Immaculate Conception Cemetery
McCook, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CEMETERY DESCENDANTS OF SILESIANS THAT SETTLED THE OLDEST POLISH COLONY IN AMERICA, PANNA MARIA, TEXAS, BEGAN SETTLING McCOOK IN 1926 AS FARMERS AND RANCHERS. IN 1936, THE DALLAS JOINT STOCK LAND BANK DONATED FOUR ACRES TO ESTABLISH A CHURCH. THE GOTHIC-REVIVAL STYLE CHURCH WAS DEDICATED IN 1950. LAND FOR THE CEMETERY WAS DONATED IN 1949 BY SYLVIA AND AUGUST SKLOSS, DIRECT DESCENDANTS OF THE LEOPOLD MOCZYGEMBA FAMILY WHO BEGAN THE MOVE TO AMERICA. THE FIRST BURIAL IN THE CEMETERY IS THAT OF NANCY PRUKOP IN 1953. VETERANS FROM WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II AND THE KOREAN WAR ARE BURIED IN THE CEMETERY. THIS HISTORIC CEMETERY IS A TESTAMENT TO THE PIONEER SETTLERS OF THE McCOOK AREA. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2010
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
McCook was settled beginning in 1926 by farming and ranching families who descended from the Silesian immigrants of Panna Maria, the oldest Polish colony in America. A land bank donated ground for a church in 1936, and after a Gothic-revival church rose in 1950 the adjoining cemetery—on land given by descendants of the Moczygemba family—received its first burial in 1953. Veterans of both World Wars and the Korean War rest here among the pioneer settlers.
Why it matters
The cemetery carries the story of Polish-American migration across generations, from Panna Maria's founding colony to a farming community on the South Texas plains.
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Related people
- · Leopold Moczygemba
- · Nancy Prukop
Themes & tags
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