Detroit'Soul

John Krasinski and Emily Blunt Exchange Vows July 10, 2010 in Italy...

2011-11-24T18:51:00.010-05:00

The beautiful British actress Emily Blunt

Coming or...

Krasinski was born in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of a Polish-American father, internist Dr. Ronald Krasinski, and an Irish-American mother, Mary Clare (née Doyle). He has two older brothers, Kevin and Paul, and was raised Roman Catholic. Another man of good Polish-American, Roman Catholic stock that is doing well leading the pack!

...going, Emily Blunt is a beauty from top to bottom and from front to back!

Beautiful...

Even more beautiful......

The Three Grand Polish Churches of Canfield St.

2011-07-01T23:34:00.003-04:00

To Nie Ptak

2011-05-05T17:46:00.005-04:00

This is the most beautiful Polish ballad and love song I have ever heard. Get your favorite gal or guy that you like to dance with and be prepared for an absolutely beautiful song to dance to. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVgK42rFxwU

Here are the Polish lyrics first then the English translation:

To Nie Ptak

W kolorowej sukience krz¹ta siê

Raz po raz odwraca g³owê

Uœmiech œle

Móg³byœ przysi¹c ¿e

Widzia³eœ wczoraj skrzyd³a jej

Jak je chowa³a pod sukienkê

Lecz ona

Ref:

To nie ptak czy nie widzisz?

To nie jest ptak

Ona to nie ptak

To nie jest ptak czy nie widzisz?

Kocham ciebie mówi ka¿dy jej ma³y ruch

Lecz ty wœród kolorowych falban szukasz piór

Bo jesteœ pewien ¿e

Wczoraj widzia³eœ skrzyd³a cieñ

Dlatego klatkê zbudowa³eœ

Lecz ona

Ref:

To nie ptak...

Tego dnia, gdy ciemnoœæ skradnie serce ci

Ona w oknie bêdzie œmiaæ siê lecz przez ³zy

Rozpuœci czarnoœæ w³osów i

Zmieniona w kruka skoczy by

Za chwilê oknem tym powróciæ tu

lecz jako

Ref:

Rajski ptak bo tak chcia³eœ

Jako rajski ptak

Rajski ptak

Jako rajski ptak bo tak chcia³eœ!

English Translation:

It's not a bird

She's hustling in a colorful dress

From time to time turning her head

And smiles

You could swear

That you saw her wings yesterday

When she was trying to hide them

Under the dress

But she

She's not a bird

Can't you see

It's not a bird

She's not a bird

It's not a bird

Can't you see

With her every move she tells you she loves you

But you are looking for the feather in a colorful lace

Because you sure

You saw the shade of the wings

And that's why you built a cage

But she

This day

When the darkness will steal your heart

She will be in the window laughing through tears

With flowing hair

And turned into raven jump

Only to come back to here

But as Bird of paradise

Because you wanted this

As a bird of paradise

Because you wanted this)

Davison Gang Reunion

2011-04-30T12:47:00.004-04:00

In these ethnic neighborhoods of Detroit/Hamtramck there were not only people of Polish descent but Lithuanian, Ukrainian and other Eastern European countries and groups. The reason I make reference to Detroit/Hamtramck is obvious to people that were from this neighborhood. But, for those of you that are not from the "old neighborhood" is because we all lived no more than an 1/8 of a mile from the north and south dividing line which is/was Carpenter St.

This was a little reunion of friends that hadn't seen each other, in some cases, for as much as 48 years ago! Starting with the man in the far left front of the group with the brown shirt and glasses on we have Ed, Vic, Mike, Joe, John and Frank. John and Joe stood up for Mike's marriage on October 29, 1966.

Frank was the guy that taught Mike and the others "The Day the Music Died" way before the phrase coined by Don McLean in his song "American Pie" had meaning. It refers to February 3, 1959, when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash. We were aware of these important cultural happenings in our ethnic neighborhoods because we were busy assimilating but didn't know it at the time.

Ed was the guy that was the daredevil that with Mike on a dare walked around the outside edge of the 2nd story windows at White Elementary School, hung around Joannie's Candy Store sipping lemon and chocolate cokes and listening to six songs on the Juke Box for a quarter or 25₵ and smashing pumpkins on people's porches just for the thrill of being chased. And then wondering all these years later, 50+ years later, if Joannie's Juke Box was still in the storefront that has been vacant for more years than we can remember.

