St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery
Canyon, Randall County, Texas
Marker Inscription
German Americans from near Wisner, Nebraska, including Gustav Leseberg, Henry Meyer, and brothers John E., G. Henry and Ernest F. Albers, settled here in the 1900s. They were later joined by immigrants from around Bremen, Germany, and by 1909 the growing ethnic enclave established Keenan School and held Lutheran worship services, later organizing St. Paul Lutheran Church. In 1916, Anna Marie Kuhlman died in childbirth, and Leseberg donated land for her burial at this site. Her gravestone is the only one here with a German language inscription. More than a dozen military veterans are buried here, including a Silver Star recipient who served during World War II. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2006
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
German American families from around Wisner, Nebraska—the Lesebergs, Meyers, and Albers brothers—settled this stretch of the Texas Panhandle in the early 1900s, soon joined by immigrants from the Bremen region of Germany. By 1909 the growing ethnic enclave had a school and Lutheran worship services that became St. Paul Lutheran Church. The cemetery began in 1916 when Gustav Leseberg donated land to bury Anna Marie Kuhlman, who died in childbirth; her German-language gravestone is the only one of its kind here, and more than a dozen veterans, including a World War II Silver Star recipient, also rest on the grounds.
Why it matters
The cemetery preserves the memory of a transplanted German Lutheran farming community that carried its language and faith onto the high plains, and the military service of its sons in the century that followed.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Gustav Leseberg
- · Anna Marie Kuhlman
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Company F, 2nd Battalion, 142nd Infantry, 36th Division, Texas National Guard
Canyon, TX
When the 36th Division mobilized for World War II, Company F of its 142nd Infantry was filled largely with Randall County men — including ten sets of brothers and a father with his son. The unit shipped to Italy in 1943, waded ashore at Salerno, and spent some 400 days in combat across the European theater, earning seven campaign streamers. Eight local men were killed and two received the Distinguished Service Cross; from 1951 until it disbanded in 1968 the company drilled at a National Guard armory here.
Neblett Hospital and Clinic
Canyon, TX
The Panhandle town of Canyon spent years trying and failing to fund a public hospital before Dr. Robert A. Neblett stepped in. A Tennessee-born, University of Texas–trained specialist in children's medicine, he announced in 1937 that he would build one himself, and that year a sixteen-room, air-conditioned hospital rose on 16th Street. It closed while he served nearly two and a half years in the Pacific during World War II, reopened on his return, and cared for Canyon residents and West Texas State students until 1975.
P. O. W. Camp Chapel
Dimmitt, TX
During World War II this site held Italian prisoners of war, and among them were skilled artists and craftsmen who designed and built a small chapel, working the concrete so cleverly that it mimics marble. Completed in 1945, it stands as a memorial to the five Italians who died while interned at the camp. Restored between 1987 and 1989, the little chapel is one of the few physical reminders that enemy prisoners once lived and worshiped on the Texas plains.
Grand Hotel and Grand Hardware Building
Borger, TX
When oil transformed the Texas Panhandle, Borger sprang up as a townsite in 1926, and Greek immigrant brothers Gus and John Yiantsou arrived from St. Louis to open a restaurant. In 1927 Gus erected this building — among the first substantial structures in the roaring boomtown — and by 1929 the brothers were running Grand Hardware and Variety Store below a second-floor hotel. Known for their generosity, the Yiantsous gave freely to local and Greek charities.