St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church

The parish has outlasted most of the town that grew up around it. Megargel began to decline by 1930, and its population fell from 831 that year to 531 in 1940, when the Rock Island took over the railroad. The bank was liquidated in 1941 and the railroad abandoned in 1943. By 1960 the high school graduating class was five students, the same size as the first class of 1918. New work in the surrounding oilfields brought some activity, but the town had 244 people in 1990 and 248 in 2000.

What the plaque says

In 1909, a group of Czech immigrants began to meet in parishioners' homes around Megargel to celebrate Holy Mass with Father Philibert Haase. The Czech community built the present house of worship in 1916. On May 1, 1917, the church was dedicated to the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1936, Knights of Columbus built a parish hall that served as a rectory, classrooms and celebration area. Through mission work at home and abroad, and community events such as the Annual Feast Day (august 15), St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church has made an impact on Megargel and beyond with its service and community involvement. (2017)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Royal Theater — 20 mi
  Archer City's movie house, burned in 1965, given a false front for The Last Picture Show and brought back by the town in the 1990s as a working stage on Main Street.
• Fort Belknap — 24 mi
  The 1851 northern anchor of the first Texas frontier forts, on the Brazos below Newcastle, a Butterfield stop and the post beside the Brazos Reservation until its people were driven out in 1859.
• Old Post Office Museum and Art Center — 31 mi
  Graham's 1936 Art Moderne post office, with a New Deal mural by Alexandre Hogue inside, now the free museum of Young County in the town where the Texas cattle raisers first organized.

More markers nearby

• Megargel — 0.6 mi
• Westover — 5.1 mi
• Round Timber Community — 8.0 mi
• St. Luke Lutheran Church of Olney — 11 mi