And, there was Vic that had some Greek in him that would filch a lemon from his grandfather's house and he and Mike would go into his grandfather's garage with a salt shaker and eat that delicious lemon with some salt sprinkled on it. The reason being that we did it on the sly was because we were told not to eat raw lemons with salt because they would eat the enamel on our teeth. Those were good old days when we were innocent and had so much to look forward to!

Good Hearted Polish People from Hamtramck, MI

2011-04-29T15:09:00.006-04:00

Walt, Mother Paraska and John good hearted Polish friends from Hamtramck, Michigan. These are the "salt-of-the-earth" immigrant families that have made the U.S. the strong superpower that it has become. As long as we allow these kind of people to thrive we will thrive as a country. God Bless them and the United States of America and Poland the incubator that nurtured these good, strong and patriotic families!

English Poems Claimed by the Polish Heart

2011-04-29T00:01:00.005-04:00

The beauty of the words in a poem that moves the heart of a Polish man or woman is in that instant Polish in nature and gets to the DETROIT'SOUL of every Polish man or woman in Detroit or any Polish community on the globe. That's what this poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley does to my Polish heart in the instant I read it. I hope it moves you so, too:

THE INDIAN SERENADE

by--PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

I arise from dreams of thee
In the first sweet sleep of night,
When the winds are breathing low,
And the stars are shining bright:
I arise from dreams of thee,
And a spirit in my feet
Hath led me--who knows how?
To thy chamber window, Sweet!

The wandering airs they faint
On the dark, the silent stream--
The Champak odours fail
Like sweet thoughts in a dream;
The Nightingale's complaint,
It dies upon her heart;--
As I must on thine,
Oh, belovèd as thou art!

Oh lift me from the grass!
I die! I faint! I fail!
Let thy love in kisses rain
On my lips and eyelids pale.
My cheek is cold and white, alas!
My heart beats loud and fast;--
Oh! press it to thine own again,
Where it will break at last.

My Favorite Polish Poem

2011-04-28T23:41:00.002-04:00

Psalm by Wislawa Szymborska

“Psalm” written by Wislawa Szymborska and translated from Polish into English by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh:

Oh, the leaky boundaries of man-made states!
How many clouds float past them with impunity;
how much desert sand shifts from one land to another;
how many mountain pebbles tumble onto foreign soil
in provocative hops!

Need I mention every single bird that flies in the face of frontiers
or alights on the roadblock at the border?
A humble robin – still, its tail resides abroad
while its beak stays home. If that weren’t enough, it won’t stop bobbing!

Among innumerable insects, I’ll single out only the ant
between the border guard’s left and right boots
blithely ignoring the questions “Where from?” and “Where to?”

Oh, to register in detail, at a glance, the chaos
prevailing on every continent!
Isn’t that a privet on the far bank
smuggling its hundred-thousandth leaf across the river?
And who but the octopus, with impudent long arms,
would disrupt the sacred bounds of territorial waters?

And how can we talk of order over-all?
when the very placement of the stars
leaves us doubting just what shines whom?

Not to speak of the fog’s reprehensible drifting!
And dust blowing all over the steppes
as if they hadn’t been partitioned!
And the voices coasting on obliging airwaves,
that conspiratorial squeaking, those indecipherable mutters!

Only what is human can truly be foreign.
The rest is mixed vegetation, subversive moles, and wind.

Recipe for Polish Easter Soup...

2011-04-27T00:51:00.001-04:00

Polish Easter Soup

Polish Easter soup is made with the ingredients that were included in the traditional blessing of the baskets on Holy Saturday before Easter Sunday. In Polish it is known as święcenie pokarmow. The ingredients included in the blessed basket are:

· Kielbasa (Polish sasuage)

o Fresh Kielbasa

o Smoked Kielbasa

· A small piece of Polish Ham (Krakus is a good Polish brand)

· Colored Hard Boiled Eggs (Often referred to in Polish as Pisanki)

· Butter formed into lambs (baranek wielkanocny)

· Miniature Rye Bread

· Salt & Pepper in small crystal shakers

· Horseradish (Red or White or both)

· Pickled Beets

Ingredients not included in the blessed basket are:

