Organizations and Institutions

Fr. Kolaszewski was also the force behind the establishment of two other Polish parishes in Cleveland. When, in 1889, the Krakowa community required the establishment of a parish of its own, he was instrumental in the founding of Sacred Heart of Jesus parish. Though he knew that such an action would rob St. Stanislaus of parishioners, he also realized that the distance of Krakowa from St. Stanislaus was inhibiting the school and church attendance of those in the district.

In 1894, under rather unusual circumstances, Fr. Kolaszewski founded Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish on Lansing (Fremont) Avenue, some six blocks from St. Stanislaus. Despite the priest’s good work at St. Stanislaus, certain factions in the parish moved for his removal shortly after the completion of the new church building in 1891. The Bishop was also at odds with Fr. Kolaszewski because of his independent stand on certain church issues—including his advocacy of parishioner ownership of church property–and because of the large debt he had incurred in the erection of the new church. The debt may also have been responsible for the anti-Kolaszewski faction at the church.^[7] Fr. Kolaszewski resigned under pressure in 1892 and was ordered to a Syracuse, New York parish.

Despite specific orders from the Bishop not to return to Cleveland without diocesan permission, Dr. Kolaszewski left Syracuse and came back to the city in 1894 largely in response to the request of the pro-Kolaszewski faction at St. Stanislaus. Almost immediately upon his return, and in direct defiance of another set of diocesan orders, he founded the Immaculate Heart Parish. His action was met with ready support by his admirers and excommunication by the church.^[8] This action caused a deep rift in the Warszawa community which lasted into the 1920’s. During these years the people loyal to St. Stanislaus would often greet the Immaculate Heart parishioners with the Polish word, Barabaszy (traitors). The Immaculate Heart faction would retort with the taunt, Rzymiany (Romans).^[9] This name calling often took place in public; even funeral processions from Immaculate Heart of Mary were greeted with the cry of Barbaszy.^[10] Though the internal division in the community continued afterward, Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish was accepted into the Diocese when Fr. Kolaszewski resigned his pastorate in 1908 (at which time he was also accepted back into the church).

All of the churches founded by Fr. Kolaszewski, as well as every other Polish parish in Cleveland, had a school. Most of these schools included grades one through eight; however, St. Stanislaus also eventually developed a high school. Like St. Stanislaus’, many of the nineteenth century parish schools gave all, or most of their instruction in Polish. In some communities this was a dire necessity; for example, only about twenty of the pupils attending St. John Cantius school in 1900 could speak English with any fluency.^[11] This total reliance on the Polish language also insured its perpetuation in the community. The heavy reliance on Polish as a teaching medium in the years prior to World War I, however, had detrimental effects for students transferring from Polish schools and entering public high schools. These students often found themselves two or three grades behind those pupils educated totally in the public system. Similar problems were encountered by students transferring to the public schools while still in the elementary grades. A study of this problem by the Cleveland Foundation in 1914, and the cry for 100 percent Americanism during World War I, led to a state law requiring all elementary curriculum to be taught in English.^[12] Despite this restriction, the Polish schools continued to teach the Polish language as an academic subject and some still do., In the 1920’s over fifty percent of the children in the Polish communities attended parochial schools. St. Stanislaus had an enrollment of over 2000 pupils at this time.^[13] Today the schools in the older communities have changed. Many non-Polish students attend classes and the total enrollment has shrunk. However, the renewed interest in ethnicity has caused many of the schools to keep once floundering Polish language classes alive.

Although the majority of Cleveland’s Poles were Roman Catholic, a small number belonged to non-Catholic denominations. The main non-Catholic group was, and is, the Polish National Catholic Church, a group begun in 1906 by Rev. Francis Hodur of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Its creation was partially a result of the conflict between some of the Polish Roman Catholic clergy and the predominantly Irish hierarchy of the Catholic Church in America. The church differed from the Roman rite in that the mass was said in Polish, rather than Latin; the church property was held by the congregation; and in 1921 they abrogated the rules of celibacy.

Cleveland’s first National Catholic Church, Sacred Heart of Jesus, was established in 1913 on W. 14th Street. Its congregation numbered 200 families in the Kantowa district.^[14] A second church, Our Lady of Czestochowa (now St. Mary’s), was established in Barbarowa the following year.  

