Pride and Presence – Historical museum traces growth of Polish in Detroit
By Greg Kowalski

A frail bingo number cage stands by one wall. On a shelf is a beaten hand-held sausage maker. And on another wall hang somewhat tattered political posters of names largely forgotten today.
These are just a few of the reminders of the long and rich past the Polish-American community has had in making up the fabric of the city of Detroit. They are not the most impressive examples of Detroit’s Polonia, but they are among the most telling.

"This is really about individuals and families," said Jill Grannan, a curator at the Detroit Historical Musuem. She speaks in a room surrounded by memorabilia of Polonia, on the second floor of the museum on Woodward.

This is the site of a major new exhibit that opened Saturday and runs through next March (Note: the exhibit has been extended to June 9 after this article appeared). The Polish Presence in Detroit explores the history, nature and accomplishments of one of the largest ethnic groups that has played a key role in the story of Detroit.

Organized by St. Mary’s College of Ave Maria University at Orchard Lake in cooperation with the Detroit Historical Museum, the exhibit features hundreds of photographs and artifacts gathered from individuals and organizations.

But as its core are the generation of Polish people who helped build the city of Detroit.
"It really has been touching and nice for me to pay tribute to somebody else’s sister and father and show something that’s never been seen before to the people of this area," Grannan said. She has some Polish ancestors.

Karen Majewski has more direct links to Polonia. As executive secretary of the Polish American Historical Association and Polish Materials Specialist at St. Mary’s College – and a resident of Hamtramck, long one of the centers of Detroit’s Polish community – Majewski has been working tirelessly for months to pull the exhibit together.

Last year, Majewski heard about grants being offered by Detroit 300 to sponsor events tied to the city’s celebration of its 300th birthday. She contacted individuals, churches, Polish-American organizations and the Hamtramck Historical Commission to pull together a committee to create a theme for the show.

"It struck me how much of Detroit’s Polonia was tied into the city of Detroit," Majewski said. Not mere residents, they became entrenched in all aspects of the community. "All political stripes, all religions and no religions. Every possible political body had an organization," Majewski said.
"Everyone seemed to have a voice," Grannan added. "We’re really looking back to such a vibrant time."

Putting all the facets of that community into focus was a daunting task. Roughly, the exhibit has been organized into themes of worship, business, sports, community life, religious life, organizations, neighborhoods, family and the war effort.

The Poles began coming to Detroit in significant numbers in the late 19th century when they settled at the old "Poletown" neighborhood centered on St. Aubin and Canfield on city’s near east side. In 1870 there were about 300 Polish families in Detroit. Today there are about 600,000 Polish-Americans living in the metro Detroit area. Between 1854 and 1924, 2.5 million Poles immigrated to the United States.

Although many Polish immigrants arrived at the turn of the last century, their numbers increased dramatically in the decade of 1910 to 1920 when the Dodge Brothers factory opened in Hamtramck, which swelled to a population of 56,000 by 1930—with about 90 percent of them Polish.

Other Polish neighborhoods grew up around Detroit. Each had their own identity and made a mark on Detroit’s history. While Detroit’s Polish community has dwindled over the years as the Poles migrated to the suburbs, many reminders of their presence remain, principally in the churches, such as St. Hyacinth, St. Florian and others. Poletown itself along Chene Street is just a shadow of its former glory, much of it having been devoured by the GM "Poletown" plant (the Hamtramck- Detroit Assembly Plant.)

All the Polish groups are represented. As part of the exhibit, three small-period rooms are decorated to show how a typical living room in a Polish household would look in the 1900s, 1920s and 1950s. All of this is designed to give an accurate if broad representation of the Polish community through the years.

"I hope the Polish people in Detroit will see this and be proud," Majewski said. "I hope that people, no matter their background, can see what the Polish have offered to the community."

More about the Orchard Lake Schools, in the news . . .