· Cube the Miniature Rye Bread for later inclusion

· 1 – Beef Shank

· White Vinegar

· Prepare the beef broth which is the basis for the Easter Soup

· Add approximately 6 – 8 cups of water to the Beef Shank, salt and pepper to taste. Boil for approximately 1 ½ to 2 hours for a nice beef flavor. Remove beef shank when you have the flavor you like

· Chop up Fresh and Smoked Kielbasa into 1 inch pieces and add to beef broth

· Cube the piece of Ham into small squares and add to beef broth Slow boil items in the beef broth 30 – 45 minutes

· Add one small cap full of White Vinegar to soup

· Chop up 4 Hard Boiled Eggs and add to the broth

· Add approximately 2 Tbs. Lamb Butter to broth

· 1 tsp of Red and White Horseradish each to broth

· Chop up 2 medium sized Pickled Beets and add to broth

· Salt & Pepper to taste

· At serving time add some cubed Miniature Rye Bread to each bowl of Easter Soup served

There you have a good and simple recipe for Traditional Polish Easter Soup. I hope you enjoy eating it as much as I have enjoyed sharing this with you. Thanks be to Jesus Christ our Savior and my mother and grandmother for teaching me how to make it.

Polish Easter Soup

2011-04-20T22:34:00.006-04:00

It's that season of the year in our Polish communities around the country and especially the greater Hamtramck/Detroit Michigan Area for us Poles to have our Easter baskets blessed on Holy Saturday.

Then as our mother's used to do which was to make Easter soup or as some people call it in Polish zurek, some spell it zhurek or in English some call it white borsch. But, my mother would make it for Easter Sunday after Mass we ate a small bowl of Easter soup with rye bread so we could save our appetite for the later Easter dinner. The kids hunted for Easter eggs in the backyard. So, HAPPY EASTER or in our mother language, Polish --

Wesołych Świąt Wielkanocnych!

East is East and West is West – Or Is It?, Part II

2010-05-30T05:06:00.018-04:00

Editor’s Note: The following story and photos were contributed by Mike Sadaj and constitute Part 2 of the continuing story. The WSDPAHS is truly grateful to Mike for this wonderful contribution to our e-Newsletter and for granting us permission to reprint his story and photographs. Both the story and photographs are © Copyright Mike Sadaj. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Editor’s Note: About the Author: Mike Sadaj grew up in the Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in the 1950s and lived within walking distance of the parish, where he served Mass and grew to love his Religion teacher, Sr. Mary Fabian, CSSF, for instilling his love for our Lord in him. He graduated from high school in 1963, joined the U.S. Military, and is a proud veteran of the fighting in the Vietnam War. Mike graduated from Wayne State University (Detroit) with a B.S. in Business and spent the greater portion of his adult life in Texas in the oil & gas business as a computer technician and high tech photographer in many parts of the U.S. and world prior to his retirement from business. Mike now pursues his photographic and writing interests as they pertain to his Polish Roman Catholic heritage.

Editor’s Note: Dedication: I would like to dedicate this story to Sr. Mary Elaine, CSSF residing at the Felician Sister’s Motherhouse in Livonia because of the inspiration she provides to me in my spiritual and religious walk on this earth. She is the kindest, gentlest and sweetest soul I have had the pleasure of getting to know in a long time. Finally, she models for me the simple humility so important in helping me recognize the unity of the Holy Spirit that brings me closer to God through Jesus that I struggle with so often as a sinner. Thank you, Sr. M. Elaine.

East is East and West is West – Or Is It?, Part II

By Mike Sadaj

PolishCatMan@hotmail.com

http://detroit-soul.blogspot.com/

In determining if “East is East and West is West?” (from our Part 1 venture from the Eastside Polonia to the Westside Polonia) is more than a metaphoric phrase or a catchy saying, it takes some thought, investigation, and insight into how much we are alike as opposed to how different we are. God provides us with the intelligence to do what is necessary to come to some understanding of these ideas and concepts, but it’s up to us to do what is necessary to figure out the meaning of those ideas and concepts. This leads us to these words of wisdom from Buddhism, “In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.” This applies to us as part of Detroit Poloinia to help us see each other as more similar than different. The way we do this is through the process of research that leads to knowledge with the engine of that process being God’s gift to us of the ability to think and reason. This phrase expressed the sentiment better in a few words than I could say in a whole dissertation.

