Panna Maria, Texas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Panna Maria (Polish for Virgin Mary) is a small town in Karnes County, Texas, USA. It is the oldest Polish settlement in the United States. A Franciscan missionary, Father Leopold Moczygemba, started recruiting Silesian immigrants in 1852, and the town was settled on Christmas Eve, 1854.
According to http://www.pannamariatx.com/history.html, the town's identity as an insular Polish enclave was sealed by four factors:
- bypass by the railroad,
- Union sympathy (German Settlers were also unionist and were occasionally massacred in Texas during this period)
- Polish Resurrectionist priests arrived from Europe
- a sisterhood of Polish teaching nuns was established
The population is 41, according to 2000 census data.
[edit] External links
- Official website of Panna Maria, Texas
- Description in Texas Online
- Overview in info-poland.buffalo.edu - part 1,Part 2
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
