In 1854, one hundred Polish families seeking economic, political, and religious freedom came to Texas and settled at this site under the leadership of Father Leopold Moczygemba, O.F.M., Conv., after making a contract for land with San Antonio banker and merchant John Twohig. Natives of Upper Silesia and Krakow, the colonists endured a hard nine-week sailing voyage to Galveston, then hired Mexican carts to carry their farm implements, featherbeds, and the cross from their parish church in Poland while 800 men, women, and children walked 200 miles inland to their new home, some in boots and others barefoot. Babies were born along the way, some people died, and all suffered from hunger and exposure before reaching the site on Dec. 24, 1854. They named the settlement Panna Maria, meaning Virgin Mary, placed it under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception, and beneath a large oak offered their first Midnight Mass of Thanksgiving and petition for strength and courage. After camping out until they could raise huts of mud, straw, or wood and later build in stone, they established a stable community that helped settle other frontiers, pioneered in education, and gave Texas many patriotic and dedicated citizens.