St. Francis D’Assisi Sanborn Fire Insurance Map 1924

When we left off last month, we were talking about and looking at the beauty of St. Francis D’Assisi Polish Roman Catholic Church. We were talking about the wonderful Polish peasants that were coming to the United States to make a better life for themselves and how they built these beautiful edifices. They were building these temples of worship to glorify the God of their understanding and to say “YES” to the future they had such strong faith that they were going to build for their children and grandchildren. They may not and probably did not it put it in these terms, but the message was clear as we children, grandchildren and yes even great-grandchildren tell the story about our beloved forefathers and mothers in the West Side Polonia of Detroit.

Upper Front Entryway to St. Francies D’Assisi Polish Roman Catholic Church

The attention to detail in the construction of this beautiful church is breathtaking and symbolically significant. Centered just above the two main front wooden doors is a beautiful Polish Eagle with its wings spread out as a welcome to all that enter. Just above that is, naturally, the bare cross symbolizing the resurrected and ascended Christ, letting us know that by Him dying on the cross for our sins we, too, can rise up from our own personal crosses to be with God the Father in His heavenly kingdom. On either side of the arch over the front of the church’s main stained glass window is the heraldic angel Gabriel calling us to prayer and devotion in the manner of our Roman Catholic ancestors in Poland.

Closer Detail of the Polish Eagle and the Cross

The St. Francis D’Assisi Parish was started in 1889 and is the second Polish parish established along the Michigan Avenue neighborhoods in the West Side Polonia. The present church located on the Northeast corner of Wesson and Buchanan was designed by Kastle and Hunter in the Italian Renaissance style. The cornerstone was laid in 1903 and the church was completed in 1905; it is 230 ft long and 123 ft wide and has the capacity to seat 1,700 people. It is constructed of Malvern brick with carved Bedford trim. The cost of construction was $150,000 (approximately $2 million in 1998 dollars).
St. Francis D’Assisi School went from K thru 8th grade. Some interesting numbers of students are 1933-l,229 students; l968-280 students, l980s-285 students and finally in 1999 the school closed. The nuns that taught at St. Francis were the Sisters of St. Joseph or SSJ order. Polish and English were taught through the 3rd grade. Many of the kids that were of first or second generation Polish were “snookered’ by their parents. When they didn’t want the kids to know what they were talking about, they would talk Polish in the house as kind of a secret language so the kids wouldn’t know what they were saying. But, once the kids figured out if they studied and did their lessons in Polish, “the jig was up”, as they used to say back in the day, as they could then figure out what their parents were plotting. That’s when the parents decided it was time to go in the bedroom and shut the door to talk about things they didn’t want the kids to hear. They found that they couldn’t fool the kids anymore!

Closer Detail of the Angel Gabriel Blowing His Trumpet Calling Us to Prayer and Worship

Stas Grabowski told me that none of the boys wanted to stand as Safety Patrol Boys on the SE corner of Buchanan and Campbell where Joseph J. Sarnowski Funeral Director’s at 4188 Campbell Avenue was located or on the SE corner of Buchanan and 35th where Jarzembowski Funeral Directors at 4405 Wesson Ave. was located. He said, “The reason being that the boys were superstitious or nervous about standing on the corner where dead people were located in the funeral homes.” Stas, also, said, “It didn’t bother me because I was not afraid of the dead ones; it was the live ones I was worried about.”

This is all that remains of the Joseph J. Sarnowski Funeral Home these were, at one time, beautiful green patina gates leading into the “delivery area” of the funeral home

Cas Sadowski told me he was an altar boy at the early, 6:30 A.M. Mass and when he and the other boys were walking to Mass the boys used to hear this “plinking” noise all the time coming from the bell towers. One day they figured out where the noise was coming from. According to Cas, “the groundskeeper was shooting an air rifle or BB gun of some sort at the pigeons in the bell towers and when he missed they heard the ‘plinking’ noise from him hitting the bells. We all had a good laugh because he must not have been a very good shot because there was more ‘plinking’ than any other noise and the pigeon population never seemed to decrease.”

