes, and then I at the University of Texas took
German, and when I came back toPflugerville this was after the
war, because they had to stopteaching German at that time.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
But when I returned in 1976 to teach.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
they wanted to teach German, so I was the teacher,
the German teacher.
Wow.
But adding on to what Davidsaid, the US government came to
Pflugerville or sent a letternot allowing people to gather
and speak German in publicduring the war.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And they would watch.
Sometimes they would paintbarns to identify where the
Germans were actually living.
Wow, of course you raisedeverything on your farm, so that
meant that you made all yourworst.
You butchered your pork and,going to school, we would have
(17:24):
liverwurst sandwiches and theyused every part of the pig.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Except the squeal.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yes, and then the sweet German rice was a very
common thing, and then there wastraditional meals that you know
were very important and a lotof German customs.
My great-grandmother came fromSwitzerland, actually, and so it
was through there.
They were able to do like fineembroidery and linens and that,
(17:53):
and so what the women were doing, they were able to sell them in
Austin, and that provided themthe monetary means to buy bulk
things that they needed tocontinue doing whatever they
needed.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
And there's some amazing examples of that.
Upstairs here in the HeritageHouse I was looking at some of
the embroidery that they haddone on the quilts.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
And the quilts.
We have two quilts that werecalled friendship quilts and
that was an amazing gift to theHeritage House Museum, also
because it helped us to identifysome of the people who were
living here and some of thenames, the German names, like
Neuenschwanter.
Okay, that was, you know, 16letters.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
You know, they got shortened down to something over
the generations.
No, yeah, no, kept it goingKind of funny.
Here in the museum there's aphone book from 1958, and it's
three pages.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Well, that's right.
And see, initially you had theswitchboard in Pflugerville.
Miss Frances Whelan ran thatand so you had the rings, like
ours was too long and too short1611F22.
When we finally gotSouthwestern Bell telephone and
we got a 251 number, when Istarted dating in high school
(19:09):
you could hear all of the partyliners pick up whenever somebody
would call me, and it was likeoh, my God.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
No privacy to be had.
Right, glenn, you are thecurrent president of the
Heritage House Partners.
That's the nonprofit thatVernaging was talking about.
Can you tell us a little bitabout what the Heritage House
Partners is and what is y'all'smission?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
So our mission is to preserve and protect and promote
the history of Fleurville isthe basic part of it.
History of Fleurville is thebasic part of it and it's very
(19:55):
important to me because, havinglost 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 soimportant like the library does
a project of recording historyand such, why it's so important
and I always say that anytimeyou get more than two or three
(20:17):
people together at a table, theyjog other people's memories so
you come up with more history.
And so when I came in 17 iswhen I started volunteering with
the partners and it's beenclose to me because my first
(20:39):
nine years I grew up here intown.
My grandfather had Preem'sTavern on Main Street or on
downtown, and so growing up,walking from the house to the
tavern and being at Marshall'son Saturday with all of my great
aunts and uncles and everybodyelse playing dominoes, you have
(21:01):
that sense of family.
And so when I'm trying to putprograms together to promote the
museum and events that arefamily-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
(21:27):
.
Because kids love to learn andI'm just a naturally born
teacher, like Vernon Jean, and Ithink we all do here at the
museum all of the volunteers andpartners love teaching from
that aspect of history.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
And it's a great opportunity, I can say firsthand
, walking in and talking tovolunteers that feel that deep
connection to the historicalpart of this community and just
getting to talk with you all isa pretty special thing.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
It's great we have people that come in where I
usually open the museum eitherbefore or after the Pflugger
reunion on July the 4th, and sothat family members can come in
and see the house.
And there are so many storiesof them having been in here when
they were little children andand they're in their 80s now and
(22:23):
it evokes so many memories, andnot just from Flugger families
but other people that come in onour open houses on the first
Sunday of each month express howwonderful it is and how many
memories that it brings back tothem of their own childhood, no
matter where they came from oftheir own childhood, no matter
(22:46):
where they came from.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
I would add to what Glenn said.
We're thankful now that theCity of Pflugerville Library is
the umbrella under which themuseum exists, and when the
library expanded, we helpedencourage this component there
that digitalized a lot of ourpictures and also oral
recordings, and so that's accessthat people can look at.
(23:08):
And the other thing is thevolunteers are critically
important in the museum partners.
