SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

In 1900, Poles were grouped in the area of the city surrounding the city center.  The 1900 census listed 1,168 Polish-born residents of the city, a figure, when compared to figures from parish census materials was, much too low. In reality there were close to two thousand persons of Polish extraction in the city at the time. Most frequently they settled in close proximity to their places of employment.
 

The area near Broad Street, which was to turn into the Polish "Main Street" in the beginning decades of the century, became the nucleus of  the nascent community.  Evidence of Polish settlement was noted early on streets such as High, Grove, Orange and Myrtle. The early settlers chose this area as home because it was very close to many of the city’s industries where they were first employed. Most of the city’s first Polish property owners purchased their first piece of American land here. In 1902 most of the land on Orange Street and parts of Grove and Myrtle Streets was owned by Polish immigrants. Some of the pioneer property owners included Bojnowski, Blogoslawski, Kirejczyk, Ostrowski, Brodzik, Laskowski, Rozanski, Tomaszewski, Kotowski, Wisk and Cieszynski.
 

Horace Street           Facing Sacred Heart Church

The neighborhood at the turn of the century had a rather rural appearance, unlike the dense urban setting of today.  Many of the streets surrounding Broad Street did not exist in 1900; instead, vast stretches of meadows surrounded the early community. As the century wore on and the population became more economically stable, great expansion took place. Broad Street became dotted with commercial enterprises and three - and six-family homes. New streets north of Broad Street were forged such as Horace, Lyman, and Carmody. Headquarters and meetings rooms of the city’s numerous Polish organizations could also be found here. By the mid 1920s, Poles inhabited (and owned) most of the real estate in the city’s fifth ward,  which encompassed  the northwest section of the city. In essence, by the mid 1920's the New Britain Poles had created a nearly complete replication of what many called the "urban village," a self-sufficient city within a city where the needs of its residents could be served wholly within.  By this time Polish doctors could treat your ills, a Polish mechanic could repair your car and you could  shop in numerous Polish stores and markets.
 

The closing years of the 19th century and first decades of the twentieth witnessed great population growth in the community. By 1910 there were 6,600 parishioners at Sacred Heart, New Britain's first Polish parish, and by 1925 the number had grown to 9,500. Due to the continued growth of the community, a second point of settlement began to appear in the 1920s and 30s on Farmington Avenue and the neighborhood that was to surround New Britain’s second Polish Roman Catholic Parish, Holy Cross, prospered and expanded. Holy Cross parish, Connecticut’s last Polish ethnic Roman Catholic parish was established in 1927. In addition to the two large Roman Catholic parishes, Transfiguration of Our Lord parish of the Polish  National Catholic Church was formed in 1943 and a Polish Baptist congregation has been active in the city since the 1960s.  Today, the community is somewhat changed both physically and demographically from what it was in the earlier part of the century. In the last two decades of the 20th century some of the housing stock in the Broad Street area has been razed. A good number of the factories that provided a livelihood for the early immigrants are long gone as well, due to urban renewal and highway construction projects. Still, the Polish population of the area is sizeable, but numerically declining. However, Polish owned businesses established by recent immigrants thrive. Upwardly mobile and better-educated children and grandchildren of the first immigrants have largely abandoned the neighborhood for more affluent sections of the city or have relocated to suburban areas. The upward economic and educational mobility of the American born generations has weakened its ties to the "old neighborhood."

                                                   ORIGINS

Poland's territories at the end of the eighteenth century were divided between its powerful neighbors, Russia, Austria and Germany in a series of land seizures commonly referred to as partitions. Fleeing poor economic conditions and the practices of the partitioning powers that sought to eliminate traces of the Polish language and culture, many Poles left the country, beginning in the late 1870's. One of these immigrants was a certain Tomasz Ostrowski, who is credited with being New Britain’s first Polish settler. Ostrowski, like many of those who were to follow him, came from the part of Poland under the control of Imperial Russia. Nearly two thirds of the immigrants from Poland who arrived in New Britain before 1914 were from Russian Poland, with most of the remainder from the Austrian partition (Galicia). Poles from the German partition constituted a very small percentage of the Polish population, as elsewhere in New England.

