Most of Thurber’s immigrant population, representing eighteen nationalities, were Catholic. Missionary priests ministered to the town until 1892, then the coal company erected a Catholic church at the bottom of Graveyard Hill. Originally named St. Thuribus, it was renamed St. Barbara’s to honor the patroness saint of miners. A church school, Hunter Academy, operated from 1894 to 1923. The church building was moved two miles north to Mingus when Thurber was dismantled in the 1930s, and was returned to Thurber in 1993 by Thurber preservationists.