People are looking for thingsto spend their time doing, and
so if this is a year that youhave and you have the time,
contact Glenn and there'ssomething that you can do and
you'll learn something on theway.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Yes, we're always looking for volunteers and and
it's sad, on one hand, becausethe history and those people
that started this are going awaywe just lost a member last year
in April, and so it hits hardon a personal level and a
(24:03):
historical level because thereare so many questions that we
haven't asked those people.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Let me ask you guys a question.
This is for you, or David?
Do you need to be a Pfluger, orhave been here for generations?
Speaker 3 (24:17):
to help out?
To help out, absolutely not.
I always tell people that comein that we're here for all of
Pflugerville and Pflugerville'shistory, not just the Pfluggers
Black, brown, whatever it may be, native American, all of that
because it's all part of ourhistory, and so we have been
(24:40):
very fortunate to have somewonderful volunteers that are
not Flickerville people, and sowe can use anybody, anybody that
likes being around history andhelping people and promoting
history and the museum.
(25:01):
Ms.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Bernstein, what's your favorite item in the museum
and why?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I'm going to say there's a bench back here that
was on Mr Nazy's, that was onMain Street.
We were able to go toPflugerville once a week with
our grandfather on a Saturdayafternoon and at that time it
was called a drugstore afternoonand at that time it was called
a drugstore In today's world.
As I explained to youngelementary kids, it would be
(25:28):
similar to a pharmacy, butthat's where you would go.
But he had a soda fountain andscoops of ice cream and then you
would get your ice cream and ifit was cold he had little bitty
chairs you could sit inside oryou would go sit out on the
bench and everybody would visit.
You know they'd be walking upand down main street.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
It was kind of like mayberry in a sense so that
brings back how many saturdaysdid you sit out there on that
bench?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
oh, I mean you look forward to that every saturday
and that that was one reason youstayed really good all week.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
You don't want to miss that trip.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, that's a great one.
David, you and I spoke a littlebit.
Can you tell me about yourfavorite piece in the museum and
why it's your favorite?
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Well, I think my favorite piece is the pump organ
that belonged to mygreat-grandparents and as kids
we all, all my cousins we hadabout 50 cousins on that side,
first cousins and we used toplay on that.
They had it in the parlor bigroom in the back of the house
and we'd play on it.
Somebody one of the kids wouldpush the pedals and the other
(26:31):
one bang on that on thekeyboards but I think that was
my favorite and most kidsprobably have no idea how.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
How could you play an organ before electricity?
And this is a great piece.
You you can see the foot pedalsand that's amazing.
We'll have to get you to play alittle bit for us.
Well, I'll do the pedals.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
I'm a James Church organist.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
There you go.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
And you were the last one to play that right, or when
it was up in—.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
We always had a really nice open house in
December and you know we hadlight at villages Once upon a
time.
For several years we didhistoric home tours so we would
have people would buy ticketsthat's how we raised money to
provide some of the things herein the museum and I would play
(27:23):
the pump organ and people couldeither just listen to the carols
or sing along.
So that was fun and we wouldbring school kids in because all
of our high schools have theYuletide singers and they would
come in and do special music andwe would play.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Yeah, this house is so beautiful.
I imagine it is reallysomething in the holidays, all
decorated, all right.
So, glenn, you've got quite aconnection to the museum.
Do you have a favorite piece,and if so, why is it?
Speaker 3 (27:55):
The last time, when we first met, I was trying to
think and I couldn't reallythink of anything.
And last week we were upstairslooking at and talking about the
clothing that we have ondisplay up there.
And we have I believe it'sGeorge Flickr's wife's morning
gown and cap up there.
(28:17):
So I would have to say thatthat aspect of it is probably
one of my favorite pieces here,because it's something that is
so personal to somebody andbecause you showed yourself
(28:37):
through what you wore and westill do it today, what you wore
and we still do it today, andso that is a piece of history
that I think is.
There's another one because Ilike teaching.
So we have a set of puzzleblocks that are from the 1800s
(28:58):
Wow when there are six-sidedblocks and each side has a
different piece of a puzzle onit or a picture, and I actually
sat in here for probably threeand a half hours one day Going
through it, putting thosetogether and taking pictures of
each of those puzzles, which isnot very easy.
(29:19):
So I think probably those two.
That's amazing Because it's sopersonal.
I think that was the think.
Probably those two, that'samazing Because it's so personal
.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I think that was the precursor to the Rubik's Cube.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yes, yeah, well, we've got to check out these
puzzles.
Well, and the house itself isso pretty.
Can you give us a littlehistory on the house?
Speaker 3 (29:37):
The house is actually a kit house from Sears.
