Rock Gym and Pflugerville Schools Historical Marker

The Pflugerville Schools historical marker commemorates the history of the schools and education in Pflugerville, from the in-home pioneer teaching of the original German settlers of the region to the modern Pflugerville Independent School District with its many campuses. The first German settlers considered education important and taught their children in their farm homes starting around 1849. It was not until 1872 that the first dedicated school was established on the Henry Lisso farm in a one room building. The school later moved to Carrington Ranch and other rural schools were set up in the local farming communities of Dessau, Richland, Rowe Lane, Center Point Gregg and Highland.

At this time, it was common to have a single teacher providing education in both German and English for all grades. As the communities grew, a larger, two-story, white brick school building was constructed in Pflugerville in 1907. The smaller rural schools would provide education in their local community through the sixth grade and then students would attend High School in Pflugerville. The Pflugerville Independent School District was created in 1919 and quickly consolidated with Highland, Dessau, Center Point, and Rowe. After the consolidation, a new red brick school building was built on the site of this historical marker in 1921. That building is no longer present.

Later, in 1934, a Works Progress Administration camp built a gym, primarily used for basketball and volleyball. The construction cost $17,000. This gym is known as the Rock Gym due to its rocky interior and limestone exterior. The Rock Gym still exists on the site of the historical marker and is still in use in Pflugerville. Plans are under way to renovate the Rock Gym as part of a 2018 Bond package. The historical marker for Pflugerville Schools was dedicated at the Rock Gym on October 12, 2012. The historical marker celebrates both the history of Pflugerville Schools and the Rock Gym building itself.

. Historical Markers Dedicated in 2012, Travis County TX Gov. Accessed November 12th 2019. https://www.traviscountytx.gov/historical-commission/marker/2012-markers.

. PISD CELEBRATES HISTORY WITH TEXAS HISTORICAL MARKER DEDICATION, Pflugerville Independent School District. Accessed November 12th 2019. http://www.pfisd.net/site/Default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&PageID=1&ViewID=7b97f7ed-8e5e-4120-848f-a8b4987d588f&FlexDataID=4009.

. GYMNASIUM – PFLUGERVILLE TX, The Living New Deal. Accessed November 12th 2019. https://livingnewdeal.org/projects/gymnasium-pflugerville-tx/.

Oldman , Iain. PfISD eyes busy winter of new school construction, facility renovations, Community Impact. October 18th 2019. Accessed November 12th 2019. https://communityimpact.com/austin/round-rock-pflugerville-hutto/education/2019/10/17/pfisd-eyes-busy-winter-of-new-school-construction-facility-renovations/.

. Pflugerville ISD: A History, Pflugerville Independent School District. Accessed November 12th 2019. http://www.pfisd.net/Page/3621.

. Pflugerville Schools, Texas Historical Markers. Accessed November 12th 2019. https://texashistoricalmarkers.weebly.com/pflugerville-schools.html.