AUSTIN, Texas — Community advocates are planning to march to Pflugerville’s City Hall and push for a measure that would preserve the historical significance of a piece of land that has been neglected by the city for years. 

Driving down West Pecan Street, St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church stands tall. MEASURE President Meme Styles said the land hold space for a dark chapter in Pflugerville’s history. 

“The Historic Colored Addition really is a sacred space in Pflugerville,” Styles said. “It’s a complete block of land, and back in 1910 there was a gentleman named La Rue who sold off plots of land to Black Pflugervillians, who at that time that could not purchase land anywhere else”

She is hoping to preserve that story by working to get city council members to vote yes on a resolution for the area’s preservation on Tuesday night.

“But we don’t want it just to be a second; we want it to actually be a lasting a moment and a matter-of-fact a movement,” Styles said. 

The area is now home to a church and two cemeteries. Over time, the city has grown and changed around it.

“I can understand the frustration from the people who live there because they look around and they say, ‘Wait a minute. If we’re seeing all this prosperity around Pflugerville, why isn’t that happening here in our community?'” Rudy Metayer, city councilman, said. 

He said the area is still in need of infrastructure improvements. It recently had a flooding mitigation system installed, but now it is in need of paved roads and sidewalks. Those will be coming, but Styles worries the work might chip away at the historical foundation. 

“As soon as I saw that, I went to work. I said, ‘Wait a minute. If we’re building a road through it, then we need to make sure that the history is preserved and the history is front and center,” Styles said. 

She hopes the Beautification Plan for the land allows for preservation as the city invests millions to help the community catch up. 

“I see no division. I see that everyone understands the importance of representing and respecting this history,” Metayer said. 

A coalition of community groups will meet at the Pflugerville Justice Center at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26. It will be ahead of the city council’s meeting that is set for 7 p.m. 

Metayer said he is confident the resolution will pass. With it, more than $375,000 will go towards studying how to improve the area while preserving its historical significance. 

Back in the 1970s, Travis County commissioners tried changing the name of the land, but the community pushed back. They wanted officials to always remember the neglect and reason why the land came to be and how it got its name.