GEORGE PFEUFFER
Source: Lich, Glen E. The German Texans; The University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures; San Antonio, TX, 1996, p. 136.
George Pfeuffer was active in political life for less than a decade, but he devotedly and effectively served the cause of public education in that time. Born in 1830, he was a native Bavarian, who landed with his family at Galveston when he was 15. The family took passage to Indianola and lost their belongings in a shipwreck on the final leg of their voyage.
They made their way to New Braunfels, and young Pfeuffer became a clerk in John F. Torrey's store. In 1846 the lad went to Corpus Christi, where he later became secretary to H.L. Kinney. Pfeuffer returned to New Braunfels in 1861 and began working for a San Antonio-based firm. After the war he and his brother organized their own firm in New Braunfels.
In 1877 Pfeuffer served as Comal County judge. Three years later Governor Oran M. Roberts appointed him as head of Texas A&M College. In 1882 Pfeuffer was elected to the state senate, where he continued to support the college's interests as chairman of the education committee. He became chairman of A&M's governing board in 1884 and led a fight to provide a permanent state endowment for the institution. His practice of strict economy in food purchases for the college produced a large surplus of funds with which a dormitory, Pfeuffer Hall, was built after his death in 1886.