History of Poles in Baltimore

In 1880, Poles made up a small portion of the foreign-born population of Baltimore at 1% of all foreign born residents.

[1] In 1920, 11,083 foreign-born White people in Baltimore spoke the Polish language as their mother tongue, making Polish the most widely spoken Slavic or Baltic mother tongue among the city's immigrants.

[4] In total, 21,175 people of Polish birth or descent lived in the city, comprising 15.2% of the foreign-stock white population.

Polish mass immigration to Baltimore and other U.S. cities first started around 1870, many of whom were fleeing the Franco-Prussian War.

After the abolition of slavery, farmers had lost their slaves and wanted a cheap source of labor.

Following changes in U.S. immigration laws many Central and Eastern European migrants, particularly Polish and Czech, came to Maryland to fill this need.

[12] The first Polish language newspaper in Baltimore, titled Polonia, began publication in 1891.

The Polish community established ethnic clubs, Polish-language newspapers, and create their own savings and loans societies.

[15] In the years prior to World War I, the Polish population in Baltimore ranked seventh largest in the United States.

[19] In 2000, Baltimore's Polish community funded the creation of the National Katyń Memorial at Inner Harbor East.

[20] The organizers of the annual Polish festival in Baltimore, The Polish Community Association of Maryland (PCAM), provide an alternate reason for moving the festival out of the city: the city sharply increased fees for space rental and services, and mandated expensive insurance coverages be provided by the organizers.

Lemko House has opened its doors to low-income residents of any ethnicity, but is still home to many Slavic and Eastern European immigrants.