The National Church grew slowly in Cleveland. It was not until 1931 that another parish, the Church of the Good Shepherd, was established on St. Clair Avenue in the Poznan district. A fourth parish, Holy Trinity, was established in 1940 on Broadway Avenue to serve the National Catholics in Warszawa.

The settled, stabilized nature of the various communities at the time of the establishment of the National Catholic parishes did not allow their pastors to assume the same type of pathfinder, philanthropic role performed by Fr. Kolaszewski, but the church still served as a community center and educational institution.

Though none of the churches built school buildings, some of the first parishes, such as Sacred Heart, sponsored evening classes in the Polish language.^[15]

At present, five Polish National Catholic Churches serve the Greater Cleveland area. They include the aforementioned churches and All Saints Church on E. 59th Street. In 1970 the membership of these parishes totaled 4,000.^[16] Because of recent changes in the Roman Catholic Liturgy, some Roman Catholic Poles are switching allegiance to the National Church where the old liturgy, albeit in Polish, is retained.

The overwhelming adherence to Catholicism by Cleveland’s Poles made the need for a Protestant Polish church negligible. Protestant Poles, primarily Baptists, were served by several small churches and missions in Warszawa. Trinity Baptist Church at E. 71st Street and Lansing Avenue began holding mission services for Protestant Poles around 1910. These Poles then built their own chapel at E. 71 Street and Gertrude Avenue where services were begun in 1918 for a congregation of about sixty.^[17] Eventually services were moved to a new Trinity Church at Broadway and Fullerton Avenues in the 1930’s. At this time mission services were also held in a church on Rosewood Avenue just outside of Garfield Heights. In 1943 Trinity Baptist Church was sold to the Cleveland Catholic Diocese and converted to Transfiguration Church, the third Polish Catholic parish to serve the Warszawa area. Like their Catholic counterparts, and despite the minor status and small membership of the Polish Baptist churches, they also served as social and educational centers. The Polish Baptist Church at E. 71st Street and Gertrude Avenue held suppers, picnics and gave classes in sewing and the Polish language.^[18]

Fraternal-Insurance Organizations

Though the churches in Polish communities offered social and educational services, they could not provide financial security in times of economic trouble. Even the resources of a man such as Fr. Kolaszewski could not meet the needs occasioned by the frequent strikes, depressions and accidents of the industrial communities in which Cleveland’s Poles lived. Nor could the immigrants turn to the non-Polish insurance companies operating in the city to protect themselves against such calamities. Their rates were high, and they were linguistically incapable of dealing with the Poles or reluctant to help. To solve this problem the Poles in Cleveland, and throughout the United States, created their own mutual aid, or fraternal-insurance organizations.

These organizations were a unique immigrant response to the American environment. For about twenty-five cents a week, the immigrant Pole could obtain insurance against layoffs and accidents, provide funds for family burials, and have a source for low-interest loans. The regular meetings of these organizations also provided a social setting for discussion and camaraderie.

Cleveland’s first mutual benefit society, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, was organized in 1873 by two early Polish immigrants, Anton Dzieweczynski and Andrew Skonieczny. During the next three decades dozens of small, local organizations were formed. Like the St. Vincent’s Society, most were allied with a Polish Catholic parish. By 1920, over fifty societies were affiliated with St. Stanislaus Church alone.^[19] These societies functioned well until confronted with a major calamity. The depression of 1893 caused many to default, as did the influenza epidemic during World War I.^[20] The smaller societies either failed or merged with larger organizations.

The first large fraternal-insurance society to gain clientele in Cleveland was the Polish Roman Catholic Union founded on a national basis in Chicago in 1873. Its purposes were to promote Polish culture and provide insurance and loan benefits to Catholic Poles. It maintained strong ties with the Catholic Church, each of its local lodges being affiliated with a Polish parish. The first lodge of the P.R.C.U. in Cleveland was affiliated with St. Stanislaus and was founded in 1880. Over the years additional lodges were founded throughout the city. They were organized into groups, which, in turn, comprised a regional council. Each hierarchical level had its own officers and held meetings. In 1940, fifteen groups with a total of 2,950 members were active in Cleveland, comprising the Cleveland area council.^[21]