The house was started in 1912,almost at 2012.
1912 and finished in 1913 byGauntlet Bowls and they shipped
(29:58):
that to you here in Fleurvilleon the railroad.
And then everybody got togetherin the community and built the
house, put it together like aRebus cube.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
And is that?
Speaker 3 (30:11):
no, it's like 3D and yeah, it's your 3D puzzles, and
so when we tell people that comein here, they're really amazed
that that's possible or waspossible back then.
But if you look at it, there'san amazing amount of different
styles of homes and there areprobably others here in town as
(30:34):
well.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
But yeah, All right, well, I encourage people to come
by Heritage House open onSundays, the first Sunday of
each month from 1 to 4.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Here recently the farmer's market started opening
from 11 to 3 on Sundays, soeither myself or one of our
other partners may start comingin at 11 o'clock, but typically
1 to 4 on the first Sunday ofeach month.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
So it's like a two-for-one Check out the
farmer's market, check out theHeritage House Absolutely Come
by.
Well, it is such a privilege toget to speak with all of you
and I feel so happy that we'verecorded this and got some
memories down.
Thank you for being on the show.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
All right, so we got to get some recording of that
pump organ.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
Brenna Jane the tail fixer no.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
No.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
No, let's see.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Are we done, yet it works great, yay.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Well, no, it can be greater because the bellows it's
not getting, it's all.
It's a pipe arming because it'sbased upon the bellows pumping
the air through it and makingthe sounds and those bellows are
not functioning.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Well, I hope you had as good a time listening to that
as I had recording it andgetting to spend time with those
special guests in the HeritageHouse.
So definitely plan to go visitOpen the first Sunday of the
month.
While you're in there, you canpurchase a t-shirt, you can ask
them about purchasing one of theamazing books about the history
of Pflugerville and then,really, you know, this whole
(32:30):
season is based around what canwe do to get involved in our
community?
And the Heritage House partnerscould use your help.
If you're at all interested inhistory and you would like to
volunteer, that's a great placeto start and make sure you check
out some of the amazing specialevents that they have coming up
, like the Founders Day, whichis coming right up the second
(32:53):
Saturday in August.
So thanks so much for stayingtuned and hope to see you on the
next episode of Pflugerville onFire.
Pflugerville on fire.
On the next Pflugerville onfire, we're going to sit down
and talk to Augustus Reina andGlenn Gilman, two experts from
(33:13):
Travis County that specialize inwildland fires and emergency
management, coordination andresponse.
Both of these guys areincredibly active in our
community and they come on totalk to us about flooding and
wildland fires and what we cando to be as prepared as possible
to meet these challenges in ourown Pflugerville community.
(33:34):
Finally, I want to give a shoutout to one of our fans, ben,
who took the time to write in.
He said he listened to thepodcast and really enjoyed them,
and he was interested inlearning more about the Stop the
Bleed class.
Ben man, thank you so much forbeing a fan of the show and for
sending us some mail.
Definitely check out all of theclasses that we offer, whether
(33:57):
CPR, stop the Bleed, at thePflugerville Firefighters
Foundation Web page and you canget that at pffirefoundationorg.
Thanks for listening.
It works great.
Yay, well, it can be greaterbecause the bellows it's not
getting.
It's a pipe arping because it'sbased upon the bellows pumping
the air through and making thesounds.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Welcome back to Pflugerville on Fire.
I'm your host, chris Wolfe.
In this special edition of thepodcast, we take a step back in
time to explore the rich rootsof Pflugerville's history.
Join us for an afternoon at theHeritage House, where we sit
down with Verna, jean, david andGlenn from the Heritage House
Partners.
Together we dive into storieslike the legendary 55-game
(00:46):
football win streak, theunforgettable fire of 71, and
how the spirit of our earlysettlers still lives on in this
beautifully preserved frontierfarmhouse.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm Vernee Jean Mott.
I was born and raised in thefarmland around Pflugerville,
Went to Pflugerville High Schooland I came back and raised my
family of three children herewho went also to Pflugerville
High School.
I was a teacher at PflugervilleHigh School and served on the
Board of Trustees for thePflugerville Independent School
District and been involved inchurch and many community
(01:26):
activities, including theHeritage House Museum.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I'm Glenn Schiller and my mother was a Preen who
settled here in Pflugervilleearly on and we belonged to the
church here, emmanuel Lutheranfor many generations and I went
to school here in Pflugerville,kindergarten through 12th grade,
and my family grandfather andhis brothers had businesses here
(01:56):
in town and recently came backto Pflugerville in 2017 on the
request of Gloria Kempel tovolunteer with the museum and
wound up being voted aspresident and in my fifth year
as president.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
My name is David Gabert.
