History of Polish Americans in Metro Detroit
In 2023, Polish Americans are most heavily concentrated in the Upper Midwest and Northeast regions of the United States.
Of this total there were over 9,000 Poles grouped within the neighborhoods of the three Polish parishes at that time: Our Lady of Mount Carmel (1899–2013), St. Stanislaus Kostka (1914–2013), and St. Helena (1927–2007).
Following the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Anthony Zynger emigrated to the United States and was the first Pole to arrive in Wyandotte where he found employment in one of the many factories in the city at the time.
Xavier Szulak, S.J., and it was during this mission that Anthony Lesczynski officially established the Society of St. Stanislaus Kostka.
Conditions became so intolerable that during an 1876 depression many of the first Polish families were forced to leave Wyandotte and moved to Arkansas and other states.
Owing to this forced departure, the Society of St. Stanislaus Kostka could not survive and dissolved for lack of membership.
A special feature of this service was an annual indulgence imparted to them on Easter Sunday and on the feast day of St. Stanislaus Kostka.
Although only partially organized, the Poles began to plan to establish a parish in which they could be ministered to in the Polish language.
They consisted of: Martin Grabarkiewicz, Thomas Biniasz, Michael Sawinski, Frank Lybik, Martin Ignasiak, and Michael Dolinski The first business transaction of the building committee concerned the purchase of several lots in Glenwood, on Superior and Pulaski Boulevard (now 10th Street) from the Welch Brother's Realty Company.
This deal was fulfilled, and Welch Brother's Company donated eight lots for the building of the proposed church and school.
The laying of the cornerstone of a combination of church and school under the title of "Our Lady of Mount Carmel" took place on December 3, 1899, and the formal dedication of the completed structure was held on July 8, 1900.
The choir from St. Josaphat Church in Detroit, under the direction of Zygmunt Kadlubowski, added much to the solemnity of the dedication.
Steve Babson, author of Working Detroit: The Making of a Union Town, wrote that "Thus, at least half of the "Germans" counted were probably Poles.
[5] George Tysh of the Metro Times stated that "In the early days of the auto industry, Hamtramck’s population swelled with Poles, so much so that you were more likely to hear Polish spoken on Joseph Campau than any other tongue.
[7] Poletown in Detroit began losing its Polish population since the 1940s because of construction projects replacing earlier structures and demographic changes.
[8] From the late 1960s to the early 1990s a wave of arrivals consisted of refugees, including those who were members of Solidarity, and non-immigrants who had temporary visas.
The nationalists advocated for independence of Poland while the Catholic church favored working with the existing German, Russian, and Austrian governments.
[12] According to Ethnic Communities of Greater Detroit, 1970, Poles were "in terms of their occupation, their education, and their income", the "least successful" immigrant group along with the Italians.
[5] This was partly due to a curriculum introduced in the decade of 1900 that lacked Polish culture and strongly emphasized English language and literature, and partly due to a 1910 IQ testing-based tracking system that had the potential of denying immigrants access to academic programs.
[15] In the early 20th century, Hamtramck three parishes established grade schools, St. Florian, Our Lady Queen of Apostles,[5] and St.
[18] In the 20th century, the Institute of Educational Aid, offering biology, citizenship, English, geography, and mathematics courses to adults, was operated by a Polish organization.