A second major national organization also began operating in Cleveland during the 1880’s. The Polish National Alliance, like the P.R.C.U., sought to foster Polish culture and provide benefits for its members. However, it did not have strong church ties (though membership was initially limited to Catholic Poles) and worked strongly for the reconstitution of the Polish state. The national P.N.A. was founded in 1879, and its first Cleveland chapter was established in 1886. Like the P.R.C.U., the P.N.A. was built upon a lodge-group-council hierarchy. Unlike the P.R.C.U., however, the P.N.A. established a council to serve each of the three major Polish communities; Poznan, Kantowa and Warszawa. Later a fourth council was established to serve the Parma area. Because it lacked the strong church ties of the P.R.C.U., the P.N.A. could not use church facilities for its meetings. Instead, the Alliance built, or secured, a hall for each of its council areas. The White Eagle Hall on Kosciuszko Street served the Poznan section; the Polish Library Home on Kenilworth Avenue served the Kantowa area; and the Polish National Home on Fullerton Avenue served, and continues to serve, the Warszawa district. These halls provided rooms for meetings, social events, and in the case of Kantowa, an excellent Polish library. Their rental to outside groups provided additional revenue for the councils. In 1940, the three existing Cleveland councils had sixty groups totaling 10,000 members.^[22]

In 1895, the P.N.A. held its first national convention in Cleveland. A primary issue at the convention was the extension of membership to non-Catholic Poles. When a motion to do so was passed, a number of Cleveland Poles from Group 143 resigned from the Alliance in protest^[23] and formed their own fraternal-insurance organization, the Alliance of Poles of Ohio. With the secession of additional Cleveland P.N.A. members, the group grew and prospered. In 1917 an influx of out-of-state members caused the group to change its name to the Alliance of Poles of America. Like the P.N.A. councils, it opened its own hall on Broadway Avenue in 1926. The hall had an auditorium, offices, meeting rooms and provisions for a library which was soon established. Presently, the Alliance of Poles operates in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.^[24]

A second major fraternal-insurance organization headquartered in Cleveland, but operating only in Ohio, was founded in 1894. The Union of Poles in America began as the Polish Roman Catholic Union of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin. It was affiliated with the schismatic parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary, and apparently offered benefits to those who chose to belong to this parish–an act which alienated them from the larger St. Stanislaus community and its societies. Despite its local parish affiliation, the Union attracted members from other churches and towns. In 1915, it obtained a state charter as a formal insuring agency. In 1939, it merged with another local organization, the Polish Roman Catholic Union of Our Lady of Czestochowa, and assumed its present name.

The fact that many of the fraternal-insurance organizations were operated by men only, though benefits and insurance were available to women, fostered the creation of several women’s organizations. A major local group, the Association of Polish Women in the United States, began as an offshoot of the national Polish Women’s Alliance. The Association was established in 1911 to provide insurance benefits for members and their families and to uplift the Polish woman in America. A description of this second aspect of the organization’s purposes provides insight into the important position of the group in Cleveland Polish history:

The main issue [for the Association] has always been the one already suggested…meeting the pace set by the men’s organizations and demonstrating the fact that the Polish women can be as good citizens as their husbands, equally active in community life and able to think out their share of solutions for their common problems.^[25]

To accomplish its purposes, the Association conducted a number of charitable activities in and outside of the Polish community during its existence. For example, it performed much Polish relief work during and after World War II. Like its male counter-parts, it also constructed a large hall, on Broadway Avenue, in 1951, for meeting and rental purposes.

All of the major fraternal-insurance organizations described above function today. Some have continued to grow, such as the P.N.A. which had to open a new Parma council; yet, to do so, they have had to alter their services and principles. Because of the lack of any significant new immigration since the 1920’s, it has become important for these agencies to sell their services to second and third generation Poles. However, these English speaking Polish-Americans have also been a major market for non-Polish insurance agencies. The increased benefits and types of insurance offered by non-Polish agencies lured many Poles away from the fraternals. To keep pace, Polish societies increased and diversified their benefit programs.

Though not important to the business operation of the various societies, their halls and clubrooms most graphically show the changes in their operation. English is now the common language at the clubroom tap, as well as in the official minutebooks, and the halls are often rented to non-Polish groups.

Cultural Groups

Many of the fraternals, because of their policy of perpetuating Polish tradition, conducted social activities of a cultural nature. Foremost among these were singing and dramatic performances given by groups such as the Halka Singing Society of the Association of Polish Women and the Polish National Choir of the P.N.A. An especially large number of singing groups were associated with the P.N.A. because of that organization’s emphasis on preserving Polish culture.

