Two Markers Hold White Deer's Polish Story

In 1854, 100 Polish families crossed to America in one small sailing ship. After a nine-week voyage, they reached Galveston and walked 200 miles to Panna Maria in South Texas, arriving for Christmas Eve Mass. More than half a century later, White Deer Land Company offers drew members of that community north to the Panhandle.

Henry Czerner and Ben Urbanczyk came from the Panna Maria colony in 1909 and secured land near White Deer. By 1913, 12 Polish families lived in town. Prayer services were held in homes, with a visiting priest saying Mass once a month. Men built Sacred Heart while women and children worked in the fields; the church was finished May 29, 1913.

Sacred Heart later became part church, part community memory. After a June 1951 tornado destroyed White Deer's elementary and high schools, it served as a temporary school for grades five through eight. The parish's Polish sausage festival began in 1939, paused during World War II, and returned in 1957 to help pay for a new church. Today, two historical markers on the North Main grounds gather a ship, a 200-mile walk, a tornado classroom, and a sausage festival into one address.