George Pfeuffer: Mess Hall Profits, The First Dorm; Pfeuffer Hall, 1887-1954
Source: David L. Chapman, Texas A&M University Archivist, Texas Aggie, March 1996, p. 16.
The story of Pfeuffer Hall, the first building constructed on the campus solely to house students, mirrors both the early history and the practical nature of the A&M College of Texas. To the casual observer, it was a fairly plain two-story structure that had exhibited, as the late archivist and architect Earnest Langford put it, the character of domesticity so often found throughout the South in antebellum days." The building was 112'8" by 48'2"constructed with solid masonry load bearing walls and wood framing. It contained twenty-five 16-foot-square rooms. Bathroom facilities were not added until much later.
"For sheer dignity and simplicity of design," said Langford" Pfeuffer Hall was far and away the best of the smaller buildingserected on the campus. Even though it was falling apart at the time it was razed in 1954, more is the pity it was not restored to its pristine beauty and saved to posterity."
This simple little building, located to the southeast of the Academic Building, served for years as an example of, and monument to, the type of "can do" spirit that grew up on the campus. From the very beginning, the school had an enormous task and very little money. Limited funding dictated the construction of multipurpose structures like Old Main and Gathright Hall. Not surprisingly, students had to be housed in every available space on campus. At the time, there was no money coming from the state for dormitory construction, but one person refused to take no for an answer.
The story begins in 1884 or 1885 when George Pfeuffer, president of the Texas A&M Board of Directors, reviewed the purchasing practices of the mess hall. What he found convinced him that A&M was paying too much for food. He vowed to take on the job and make a profit for the school.
Pfeuffer, an eminently pragmatic man, was one of those rare individuals who not only had unlimited confidence in his own abilities but also the depth of experience to back up that confidence. He used his positions on the Board (1879-1886) and in the State Senate (1882-1884) to improve conditions at the school. In one short year, Pfeuffer's diligence in overseeing the school's purchases produced a savings of more than $10,000 with which he proposed to fund a new dormitory.
Pfeuffer was born in Obernbreit, Bavaria on October 17, 1830. In 1845, his father, in connection with the Society for the Promotion and Protection of German Immigration, brought his wife and six children to Texas. The Pfeufferfamily, along with numerous other German immigrants, landed in Galveston where they boarded a schooner for Indianola. Along the way the small vessel was shipwrecked, dumping the family on the Texas coast with little but the clothes on their backs.
This only seemed to invigorate them, spurring them on to an inviable record of accomplishments in their adopted home of New Braunfels. George became a well respected merchant and prominent member of the Democratic Party in Texas. When someone was needed to fill a vacancy on the board of the fledgling A&M College of Texas, his name quickly rose to the forefront.
Unfortunately for Texas A&M, Pfeuffer died suddenly of a stroke on September 15, 1886, before he could see the project completed. It was only fitting that A&M named the new dormitory for the man responsible for its construction.