St. Mary's Catholic Church - Umbarger, TX - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

"St. Mary's Catholic Church is a modest brick structure erected in 1929 and 1930 on the Panhandle plains of West Texas to house the small congregation at Umbarger. A modified rectangle in plan, the building rises one story above a raised basement and is topped with a steeply-pitched roof. The church does not readily fit into any single style of architecture, and the simple detailing of its facades reflects the hard economic times during which it was constructed. While the rectangular form and steeply pitched roof recall Gothic Revival architecture, the rounded arches of the stained-glass windows suggest an influence of the later Renaissance Revival movement. The entrance facade is asymmetrically composed and features a truncated tower at its southwest corner, and an arched window with deep reveal above the double doors. In the 1960s, the entrance was modified when a covered porch and wheelchair ramp were added and the steps altered. Unlike many of the other Catholic churches documented in this nomination, St. Mary's has an interior altar space rather than a projecting apse.

The permanent settlement of Umbarger, an agricultural community of the Texas Panhandle, is attributed to the unusual combination of a speculating land developer and a colonizing German priest. While some maverick pioneers are known to have inhabited parts of the Panhandle as early as the 1840s, it was not until the expanding railroads made these remote areas accessible at the turn of the century that settlers began arriving en masse. Father Joseph Reisdorf saw these vast expanses of affordable land as an opportunity for his fellow countrymen to acquire property. He was instrumental in the establishment of several German Catholic farming communities throughout west Texas. In 1908 Father Reisdorf came to the small community of Umbarger, named for an S. G. Umbarger who had farmed a large tract of land from 1845 to 1900. For a time Reisdorf worked closely with land speculator John Hutson in advertising the land to attract settlers, but the two had a disagreement and Reisdorf withdrew from Hutson completely.

The two men began competing to attract residents to townsites platted on opposite sides of the railroad tracks. Subsequently, two Catholic churches were constructed, one by Reisdorf with borrowed funds and the other by Hutson with his personal capital. Reisdorf refused to celebrate Mass in Hutson's church. The bitter dispute grew to such proportion that the Bishop from Dallas was called in to settle it . He ruled in favor of Hutson's debt-free church and soon after, Reisdorf left Umbarger. Finally united, the congregation grew as more people settled in Umbarger. Eventually the need for a larger church became apparent, and Amarillo architects W. H. Lightfoot and Rabey Funk designed the present structure, which was built in 1930 by the W. Frank Little Construction Co., also of Amarillo. When completed, this stark, bare church reflected the depressed economic period during which it was built. Several years later, it was painted in a manner quite extraordinary for the rural Panhandle community. Italian prisoners of war being held captive at nearby Hereford were invited to paint the church. The prisoners painted a highly symbolic array of decorative panels, borders, murals, and infill on the walls. Meticulously planned and executed, the work is outstanding in its design and craftsmanship. It is also noteworthy because it includes scenes of the flat Panhandle landscape."