The Bell Towers where the local pigeon population outsmarted the groundskeeper

Roman Dudek told me that the Safety Patrol Boys used to go to a local bakery on the corner of Campbell and Buchanan to buy day old pączki for two, sometimes three for a nickel. What a treat! We make a big deal out of Pączki Day signaling the start of Lent. Back in those days pączki’s were an everyday occurrence if you wanted them along with a loaf of rye bread and maybe some seven sisters, babka or chrusciki.
From St. Francis D’Assisi you could start your life with a baptismal; first Holy Communion was the next important milestone, then on to Confirmation; you met your future spouse at the Dom Polski dances on Junction, then came marriage. Now you were back at St. Francis with a good life including children and later it was the final Mass for your death with Fr. Kowalczyk officiating and the altar boys accompanying your casket into church, past your house and on to Holy Cross Cemetery at Dix Ave. in Dearborn Heights. No doubt your life insurance policy would pay for the tombstone from Jozef M. Miodek Monuments that said “Loving Husband, Father and Grandfather”.

NW Corner at the rear of St. Francis D’Assisi’s Magnificent Chapel

I couldn’t resist one more photograph of the inside of this most beautiful and magnificent Polish Roman Catholic Church, St. Francis D’Assisi located at:

4500 Wesson Street
Detroit, MI 48210-2494
(313) 897-7229
Mass: 10:00 A.M. Sunday
8:30 A.M. Wednesday Chapel
9:00 A.M. Holy Days

These Polish Roman Catholic Churches are really the heart and soul of our West Side Detroit Polonia and I urge you as a member of the West Side Detroit Polish American Historical Society or WSDPAHS, and as a personal plea, to come out and support these beautiful old and venerable Polish Roman Catholic Churches that describe the deep and rich heritage we bring to our community and city of who we are as Americans of Polish decent. We are responsible on a personal level to make sure that this history and heritage goes on and moves forward to future generations of Polish Americans that will research and feel the pride we have in our history, contributions and roots.
Again, it was so much fun talking to you my dear friends and brethren and I look forward to continuing this journey through the West Side Detroit Polonia in our next installment in July of 2010. A good prayer said once is fine but a great prayer said twice is nice. So, pray with me to St. Francis since we are saying goodbye to St. Francis D’Assisi Polish Roman Catholic Church for now:
Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in
pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

A Note From the Author: The next installment, Part III, will take us deeper into the west side Polonia, I promise, to Junction, Michigan Avenue and Lonyo Street in the west side Polonia. And, we’re going to sample those pączki from Proctor (Lombardia Bakery, now) Bakery on the west side. Then how about lunch at the Starlite Restaurant on Michigan Ave. in Detroit and Sabinas Restaurant on Oakwood Boulevard in Melvindale for dinner. See you in the next installment of the West Side Detroit Polish American Historical Society e-Newsletter. Z Bogiem!

The Shepherds of the Polish Flock And Their Beautiful Temples of Worship

2010-04-30T17:48:00.008-04:00

The Detroit Free Press: Sunday, June 17, 1906
Part 4, Page 5 of the Newspaper
Part 1 of the Story

Part 4, Page 8 of the Newspaper
Part 2 of the Story

East is East and West is West – Or Is It?

2010-03-06T00:18:00.016-05:00

Editor’s Note: The following story and photos were contributed by Mike Sadaj and constitute what we hope to be a two- or three-part story. The WSDPAHS is truly grateful to Mike for this wonderful contribution to our e-Newsletter and for granting us permission to reprint his story and photographs. Both the story and photographs are © Copyright Mike Sadaj. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author: Mike Sadaj grew up in the Our Lady Help of Christians Parish in the 1950s and lived within walking distance of the parish, where he served Mass and grew to love his Religion teacher, Sr. Mary Fabian, CSSF, for instilling his love for our Lord in him. He graduated from high school in 1963, joined the U.S. Military, and is a proud veteran of the fighting in the Vietnam War. Mike graduated from Wayne State University (Detroit) with a B.S. in Business and spent the greater portion of his adult life in Texas in the oil & gas business as a computer technician and high tech photographer in many parts of the U.S. and world prior to his retirement from business. Mike now pursues his photographic and writing interests as they pertain to his Polish Roman Catholic heritage.East is East and West is West – Or Is It?

By Mike Sadaj

PolishCatMan@hotmail.com

http://detroit-soul.blogspot.com/

In 1890 Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936) wrote The Ballad of East and West and spoke to an idea that all Detroiters know, and that is:

OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet ....