In the 1920’s more than a dozen Polish choral groups were active in Cleveland–a number indicative of the importance of song to the Polish people.^[26] Six groups and an auxiliary remain active today.^[27] For the most part, these groups entertained only in Polish circles during their history, but with the revival of interest in ethnicity, many are now being asked to perform outside of the community.

An exception to this general rule has been the Harmonia Chopin Society, founded in 1902 as the Harmonia by a group of young Warszawa Poles interested in perpetuating their heritage. The society grew quickly, attracting many prominent businessmen of the district to its ranks. The group soon attained a professional quality and took on a broad scope of activities. Rather than remain a cultural and entertainment medium for the Polish community alone, the Harmonia took its music to the people of Cleveland.^[28] This was done to introduce native Clevelanders to Polish culture, and to the Polish people living among them.

Some groups, such as the Halka, both sang and carried on dramatic productions. The churches, particularly St. Stanislaus, sponsored various dramatic groups. During the 1920’s, Sunday afternoons and evenings at St. Stanislaus were often given over to plays concerning the lives of saints or Polish history. The most vital development in Cleveland Polish drama was the Polish Theater on Broadway in Warszawa. During the 1920’s and 1930’s, this commercial enterprise imported acts and plays from Poland and produced locally written Polish drama.

Several other Polish organizations, though having no artists of their own, have tried to promote Polish culture in the non-Polish community. One such group, the Cleveland Society of Poles, was formed in 1923 from P.N.A. Branch Number 2265. From its beginning, the Society’s membership consisted of the major Polish businessmen and professionals in Cleveland. The group sponsored Polish cultural events throughout the city, while fostering American ideals among its members. For the past two decades, for example, the Society has sponsored a presentation ball where the daughters of members make their social debut. The funds from this event, patterned after that held by the city’s old family elite, are turned over to various agencies interested in promoting Polish culture.

The American Polish Women’s Club, founded in 1923, is almost a ladies’ auxiliary to the Cleveland Society. Over the years the membership of this club has consisted of the wives of men who would have been, or were, included in the Cleveland Society. At the time of its founding, the Club engaged in efforts to teach English to the foreign-born, while also trying to promote Polish culture in the general community. To this end it sponsored luncheons and meetings with various visiting Polish, or Polish-American actresses and artists. In recent years the club has become involved in charity and social service work.^[29]

Both of these clubs originated in the 1920’s, a period when sociologists and Americanizers were trying to make good American citizens of immigrants, while attempting to preserve foreign culture and teach others about them. It is most likely that the founding and resultant nature of these clubs was due to this trend, and especially to the fact that their prominent members would be the Poles most conscious of this trend because of their many business and social contacts in the general community.

Recruitment Committee for the Polish Volunteer Army, 1917, posed in front of the Polish Falcons Hall on Broadway Avenue.

Similar in nature to these elite groups was another 1920’s enterprise, the Polish Educational Society. Founded in 1920 by a prominent Polish attorney, S. Titus, and editor, Professor Thomas Siemradzki, the organization taught English and mathematics to the working-class Poles. It also offered lectures on political and historical topics. The club had no affiliation with the church; indeed, its founders wished to remove their students from the atmosphere of the church which they felt stifled assimilation. For this reason, the club was often accused of being free-thinking and socialistic. Again, the 1920’s origin of the club, its prominent leadership, and its emphasis on teaching English indicate that it tried to serve as a bridge to the general community.^[30]

Military and Athletic Groups

Prior to World War I, several paramilitary, and athletic groups, were active in the Polish community. Most of these groups satisfied a desire of some immigrants to dress in uniform and to parade. Most notable among the early groups was the Knights of St. Casimir, an organization affiliated with St. Stanislaus Church. The group was established in the 1880’s, and shortly after the turn of the century became part of the Alliance of Poles.^[31] It was often in the vanguard of most Polish parades in the city. Other uniformed groups included the Polish Cadets of St. Stanislaus Church and the Polish National Sharpshooters of Thadeus Kosciuszko, affiliated with St. John Cantius Parish.^[32]

Though the Polish National Alliance sponsored athletic teas and events in the nineteenth century, the desire for Polish athletic organizations led to the creation of a national athletic group, the Polish Falcons (Sokol Polski), in Chicago in 1896. Like the Sokols common to the Czech and Slovak communities, the purposes of the Polish group transcended exercise. The organization existed primarily to foster Polish nationalism through athletic activity. A branch of the organization, Nest 141, was established in 1911 on Broadway Avenue in Warszawa. With the advent of World War I, the Falcons, including the Cleveland branch, recruited an all-Polish volunteer army to fight with the Allies in France. Recruits were sent to Canada for training and eventually saw service in Europe in late 1917. (See also the section “Politics and Personalities.”)