I was born and raised here.
I went to school.
My great-grandparentsimmigrated from Germany and
Switzerland.
I went from Federal School fromfirst through 12th grade,
joined the Air Force and got adegree from the University of
Texas, came back and been anartist my whole life Still paint
(02:41):
.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Can any community members see your art anywhere?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
life still paint.
Can any community members seeyour art anywhere?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
uh yeah, here at the museum I did a portrait of mr
hendrickson for hendrickson highschool so if any, if any
parents are at hendrickson highschool, they can they can check
out some of your handiwork rightand, and both of y'all were
here for the great footballstreak of 55 games, right.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yes, we were.
Yes, I was a cheerleader and myhusband was the fall Central
Texas running back, and so 55games was a long streak and it
nearly came to an end when weplayed Johnson City at Johnson
City and it was a Hail Mary passat the end that my husband
threw and my brother Willard was.
(03:29):
He caught it because somebodyelse missed the catch, and so we
survived.
I fell off the bleachersactually, and so it was a
national schoolboy championevent and we were very.
It made the town proud andpeople knew what Pflugerville
was.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
If you haven't heard the stories, the Pflugerville
Panthers football team wentundefeated from 1958 to 1962,
racking up 55 consecutivevictories, and it set a high
school record that stood all theway up until 1998.
If you want to go a little bitdeeper, check out the scoreboard
that's behind the old rock gymin Pflugerville.
(04:07):
It's preserved as a testamentto that remarkable era in our
sports history.
Tell me what are your memoriesof the 71 fire.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Okay, it was in July.
It was a hot summer day, but anarther had blown in, and so the
wind was high, and a young man,Sean Casey, was walking down
Main Street and happened to seesomething through the window.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
If you're fans of the show, you know that we did a
whole episode with ChiefMolenberg about the 71 fire, but
I could not let this piece ofhistory go while I had three
experts that were there to talkabout it.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And when he opened the door to the north, the
oxygen that came in with thatwind kind of ignited it even
higher.
It spread throughout thoseoriginal buildings which had
been built In 1904, when the MKTMissouri, kansas Texas Railroad
came through and the depot wasdetermined to be in Flintville.
(05:03):
That's what grew the villageand so they built the brick
buildings on the south side ofMain Street, and on the north
side of Main Street it was stillwood frame buildings.
So this whole west end of MainStreet was ignited and people
started reacting.
One young man, larry Hoddy, wasover at Tufts.
(05:23):
He was still in high school andhe saw what was happening and
the volunteer fire department atthat time had one truck and he
went and drove that over and ofcourse then the alarm went out
and fire departments from allover central Texas came.
One of the biggest hopes was thebig tanker truck that came from
Oak Hill.
(05:43):
Obviously water was the issuethat needed.
We didn't have a lot of waterand so those tanker trucks that
could help.
My brother, lloyd Hebby, wasworking for the Hobacker Paving
Company at that time and he wentout and got their truck and
they were able to start gettingwater from Spring Hill and from
(06:03):
different places, and some ofthe farmers had tanks on the
back of their pickups ortrailers that they could go to
their stockpile.
So because of the wind thatcarried the fire, it became I
don't know.
I thought five alarm You're thefireman.
Five alarm was big, this wasprobably a ten alarm fire and so
it was devastating.
A lot of the people that stoodand watched sat and watched and
(06:28):
were feeling quite helpless.
We had valiant, courageouspeople trying to do their best
to save the town and we thoughtit was going to all go away.
And that part that burnedactually had been the Lepine
hardwareware Store, which wasalso part.
They had coffins, they hadfurniture, they had horse
buggies, but in the 70s thosewere no longer items.
(06:52):
Princess Craft was amanufacturing company that was
situated in that building and sothat was—it spread from that
building to the next one andwhat we saw was is that the
buildings had firewalls inbetween, but the fire was so
high and so hot that it wentthrough the rafter beam that
(07:15):
connected one building to theother 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 ofthe developers there, kind of
in mid street, part of MainStreet where you can see a
little component of the fire.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, that's neat.
It's where the present dayVictory Tap is now.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
That is correct.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
If you're sitting on the patio, you're sitting on one
of the buildings that hadburned up.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And that's kind of I would call it a monument,
memorial, a remembrance issuethat we have.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
That's great.
