History - Page 2
Since it was evident that the people wanted a new parish and church, Sunday Masses began to take place at the Methodist Church in Wall. Either Monsignor Pokluda or Father Charles Knapp both living at St. Joseph parish in Rowena would drive to Wall for Sunday Mass. The Herman Franke family moved their pump organ to the Wall Methodist Church so their daughter Dorine Franke (Kozelsky) could play hymns for Mass.
The next obstacle facing the new parishioners was the location for the church. There was much discussion about the best location and some disagreements followed.
Prior to this time, Felix Braden had donated land to the Diocese of Amarillo and Catholic sisters were operating a school north of Wall called St. Anthony (from 1929-1937). The last report of the school records showed 2 lay teachers and 67 children. Felix Braden would have liked the new church built at St. Anthony but Monsignor Pokluda insisted on building the church at Wall where it would be near the town and also be located on a major highway (US 87). It is interesting to note that in the 1948 St. Ambrose Financial Report, the Diocese sold the property back to Felix Braden for $1,000 and the Diocese donated the sale value of $1,000 to the St. Ambrose building fund.
In the summer of 1940, Monsignor Pokluda wrote four letters (July 25, August 15, August 31 and October 16) to church committeeman Elo Wilde concerning the purchase of land for the church site. According to these letters, it took at least four months of discussions and negotiations to finalize the purchase of the property. Part of the process was a visit of the bishop on Sunday, September 8, 1940 at 4:00 p.m. at the home of A.W. Strube, Sr. The last letter dated October 16 mentioned another meeting was planned for October 20, with A.W. Stube, Sr. present; the purchase of the land was finalized October 23, 1940. The 1941-42 St. Ambrose Financial Report documents the present location was purchased from A.W. Strube, Sr. for $900.
Several of the original parishioners recall the conflict regarding the placement of the church building. It seems the bishop wanted the church building adjacent to the highway or curb as churches are placed in towns. The church committee wanted the church further from the highway for safety reasons. Monsignor Pokluda preferred the present location so he would have room behind the church for his sister Miss Mary’s chickens. The next decision to be reached was to find water by drilling a well.
In 1940, a fall festival was held at the Wall school to generate funds for the parish. The proceeds totaled $1,763. Many of our women parishioners recall peeling potatoes and washing dishes by hand for this festival. Since the members of the new Wall parish were mostly from Runnels county, many of the Catholic people from St. Boniface parish in Olfen and St. Joseph parish in Rowena contributed generously to aid the new parish with the construction of its church and rectory. As an example of this generosity, W.H. and Annie Wilde of Olfen donated $1,000 to help the church get started. These were very unselfish acts considering that the families were recovering from thirteen years of world depression.