The conclusion of the war and the establishment of a Polish state diminished much of the Falcons’ purpose, and for a short period after the war the Cleveland branch languished. Its revival later in the 1920’s was due to its social functions and athletic programs in baseball and basketball.^[33] It should be noted that many other Polish businesses, churches and organizations, such as the Alliance of Poles and the Polish National Alliance, also fielded or sponsored teams in these sports, creating something akin to a Polish sports league in Cleveland. During this time the Falcons competed in track and field events with other Falcon branches throughout the country and continue to do so.

Businesses

Just as the social clubs and insurance organizations satisfied unique needs within the Polish community, the Polish-owned business filled other more mundane needs. A major problem facing the early Polish immigrant to Cleveland was finding stores where he could make himself understood to buy the basic necessities of life. The first immigrants, as noted earlier, solved this problem by settling near the Czechs or Germans whose languages they understood. After accumulating enough capital, some of the early settlers opened stores that would cater to later arrivals. The first businesses were grocery stores and saloons, one providing necessities and the other, conviviality. The first Polish-owned grocery store in Cleveland was established in the Warszawa district in 1878. The rapid growth of the community and the beginnings of other areas of settlement created more business opportunities, and by 1900, thirty-two stores were operating in Cleveland.^[34]

As the Polish population increased and capital was accumulated, more stores were opened in the first two decades of this century. Prior to the Depression, a grocery store could be found on almost every block of the main streets in Polish sections. In 1926 Polish grocers of Cleveland formed the Polish Progressive Grocers Association, or P.G.A., which built a modern warehouse where members received substantial discounts on goods through cooperative, bulk buying. The P.G.A. also sponsored training sessions on the better management of stores, held contests for effective window displays.

This composite photograph of 100 Polish businessmen was prepared in honor of the Cleveland centennial in 1896. The strong republican leanings of the business community are evidenced by the “good luck” photograph of the newly elected president, William McKinley and assisted in upgrading the appearance and quality of Polish-owned stores.^[35] The P.G.A. lasted until the 1960’s when it, like many of the neighborhood grocers, succumbed to the competition of the large chain supermarkets.

The establishment of the city’s first Polish-owned saloon in 1876 preceded the first grocery store by two years. Though not dispensing life-sustaining supplies, the saloon provided a gathering place where the issues of the day could be discussed. The early saloons were second only to the church in fulfilling this social need. Saloon ownership grew more rapidly than that of groceries since less initial capital was involved. At times, the front rooms of residences were converted into saloons. By 1890, twenty-three Polish saloons were operating in Cleveland; ten years later the figure had more than doubled with sixty-seven in operation.^[36] The advent of prohibition nearly destroyed the saloons, but after repeal, they were reinstated serving the same social function as before.

Other Polish businesses came into existence as soon as capital could be accumulated and a sufficient market presented itself. The first Polish dry goods store opened in Warszawa in 1887.^[37] Three years later the first furniture store opened in the same community.^[38] The Wanda Furniture store, established in 1911 on Broadway Avenue, was one of the largest businesses in the area, and it endured for many years.

Though the church performed the funeral services for Cleveland’s Poles, the community still needed an embalmer. During the 1870’s, a Czech named Wolf performed this function for the citizens of Warszawa.^[39] Later, a Pole, William Slezak, married Wolf’s daughter and inherited the business. Again, as the population grew, the funeral business expanded to meet the increased need. At one time, more than a half dozen undertakers served the Warszawa-Krakowa area alone.