All right, david, tell us whereyou were and what do you
remember about that night.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Well, let's see, I lived in Fulgorelle at the time,
I guess, and I was across thestreet from the fire at my—I
don't know if it was Marshall'sTavern at the time or Prince's
Tavern Marshall's ProbablyMarshall's at the time, yeah,
and I just stood there andwatched and hoped it didn't jump
(08:19):
the street and burn everythingon that side of the—it was
pretty bad.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Were you pretty worried, pretty scared yeah
absolutely, yeah, big fire glenn, you were.
You were just a youngster, butyou had memories as well, don't
you very?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
young.
I was only three years old atthat time and we lived at third
and walnut and just two blocksaway and you could see direct
line to downtown from the houseand daddy had left that night to
go down to there to see what hecould do and mom had a number
(09:14):
of uncles that were in thevolunteer fire department that
helped begin that from the verybeginning, that were down there
helping.
But it was a huge fire becauseyou could see it from far off,
far off.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
How do you think it impacted the town?
Did it bring people closertogether?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
It's one of those things that was etched in your
memory.
Like everybody can remember9-11.
How do you think it impactedthe town?
Did it bring people closertogether?
Speaker 4 (09:40):
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 (09:45):
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 Flippervillepeople, that night was one of
those that you just didn'tforget.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
I have the distinct privilege of being with some
history buffs and I'm a historybuff myself but we're sitting in
a very historic place.
This podcast is being recordedat the Heritage House in
Pflugerville, and my nextquestion is for you, ms
Vernagine how has this house andthe contents within it shaped
(10:15):
the identity of Pflugervilleover time?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I think it serves as a bold memory.
If you've ever been toWilliamsburg, virginia, you know
that that takes you back to thecolonial times, and so this
home represents the common homethat was built on the farmland.
This even though it's in thecity of Pflugerville right now,
very close to the new downtownproject that's going on.
(10:38):
This was farmland and this wasthe homestead of the Bowles
family, and so when ClarenceBowles was instrumental with his
siblings that this and heserved as mayor and then city
manager of the city ofPflugerville, but he wanted to
(11:00):
leave this home to the city, andso it took a while and we
eventually birthed a non-profitand called it Heritage House
Museum, because it doesrepresent the heritage and, I
would say, the contents of thishouse.
Getting it going.
It's like birthing somethingand then nurturing it and then
(11:22):
getting it to grow, so gettingeverything with the Secretary of
State for the nonprofit andthen to start getting the
contents and the vision forwhere it would be.
So when I look at the contentsof this house number one, I
think you just come in and lookhow the people lived in their
kitchen.
They didn't even have indoorplumbing at the time, and so
(11:44):
that's been modified.
I think that some of thecontents that are critically
important is the 1893 document.
When they decided to get mailfor the people who lived here,
the Bowles family sent a letterto the US government that we
(12:05):
needed a post office, and whenthey filled out the application
form they had to put somethingdown, and so that was how the
name came about.
In addition to that, collectingthe genealogy and the history
of some of the early families wehave some rare books here,
whether it was the Timmermanfamily, the Weiss family, the
(12:25):
Pflugger family, so manyfamilies we now have collections
.
My personal favorite, the Wolfefamily, yes, and there were
actually two different Wolffamilies and there are two
different Weiss families thatare not blood relatives but they
had a similar last name, Ithink.
The other thing is, for some ofus who lived in those early
(12:47):
days, like there's a sausagemaker, there's the washing
machine, there is the littlepotty by the bed, you know
because you didn't have indoorplumbing.
You see the kitchen littlegadgets that you use to cook
with.
It has a pump organ.
That was before you had theelectricity.
So all of these things it's veryimportant.
(13:08):
We're leaving a heritage and weare also living legacies and
it's important to know the pastas we live in the future and
hopefully we can educate.
That was preserve and educatewas part of the mission.
And so again in the initialdays we took our story to the
schools and told that to ourelementary students and showed
(13:31):
them pictures to generateinterest.
And having special programshere we have had we sponsored,
like for the Mexican-Americanearly settlers, for the
African-American early settlers,those families, and then for
the German Americans.
We had that event and wecontinue to have special events
(13:52):
to honor the past and to sharethe past with our current
residents.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
It's great.
I think one of the neat thingsabout history is trying to
imagine yourself in it.
And if you've got kids andyou're living in, like where
Lacey and I live in a newly anew development, it's almost
impossible to imagine what lifewas like out here in
Pflugerville and walking in thefront door of this house.
