DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's worth every mile to hear. Way out in Randall County, in a place that would one day carry his name, a Civil War veteran named S.G. Umbarger set up a wagon yard and sheds in 1895.
Just a practical man doing a practical thing — giving travelers a place to rest as they passed through. No grand ambitions announced. Just sheds, and a yard, and a man who'd already seen enough of the world to know that shelter matters.
Then came the Pecos Valley Railroad in 1898, and when they needed a name for a rail switch out that way, they named it after him. And just like that, Umbarger was on the map. By 1902, there was a post office.
By 1904, later citizens had established a public school district. A community was taking root. Now here's where the story gets a particular kind of richness.
A man named Pius Friemel brought German-Catholic families into the area, and in 1908 those families established St. Mary's Church — the Marienkirche. A house of worship on the Texas plains, built by people who'd carried their faith a long way to get there.
But the story of that church doesn't end with its founding. Not even close. Fast-forward to World War II.
Italian prisoners of war were being held in nearby Hereford. And a group of those prisoners — men trained in old world techniques — they carved religious figures and painted the interior of that parish church. Think on that for a moment.
Men far from home, held in a foreign land, putting their hands and their art to work inside a German-Catholic church on the Texas Panhandle. That church still stands as a community center today. A wagon yard, a rail switch, a faith carried across an ocean, and art made in the most unlikely of circumstances — that's Umbarger, and that marker's not wrong to want you to stop and take it in.
What the marker says
Umbarger In 1895, Civil War Veteran and farmer S.G. Umbarger established a wagon yard and sheds for travelers passing through this area. The area became known as Umbarger when the Pecos Valley Railroad, built in 1898, named a rail switch after him. By 1902, the community had a post office; in 1904, later citizens established a public school district. German-Catholic families, brought to the area by Pius Friemel, established St. Mary's Church, or Marienkirche, in 1908. During World War II, Italian prisoners of war were held in nearby Hereford. A group of them, trained in old world techniques, carved religious figures and painted the interior of the parish church, which remains a community center. (1968, 2003)