November 15, 2001
HAMTRAMCK CITIZEN
Metro Poles rich in history
By Walter Wasacz
To walk into the "Polish Presence in Detroit" exhibit at the Detroit Historical Museum is akin to strolling through the last 150 years of local history.
There are exhibits that focus on Polish roots and families, organizations and politics, labor and sports, neighborhood and religious life. They are all filled with pictures, words, memories. Framed faces that may seem recognizable to many museum-goers stare back through time, making the past come alive.
Visitors can see photos dating from the late 19th century, when Poles began to open businesses and build churches in the blocks north of downtown and south of Hamtramck.
Other pictures document the rise of Polonia in Detroit and Hamtramck, where Polish immigrants arrived to live and work by the thousands in the first two decades of the 20th century.
In Detroit, huge crowds gathered in 1912 for the dedication of the Dom Polski hall on Forest near Chene St. In 1918, the first Congress of Poles was photographed in front of Detroit City Hall. Among those present were Polish composer and statesman, Ignace Paderewski, and his wife.
Another event that took place at Detroit City Hall was the Pulaski Day celebration in 1951, when Michigan Avenue was renamed Pulaski Memorial Highway.
Still another photo from 1978 captured the dedication of the Thaddeus Kosciuszko monument. This massive sculptural representation of the Revolutionary War hero, shown riding his horse, is at Michigan at Third St.
Polish cultural life in Hamtramck plays a significant role in the exhibit, which takes up a long room on the second floor of the museum.
Lively polka music streaming through overhead speakers is one of the first things a visitor might notice. Then it becomes clear that the tune playing is "There’s a City Called Hamtramck," written by Ruth and Ted Gomulka.
There is a portrait of the Hamtramck Police Department in 1943, and a picture, from 1929, of the Polish National Alliance hall. At that time, the cultural organization had its local club at Holmes and Mackay streets.
On one wall near the entrance, a T-shirt dating from the late 1980s, says, " I went to Rome to see the pope, but he was in Hamtramck."
Interesting facts are ever present through out the exhibit:
• The designer of St. Florian Catholic Church, Ralph Adam Crum, was called the founder of the American gothic revival. There is a picture from the church’s dedication in 1928.
• During World War II, Polish-Americans exceeded the national average for participation in the armed services. According to 1980 U.S. Census figures, 41 percent of all Polish-American males were war veterans. Across the country, 34 percent of all American males in 1980 were veterans.
• At St. Florian parish alone, 1,900 of the then 12,000- member church served in the military during the Second World War.
• Despite being the largest and most concentrated ethnic minority in Detroit in the first quarter of the 20th century, only three Polish-Americans were ever elected to that city’s city council and only one – Roman Gribbs—became mayor. Poles found much greater political success in Hamtramck, where they have been dominant for nearly 80 years.
• Poles have been part of the region’s history since the 1850s, when families began following a much larger German migration to Detroit.
• By 1900, there were about 50,000 Poles in Detroit; in 1915, there were 120,000. There were an estimated 300,000 people of Polish ancestry in Detroit in the 1930s. Today, there are about 600,000 in the metropolitan region.
• The Polish Presence in Detroit" exhibit was organized by Drs. Thaddeus Radzilowski and Karen Majewski and others at St. Mary’s College in Orchard Lake.
The exhibit at the Detroit Historical Museum, 5404 Woodward in the Detroit Cultural Center, will be on display until March 31 (Note: the exhibit was extended to June 9 after this article appeared).
The Hamtramck Historical Commission and The Citizen contributed materials for the exhibit.
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