The smells, the sounds, theartifacts, the items just bring
(14:24):
you right back.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
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 asimmigrants, 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
(14:50):
MKT Missouri Kansas TexasRailroad.
They donated land so that thedepot would be here and that
then spurred the businessdowntown.
Then it became a village, butthe city of Pflugerville did not
really incorporate until 1965.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
So basically, it's a fairly young city government but
a very rich history that goesback to the 1850s yes, yeah, you
know we're talking about tyingcurrent pflugerville in in with
the heritage house and givingpeople an idea of what was going
on, and you can just listen tothe name and know that there's
(15:27):
some german ancestry here.
But can you tell us how thatimpacted you growing up and how
you see it today?
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Well, my great-grandparents and
grandparents, my parents, allspoke German at home.
I remember we had German churchservice, like once a month.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Really.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
Yeah, but then after the World War II they kind of
had to quit Our preacher Kosiski.
He was from Germany and he hada radio that he kept in touch
with his people in Germany.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
And the government here was watching him.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
That is wow.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Never heard that story before they were watching
to make sure that he wasn'tsaying anything, or you know.
But yeah, I remember hearingabout 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 firstgrade.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And Vern Jean, you grew up speaking German as well,
right?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yes, and then I at the University of Texas took
German, and when I came back toPflugerville this was after the
war, because they had to stopteaching German at that time.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
But when I returned in 1976 to teach.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
they wanted to teach German, so I was the teacher,
the German teacher.
Wow.
But adding on to what Davidsaid, the US government came to
Pflugerville or sent a letternot allowing people to gather
and speak German in publicduring the war.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And they would watch.
Sometimes they would paintbarns to identify where the
Germans were actually living.
Wow, of course you raisedeverything on your farm, so that
meant that you made all yourworst.
You butchered your pork and,going to school, we would have
(17:24):
liverwurst sandwiches and theyused every part of the pig.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Except the squeal.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yes, and then the sweet German rice was a very
common thing, and then there wastraditional meals that you know
were very important and a lotof German customs.
My great-grandmother came fromSwitzerland, actually, and so it
was through there.
They were able to do like fineembroidery and linens and that,
(17:53):
and so what the women were doing, they were able to sell them in
Austin, and that provided themthe monetary means to buy bulk
things that they needed tocontinue doing whatever they
needed.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
And there's some amazing examples of that.
Upstairs here in the HeritageHouse I was looking at some of
the embroidery that they haddone on the quilts.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
And the quilts.
We have two quilts that werecalled friendship quilts and
that was an amazing gift to theHeritage House Museum, also
because it helped us to identifysome of the people who were
living here and some of thenames, the German names, like
Neuenschwanter.
Okay, that was, you know, 16letters.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
You know, they got shortened down to something over
the generations.
No, yeah, no, kept it goingKind of funny.
Here in the museum there's aphone book from 1958, and it's
three pages.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Well, that's right.
And see, initially you had theswitchboard in Pflugerville.
Miss Frances Whelan ran thatand so you had the rings, like
ours was too long and too short1611F22.
When we finally gotSouthwestern Bell telephone and
we got a 251 number, when Istarted dating in high school
(19:09):
you could hear all of the partyliners pick up whenever somebody
would call me, and it was likeoh, my God.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
No privacy to be had.
Right, glenn, you are thecurrent president of the
Heritage House Partners.
That's the nonprofit thatVernaging was talking about.
Can you tell us a little bitabout what the Heritage House
Partners is and what is y'all'smission?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
So our mission is to preserve and protect and promote
the history of Fleurville isthe basic part of it.
History of Fleurville is thebasic part of it and it's very
(19:55):
important to me because, havinglost 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 soimportant like the library does
a project of recording historyand such, why it's so important
and I always say that anytimeyou get more than two or three
(20:17):
people together at a table, theyjog other people's memories so
you come up with more history.
And so when I came in 17 iswhen I started volunteering with
the partners and it's beenclose to me because my first
(20:39):
nine years I grew up here intown.
My grandfather had Preem'sTavern on Main Street or on
downtown, and so growing up,walking from the house to the
tavern and being at Marshall'son Saturday with all of my great
aunts and uncles and everybodyelse playing dominoes, you have
(21:01):
that sense of family.
And so when I'm trying to putprograms together to promote the
museum and events that arefamily-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
(21:27):
.