New Britain's Polish settlers came principally from the provinces of Grodno, Łomża and Płock, with smaller but significant numbers from certain parishes in Galicia as well as from the Russian controlled province of Suwałki. The parishes of Dąbrowa Białostocka in Grodno Province and Myszyniec in Łomża Province sent the greatest number of settlers to the city. The Galician village  of Wola Raniżowska and its immediate area was as well a great provider of human labor for New Britain’s factories. Early records also show a migration into New Britain by Polish immigrants and their American born children from other Polish-American settlements, notably from the coal mining areas of Luzerne, Lackawanna and Schuylkill Counties in Northeast Pennsylvania and especially from towns such as Shenandoah, Nanticoke and Dickson City. Others migrated into the city from various locations in nearby Massachusetts such as Three Rivers, Thorndike, South Deerfield, Northampton and Turners Falls. There was also noted migration to New Britain from Brooklyn NY and several locations on Long Island as well as smaller numbers from various Polish settlements in Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Michigan, Ohio and several other states.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND COMMUNITY LIFE

The primary goal of many of the immigrants of the late nineteenth century was the formation of a Parish church so that the cultural and religious traditions brought with them from Poland could be continued in the New World. The parish church in rural Poland was the focal point of the people’s existence and both their spiritual life and social life revolved around the church and its feast days and holy days. In partitioned Poland in the nineteenth century, the church was frequently the only area of public life not tainted by the oppression of the occupying powers. Therefore it is not surprising that the first Polish settlers set about the task of establishing their own parish and simultaneously reestablishing the social patterns and customs they had known in Europe.

The establishment of a parish church was most often preceded by the formation of a society or organization, which would collect money toward this goal. Thus on September 29, 1889, the Mutual Benefit Society of St. Michael the Archangel was created, whose purpose was not only to work toward the establishment of a parish church but, as its title implies, to provide aid and sustenance to those members of the small community who needed it. Before the creation of Social Security and widespread government programs, such groups were common and necessary among all immigrant groups.

The community's efforts met met with success as on November 14, 1894 official documents were submitted to the Bishop of Hartford; petitions for the founding the Roman Catholic Parish of St. Casimir the Prince. In 1896, a wooden structure was erected on Orange Street, which served as the young parish’s church and school. Now called Sacred Heart Church (the name was changed in the interim) this modest wooden building was replaced by the present magnificent white sand marble Gothic structure on Broad Street. The construction of the second church lasted from 1902 to 1904. The interior with a seating capacity of 1,500 and five altars was built of blue stone. The parish’s first pastor was the Rev. Tomasz Misicki. He was replaced in September of 1895 by the Rt. Rev. Lucjan Bojnowski, who administered to both the religious and material needs of the city’s large Polish immigrant population until his death in July of 1960.

Lucjan Bojnowski was one of New Britain’s most famous Polish citizens. Born in Swierzbutowo, parish of  Dąbrowa Białostocka, Province of Grodno in 1868, he came to the United States in 1888 and shortly after enrolled in the Polish seminary at Orchard Lake, Michigan. After being  ordained, he was assigned to a Slovak parish in Bridgeport where he served for approximately six months. His arrival in New Britain in 1895 marked the beginning of the Bojnowski era in the history of the Polish community.

Bojnowski's accomplishments were substantial.  His efforts to provide a structure that would care for his parishioners from the cradle to the grave occupied the great majority of his time.  He established various religious societies at the parish, the first being the Towarzystwo Panień Dzieci Marji pod Opieką Niepokalanego Poczęcia on February 14, 1897. The Towarzystwo Imienia Jezusa was created July 11 of the same year and several days later the Towarzystwo Sióstr Różancowych was founded on July 15. The Knights of Boleslaus the Brave were founded in 1895. Two other early organizations were of a political nature. Both were established in October of 1900 and were evidence of a rift in New Britain’s fledgling Polish organizational network. One, the Polish Political Club #1, did not enjoy the backing of Msgr. Bojnowski. The other, which he endorsed, was the Polish Citizens Club. In 1904 Bojnowski founded an order of nuns, the Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception. He also founded a Polish Orphanage, Our Lady of Różanystok, whose name derives from a much-revered icon in his native parish. In 1906, he established a Polish language newspaper Przewodnik Katolicki which ceased publication in the late 1960s. Bojnowski was also instrumental in the creation of a Polish bank, Peoples Savings Bank, in 1907. His last major project was the erection of St Lucian’s Home for the Aged, which was constructed in 1925.