A business unique to the Polish, and other immigrant communities, was the foreign exchange-travel broker shop. Immigrants often needed the services of an agent to purchase tickets for relatives coming to join them, and to exchange American currency for foreign drafts to be sent to relatives in the old country. Also the broker would often be called upon to read, write, or translate correspondence between immigrants and their Old World families. Because of his dealings with Poles, Americans, American banks and foreign steamship companies, the broker often was one of the best educated, and financially adept, men in the Polish community.

Cleveland’s first Polish travel broker was Michael Kniola. Kniola arrived in Cleveland in 1880 and obtained a job in the rolling mills. He learned English in night school and soon became a foreman in the mills. He quit his job in 1886 to open a grocery store on Tod (E. 65th) Street in Warszawa. In 1890 he began to offer travel and foreign exchange services at his store. By 1900 this new aspect of his business had become large enough to allow him to drop his grocery business. Kniola’s contacts with many of the residents of Warszawa, and familiarity with personalities in the city’s banking and exchange circles, made him a respected leader in the Polish community until his death in the 1940’s.^[40] The other major Polish enclaves, Kantowa and Poznan, had similar agencies. Those of S. Lewandowski in Poznan and of Joseph Tetlak in Kantowa made their owners as respected and important in these communities as Kniola was in Warszawa.

Kniola’s experience in money matters qualified him to be one of the founders of a major Polish savings and loan institution in Cleveland. Banks, and savings and loan associations, are the most prominent and important business enterprises in the history of Cleveland’s Polish communities. The Poles who settled in Cleveland had an extraordinarily strong desire to save money and acquire property. Property was a mark of stability and importance in Poland, a mark that most of Cleveland’s Poles had been denied in their native land. In America, all unnecessary pleasures and frivolities were bypassed in order to save money for a home. Charles Coulter, in his 1919 work on Cleveland’s Poles, noted, “To his family, if they are reared in America, his [the Pole’s] thrift assumes almost the proportions of a vice.”^[41] The Polish financial institution provided a safe agency in which to accumulate this money and from which to obtain a mortgage for a home.

The first Polish financial institution in the city, St. Hyacinth Savings and Loan, was established in the Jackowa neighborhood in 1913.

That same year, the city’s first Polish bank, the Bank of Cleveland, was begun in Warszawa by Stanley Klonowski (a former employee of Michael Kniola). In 1915, the Lincoln Heights Savings and Loan Company was organized to serve the growing Kantowa community. The following year, the Warsaw Savings and Loan opened its doors in Warszawa. Kniola was one of the founders of this institution which, for many years, was the major Polish savings and loan in the city.^[42] Most of these institutions weathered the Depression. However, the Warsaw Savings and Loan had much difficulty. To insure the safety of its deposits, it placed them in a large Cleveland bank, the Guardian Trust, in the belief that the large institution had a better chance to survive the hard times. Much to the shock of the Warsaw Savings and Loan officers, the bank failed, dragging their institution down with it. The Warsaw Savings and Loan was subsequently reorganized, eventually rebuilding its business and stature.^[43] It continues in business today as the United Savings Association.

In the wanning years of the Depression, yet another Polish savings and loan was established: Third Federal Savings and Loan was founded in 1938 to deal specifically in home mortgages.^[44] Since that time it has become the major Polish Savings and Loan in Cleveland, and one of the largest in the state. It has absorbed many of the smaller Polish savings and loans, including the St. Hyacinth and Lincoln Heights institutions.

The Polish banks and savings and loans have thrived. Unlike the small grocers and furniture stores, they have not been driven out of business by competition. They have wisely established branches in the new suburban areas of Polish settlement. United Savings, and especially Third Federal, have endeavored to build in areas such as Parma, Independence and Garfield Heights. Though the boards and the majority of depositors in these institutions are of Polish background, the savings and loans now also solicit the deposits of non-Poles, thus insuring their survival in the older, changing Polish neighborhoods. It is interesting to note that the Polish mortuary has insured its survival through a similar pattern of suburban expansion.

Through the years, few Polish businesses have been established to overtly attract non-Polish clientele. In more recent years, however, this limitation has softened as people of Polish background settle in mixed residential regions and open businesses catering to their entire neighborhoods. Some businesses in the older residential regions however, have grown to a point where they advertise and sell to a large variety of customers. Most notable here is the Grabski Company which operates a chain of auto dealerships along Broadway Avenue.