Because kids love to learn andI'm just a naturally born
teacher, like Vernon Jean, and Ithink we all do here at the
museum all of the volunteers andpartners love teaching from
that aspect of history.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
And it's a great opportunity, I can say firsthand
, walking in and talking tovolunteers that feel that deep
connection to the historicalpart of this community and just
getting to talk with you all isa pretty special thing.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
It's great we have people that come in where I
usually open the museum eitherbefore or after the Pflugger
reunion on July the 4th, and sothat family members can come in
and see the house.
And there are so many storiesof them having been in here when
they were little children andand they're in their 80s now and
(22:23):
it evokes so many memories, andnot just from Flugger families
but other people that come in onour open houses on the first
Sunday of each month express howwonderful it is and how many
memories that it brings back tothem of their own childhood, no
matter where they came from oftheir own childhood, no matter
(22:46):
where they came from.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
I would add to what Glenn said.
We're thankful now that theCity of Pflugerville Library is
the umbrella under which themuseum exists, and when the
library expanded, we helpedencourage this component there
that digitalized a lot of ourpictures and also oral
recordings, and so that's accessthat people can look at.
(23:08):
And the other thing is thevolunteers are critically
important in the museum partners.
People are looking for thingsto spend their time doing, and
so if this is a year that youhave and you have the time,
contact Glenn and there'ssomething that you can do and
you'll learn something on theway.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Yes, we're always looking for volunteers and and
it's sad, on one hand, becausethe history and those people
that started this are going awaywe just lost a member last year
in April, and so it hits hardon a personal level and a
(24:03):
historical level because thereare so many questions that we
haven't asked those people.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Let me ask you guys a question.
This is for you, or David?
Do you need to be a Pfluger, orhave been here for generations?
Speaker 3 (24:17):
to help out?
To help out, absolutely not.
I always tell people that comein that we're here for all of
Pflugerville and Pflugerville'shistory, not just the Pfluggers
Black, brown, whatever it may be, native American, all of that
because it's all part of ourhistory, and so we have been
(24:40):
very fortunate to have somewonderful volunteers that are
not Flickerville people, and sowe can use anybody, anybody that
likes being around history andhelping people and promoting
history and the museum.
(25:01):
Ms.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Bernstein, what's your favorite item in the museum
and why?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I'm going to say there's a bench back here that
was on Mr Nazy's, that was onMain Street.
We were able to go toPflugerville once a week with
our grandfather on a Saturdayafternoon and at that time it
was called a drugstore afternoonand at that time it was called
a drugstore In today's world.
As I explained to youngelementary kids, it would be
(25:28):
similar to a pharmacy, butthat's where you would go.
But he had a soda fountain andscoops of ice cream and then you
would get your ice cream and ifit was cold he had little bitty
chairs you could sit inside oryou would go sit out on the
bench and everybody would visit.
You know they'd be walking upand down main street.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
It was kind of like mayberry in a sense so that
brings back how many saturdaysdid you sit out there on that
bench?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
oh, I mean you look forward to that every saturday
and that that was one reason youstayed really good all week.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
You don't want to miss that trip.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, that's a great one.
David, you and I spoke a littlebit.
Can you tell me about yourfavorite piece in the museum and
why it's your favorite?
Speaker 4 (26:10):
Well, I think my favorite piece is the pump organ
that belonged to mygreat-grandparents and as kids
we all, all my cousins we hadabout 50 cousins on that side,
first cousins and we used toplay on that.
They had it in the parlor bigroom in the back of the house
and we'd play on it.
Somebody one of the kids wouldpush the pedals and the other
(26:31):
one bang on that on thekeyboards but I think that was
my favorite and most kidsprobably have no idea how.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
How could you play an organ before electricity?
And this is a great piece.
You you can see the foot pedalsand that's amazing.
We'll have to get you to play alittle bit for us.
Well, I'll do the pedals.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
I'm a James Church organist.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
There you go.
Speaker 4 (26:56):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
And you were the last one to play that right, or when
it was up in—.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
We always had a really nice open house in
December and you know we hadlight at villages Once upon a
time.
For several years we didhistoric home tours so we would
have people would buy ticketsthat's how we raised money to
provide some of the things herein the museum and I would play
(27:23):
the pump organ and people couldeither just listen to the carols
or sing along.
So that was fun and we wouldbring school kids in because all
of our high schools have theYuletide singers and they would
come in and do special music andwe would play.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Yeah, this house is so beautiful.
I imagine it is reallysomething in the holidays, all
decorated, all right.
So, glenn, you've got quite aconnection to the museum.
Do you have a favorite piece,and if so, why is it?