As the first decades of the twentieth century progressed, new organizations arose. A number of additional church societies were formed. These included several chapters of the Polish Roman Catholic Union, a fraternal insurance organization headquartered in Chicago. These chapters included St. Agnes Society, founded in 1912; St. Lucian’s Society founded in 1907, and St. Rose of Lima Society, founded in 1929, St Aloysius Society , St. Agnes Society and Holy Family Society founded in 1928. Sts. Peter and Paul Mutual Benefit Society arrived on the scene in 1912. Three lodges of the Polish National Alliance also were established in the city, the first, Group # 478 was founded in 1899. Others included Lodge # 2093 founded in 1919 and # 2612 established in 1930. Aside form the Polish Political Club #1 mentioned above, other political organizations were also organized as the Poles sought to convert their numerical dominance in the city’s population into political power. The Pulaski Democratic Club was founded in 1931, along with its women’s auxiliary. Polish Republicans founded the Polish American Republican Club in the 1920s whose name was later changed to the Oaks Club, named after two large oak trees located on the property of the reorganized club’s founder Joseph Kowalczyk. The political clubs conducted citizenship classes for immigrants and supported and sponsored candidates for local, state and national political office. Henry Gwiazda was New Britain’s first Polish American mayor, elected in 1946. Before the century drew to a close, New Britain would have five additional mayors partially or totally of Polish descent. These included Democrats Julius Kremski, Stanley Pac, William McNamara and Lucian Pawlak. Republican Linda Blogoslawski, the city’s first woman mayor, was elected in 1993.

A nest of the Polish Falcons was formed in 1907.  The Falcons were initially sports oriented organization but during the World War I era assumed the role of schooling and training of troops to fight for the independence of Poland. New Britain was in fact one of the many recruiting venues nationwide for Haller's Army, composed of Polish immigrants trained in the US and Canada who fought under French command in Europe. Julian Klejbuk and immigrant from Grodno Province was  New Britain’s first volunteer of 300 who went to war to fight the Kaiser and restore the independence of their native country. Nearly 700 New Britain Poles joined the US Armed forces as well. The Komitet Obywatelski, formed before the war, collected funds for Polish independence and actively supported the war effort, amassing an imposing 870,000 dollars for various uses such as an invalids fund for soldiers. Returning veterans formed a local branch of the Association of Polish Army Veterans Association in 1920 (General Jozef Haller Post # 111).  After World War II Polish-American veterans of the US Armed forces established the Sakowicz Post of the Polish Legion of American Veterans, named after a Polish immigrant from New Britain, Sgt. Józef Sakowicz, US Army, who gave his life at the battle of Seicheprey in April of 1918.

Various other clubs and organizations were active in Polonia. In ca. 1912 Polish merchants and professional people established the Polish American Businessmen’s Association. Groups of other national or regional fraternals were also active in the city including the Polish National Alliance of Brooklyn, The Polish Women’s Alliance, and The Association of Polish Mechanics. The 44 Club, begun in 1939, was an organization of Polish university graduates and professionals.

Cultural and recreational activities were plentiful in New Britain’s Polonia as well. The parishes, long bastions of cultural maintenance, were an avenue to maintain the rich traditions of the homeland. Christmas and Easter customs are still very much alive today as well as the traditional Polish style ceremonies to honor the dead on All Souls Day. A theater group was formed in 1925 (Kółko Teatralne Sw. Elżbiety). Parish choir and singing groups were also very active, such as St Cecelia’s Choir of Holy Cross Parish and the Polonia Paderewski Choir founded in 1957. Athletics were popular among Polonia’s youth. Local teams participated in the State Polish Basketball League and many of the members of sports teams of local industries and athletic clubs were of Polish origin. Falcons’ baseball and gymnastics teams from New Britain over the decades emerged victorious as state and local champions. Several of the Falcon’s National Meets were held in New Britain during the course of the 20th century as well. More recent immigrants are active in Polish soccer teams and clubs dedicated to skiing and hunting. Dozynki, a centuries old tradition of celebrating a bountiful harvest was and is still celebrated in New Britain.

The arrival of numerous Displaced Persons (DPs), refugees fleeing Europe in the aftermath of World War II, as well as continued immigration form Poland throughout the post war period have rejuvenated some of the older clubs and organizations. More recent organizations established by the newer waves of immigrants include the Polish Saturday School (1960), which provides instruction in the Polish language, history and culture to the children of the community. Part of a national network of such schools, New Britain’s is the largest on the East Coast. Troops of Polish Boy and Girl Scouts were founded in New Britain in the late 1950s and still thrive. Other activities of the "new" Polonia include the two Polish language newspapers, Przegląd Polonijny z Connecticut and Polski Express, as well as Polish language public access television programming, radio programs and an abundance of Polish owned businesses in the old neighborhood.

New Britain's Polish community also has two Polish cemeteries. Sacred Heart (Roman Catholic) was founded in 1912. Transfiguration Polish National Catholic Cemetery was blessed in 1941.
 

The wrought iron gates which         mark the Burritt Street entrance         to Sacred Heart Cemetery are         long gone.  Over 10,000 members         of the community rest in this, the         largest Polish cemetery in New         England.