Bookmark and Share   CESTOHOWA, TEXAS. Cestohowa (originally
Czestochowa) is on Farm Road 3191 and Cibolo Creek a mile west
of State Highway 123 in northern Karnes County. It is a daughter
settlement of Panna Maria, the oldest Polish settlement in
America, and is named after the city in Poland where the famous
painting of Our Lady of Czestochowa, the patroness of Polish
Catholics everywhere, is enshrined. In 1873, as the population
of Panna Maria grew, a group of about forty families decided to
start a new community five miles north. They first built a small
school that also served as a chapel. The priest came from Panna
Maria once a month to say Mass and made special trips for other
purposes. In 1877 land was donated for a church, which was
completed on February 10, 1878, and placed under the patronage
of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the church was
remodeled in 1931 and repaired and painted again in 1973. By
1878 the town had 175 residents, a gristmill, a gin, and a
school. By 1892 a bank was in