Speaker 3 (27:55):
The last time, when we first met, I was trying to
think and I couldn't reallythink of anything.
And last week we were upstairslooking at and talking about the
clothing that we have ondisplay up there.
And we have I believe it'sGeorge Flickr's wife's morning
gown and cap up there.
(28:17):
So I would have to say thatthat aspect of it is probably
one of my favorite pieces here,because it's something that is
so personal to somebody andbecause you showed yourself
(28:37):
through what you wore and westill do it today, what you wore
and we still do it today, andso that is a piece of history
that I think is.
There's another one because Ilike teaching.
So we have a set of puzzleblocks that are from the 1800s
(28:58):
Wow when there are six-sidedblocks and each side has a
different piece of a puzzle onit or a picture, and I actually
sat in here for probably threeand a half hours one day Going
through it, putting thosetogether and taking pictures of
each of those puzzles, which isnot very easy.
(29:19):
So I think probably those two.
That's amazing Because it's sopersonal.
I think that was the think.
Probably those two, that'samazing Because it's so personal
.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I think that was the precursor to the Rubik's Cube.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yes, yeah, well, we've got to check out these
puzzles.
Well, and the house itself isso pretty.
Can you give us a littlehistory on the house?
Speaker 3 (29:37):
The house is actually a kit house from Sears.
The house was started in 1912,almost at 2012.
1912 and finished in 1913 byGauntlet Bowls and they shipped
(29:58):
that to you here in Fleurvilleon the railroad.
And then everybody got togetherin the community and built the
house, put it together like aRebus cube.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
And is that?
Speaker 3 (30:11):
no, it's like 3D and yeah, it's your 3D puzzles, and
so when we tell people that comein here, they're really amazed
that that's possible or waspossible back then.
But if you look at it, there'san amazing amount of different
styles of homes and there areprobably others here in town as
(30:34):
well.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
But yeah, All right, well, I encourage people to come
by Heritage House open onSundays, the first Sunday of
each month from 1 to 4.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Here recently the farmer's market started opening
from 11 to 3 on Sundays, soeither myself or one of our
other partners may start comingin at 11 o'clock, but typically
1 to 4 on the first Sunday ofeach month.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
So it's like a two-for-one Check out the
farmer's market, check out theHeritage House Absolutely Come
by.
Well, it is such a privilege toget to speak with all of you
and I feel so happy that we'verecorded this and got some
memories down.
Thank you for being on the show.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
All right, so we got to get some recording of that
pump organ.
Speaker 4 (31:23):
Brenna Jane the tail fixer no.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
No.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
No, let's see.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Are we done, yet it works great, yay.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Well, no, it can be greater because the bellows it's
not getting, it's all.
It's a pipe arming because it'sbased upon the bellows pumping
the air through it and makingthe sounds and those bellows are
not functioning.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Well, I hope you had as good a time listening to that
as I had recording it andgetting to spend time with those
special guests in the HeritageHouse.
So definitely plan to go visitOpen the first Sunday of the
month.
While you're in there, you canpurchase a t-shirt, you can ask
them about purchasing one of theamazing books about the history
of Pflugerville and then,really, you know, this whole
(32:30):
season is based around what canwe do to get involved in our
community?
And the Heritage House partnerscould use your help.
If you're at all interested inhistory and you would like to
volunteer, that's a great placeto start and make sure you check
out some of the amazing specialevents that they have coming up
, like the Founders Day, whichis coming right up the second
(32:53):
Saturday in August.
So thanks so much for stayingtuned and hope to see you on the
next episode of Pflugerville onFire.
Pflugerville on fire.
On the next Pflugerville onfire, we're going to sit down
and talk to Augustus Reina andGlenn Gilman, two experts from
(33:13):
Travis County that specialize inwildland fires and emergency
management, coordination andresponse.
Both of these guys areincredibly active in our
community and they come on totalk to us about flooding and
wildland fires and what we cando to be as prepared as possible
to meet these challenges in ourown Pflugerville community.
(33:34):
Finally, I want to give a shoutout to one of our fans, ben,
who took the time to write in.
He said he listened to thepodcast and really enjoyed them,
and he was interested inlearning more about the Stop the
Bleed class.
Ben man, thank you so much forbeing a fan of the show and for
sending us some mail.
Definitely check out all of theclasses that we offer, whether
(33:57):
CPR, stop the Bleed, at thePflugerville Firefighters
Foundation Web page and you canget that at pffirefoundationorg.
Thanks for listening.
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