Marienfeld

Father Anastasius Peters believed the colony's future lay in farming. The Texas and Pacific had planted a twenty-acre demonstration farm of wheat, oats, barley and rye beside its station, and in 1884 wheat from Marienfeld won the gold medal at the New Orleans World Exposition. But the German settlers knew little of the West Texas climate. The drought of 1886-87 and the blizzards of 1886 nearly destroyed the colony; many moved to Big Spring, and for almost six years no crops were planted. His fruit-growing and irrigation company of 1888 lapsed in 1895.

What the plaque says

Marienfeld Former name of Stanton. Begun as German colony by 5 German Catholics from Kansas, who pitched tents here, near new Texas & Pacific Railroad in 1881. The site -- with a water tank, section house, telegraph office bore name Grelton, but settlers had it changed to Marienfeld, German for "Field of Mary." County was created 1876 and named for Wylie Martin, senator in Republic of Texas. When the county organized, town became county seat. First commissioners court met here December 13, 1884. Through Protestant influence, town was renamed Stanton, 1870. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hangar 25 Air Museum — 17 mi
  A restored World War II hangar on the old air base above Big Spring, telling the story of the bombardier school of 1942 and of Webb Air Force Base, which trained pilots until 1977.
• Big Spring State Park — 19 mi
  A CCC drive looping up Scenic Mountain, a 200-foot bluff above the town that grew around the only dependable spring within sixty miles of open Llano country.
• Bush Family Home State Historic Site — 20 mi
  The small 1939 frame house on West Ohio Avenue where George and Barbara Bush raised their young family in Midland's 1950s oil boom, now a Texas Historical Commission site.
• Museum of the Southwest — 20 mi
  Midland's art and science museum in the 1937 house of oilman Fred Turner and his wife Juliette, with added galleries, a children's museum and a planetarium on the grounds.

More markers nearby

• First United Methodist Church of Stanton — steps away
• Site of St. Joseph's Church — steps away
• Martin County — 1.3 mi
• Marcy Trail — 15 mi