Most of the businesses, at least, had the opportunity to survive the dispersal of the Polish neighborhood, but an important business, the Polish language newspaper, did not. Cleveland’s Polish press grew when there was a need to disseminate news in a foreign tongue and withered when the Polish-only speaking population died. Cleveland’s first Polish paper, Polonia w Amerce (Poland in America), was founded in 1892.^[45] Its establishment was the result of increasing literacy among Poles and the increasing geographical size of the Warszawa community which hindered the passing of news by mouth. The paper was also important to the growing number of businessmen in the community who needed a medium in which to advertise their goods and services. A number of businessmen, including Michael Kniola, Telesfor Olstynski (carriage maker), Matt Dluzynski (grocer) and Joseph Sledz (saloon owner and politician), were among those who organized the paper.^[46] Begun as a weekly, Polania w Ameryce retained this format until 1918 when it merged with another weekly, the Jutrzenka (Morning Star), and began daily publication. In 1922 the Polonia was purchased by a Detroit firm that renamed it the Polish Monitor. A Cleveland group repurchased the paper in 1925 and again changed its title to the Monitor Daily.^[47]

During the late 1920’s and the 1930’s, the onitor was the unofficial organ of Cleveland’s Polish Catholic parishes.^[48] It assumed a strong clerical stand and was opposed to socialism both in the United States and the new Polish state. In opposition to this editorial viewpoint stood the Wiadomosci Codzienne (The Daily News), Cleveland’s first Polish daily newspaper.

The Wiadomosci was established in 1914, growing from the weekly Narodowiec (Nationalist) which was founded in 1909. Both were published in the Kantowa section.^[49] Though not rapidly anticlerical, the Wiadomosci espoused a free-thinking viewpoint, backing the socialist inclined ruler of Poland, Joseph Pilsudski. This political stance was typical in the paper during the years 1918-1937 when it was edited by Professor Thomas Siemradzki, the well-known Polish intellectual who was co-founder of the Polish Educational Society.^[50]

The differing views of the two Polish dailies provided the basis for a continuing exchange of editorial barbs during the 1920’s and 1930’s. The competition and argument was ended in 1938 when the Wiadomosci purchased the Monitor. The Wiadomosci continued to publish daily editions until it ceased publication altogether in 1966.

While these two dailies were active, Cleveland’s Poles also had a number of weekly papers serving them. Most of these papers were, and are, affiliated with local fraternal organizations. The Zwiazkowiec (Alliancer) is the organ of the Alliance of Poles of America. Founded in 1926, it is still published today. Jednosc Polek (Unity of Polish Women) was founded in 1924 and still serves the Association of Polish Women. The Kuryer (Courier), which serves the Union of Poles, was founded in 1923 to serve a parent, body of that organization, the Polish Roman Catholic Union of St. Mary of Czestochowa. When this organization merged with the Polish Roman Catholic Union of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1939 to form the Union of Poles, the Kuryer absorbed the Immaculate Heart publication, Zjednoczenia (The Uniter), which had been founded in 1898.^[51] At present these three papers have assumed a bi-monthly format and are the only Polish papers published in Cleveland.

Through the years a number of other Cleveland published papers have served the Polish communities (see Appendix C for a complete listing). The communities were also served by a number of out-of town papers including: the Strasz, organ of the Polish National Catholic Church; Dziennik Zwiazkowy, organ of the Polish National Alliance; and Narod Polski, organ of the Polish Roman Catholic Union.

In the 1930’s the Polish newspapers of Cleveland experienced serious problems. Some of these were linked to the financial depression; others, however, resulted from the changing nature of the Polish community. First generation Poles were being replaced by their bilingual sons and daughters. While their parents could usually read only the Polish press, the sons and daughters preferred to read the American press. In an effort to regain their readership, many Polish papers instituted English language sections. They could not, however, match the features, size and utility of the English language press, and the Polish papers were confronted with an ever dwindling readership. The additional burden of increases in printing and labor costs in the 1950’s and 1960’s forced an end to the independent Polish daily in Cleveland.

Today, only the fraternal organs survive. Their publication costs are underwritten by the organizations. People desiring a Polish daily paper have to purchase Chicago or New York titles. These out-of-town papers continue to survive only because they cater to a national audience. Polish readership in Cleveland is not large enough to support a locally published paper, a far cry from the halcyon days of the 1920’s and 1930’s when the city supported two Polish dailies.