Detroit, like no other major metropolitan city, was divided east and west. You were either from the east side or the west side; it was as if a raging river, the “Woodward Avenue River,” ran through the city to divide it into two distinctive areas. Being an east sider, I rarely remember venturing to the west side except on those rare occasions when my father drove the Felician Sisters from our Polish Roman Catholic Parish, Our Lady Help of Christians (see photo, below), to McDevitt’s Religious Articles Store on the far west side.

The Catholic Church was the center of life in the Polish Catholic community while the other Polish-influenced institutions, places and activities rounded out our religious and social lives. The venerable Polish Roman Catholic Churches, SS. Albertus, Josaphat and Sweetest Heart of Mary (see photos below) respectively

were what we called “The Trinity on Canfield,” and we as Polish Catholics were very proud of these beautiful edifices. Other places that were integral to our Polish community were the schools associated with these beautiful churches.

We attended dances at the PNA Hall and the Dom Polski, where we might meet our future life mates. We said our goodbyes at places like Anthony Wysocki and Gilewski Funeral Homes that were always close to and associated with our parishes. There was the Polish Roman Catholic Union or PRCU Hall where we celebrated marrying our childhood sweethearts and toasted and remembered our lost loved ones. We buried our loved ones in places like Mt. Olivet and Mt. Elliott Cemeteries. We enjoyed movies at places like the White Star and Martha Washington Theatres and shopped at Kowalski’s for meat and the New Palace Bakery for pączki, rye bread and chruściki. On a rare occasion we might go out for dill pickle soup, pierogi, and/or gołąbki at the original Zosia’s on Chene St. And, of course, who could forget the Parish Friday Night Fish Fries during Lent? We referred to all of this collectively as the east side Polonia.

Well, it took me 64, almost 65 years to “ford” the “Woodward Avenue River” and discover to my absolute delight that there is another rich Polonia on the west side of Detroit, aptly named the west side Polonia. In trying to discover more about my Polish ethnic roots, I mapped out my plan to discover the richness of this wonderfully ethnic community of more of “my tribe,” the Polish Roman Catholics. I am fortunate that in my lifetime I have discovered that thing that Joseph Campbell refers to as my “bliss” and that thing is photography. I am determined to photograph all of those things in Detroit that are of historical significance to the Polish Catholic Community before they disappear into the dustbin of history. The Polish American Historic Site Association, or PAHSA (see photo, below), and Matt Baka, the President of that organization, have been very supportive in my effort to make a good start in the east side Polonia.

Standing L to R: Larry, Celeste Grabowski, Paul Tylenda, Dave Grabowski Robert Duda, Jane Grabowski, Carl Goings, Mike Sadaj; Sitting L to R: Sarah Grabowski, Matthew Baka, Brian Baka

It seemed to me that in making my initial foray into the west side Polonia, I should start with what is arguably the oldest active Polish Roman Catholic Parish in Detroit, St. Francis d’Assisi; and, if not the oldest active Parish in Detroit, then certainly the oldest active parish in the west side Polonia. Making a determination of the oldest parish in Detroit or in the west side Polonia is determined by who you talk to and on what day of the week. Since I do not have deep roots in the west side Polonia, I was having a difficult time making contact with the proper person or authority to get permission to photograph the inside of St. Francis d’Assisi which, by the way, is at Wesson and Buchanan Streets. I reached out for some help and with the assistance of Laurie Gomulka of the West Side Detroit Polish American Historical Society eventually gained permission and access, to my great delight.

I have literally photographed scores, if not hundreds, of Polish Roman Catholic and Polish National Catholic Churches around the country and the world. I knew that St. Francis d’Assisi (see photos, below)

was one of the oldest Polish Roman Catholic churches in Detroit. In my travels, I have seen first-hand the beauty of the oldest examples of these institutions, architectural masterpieces, and works of art and in some cases sculptural beauties. But I was not prepared for the beauty, elegance, strength and majesty of the inside of St. Francis d’Assisi. When I walked into the side entrance of the church with all of my equipment in my hands, it literally took my breath away! I had to sit down and look all around me in wonder at what I was seeing and was soon to be photographing. I had never done that before, and I hope these photos help to convey the beauty I experienced during the time I was honored to be able to photograph this church.

I will allow these photos to speak for themselves, now, except for the descriptions of what you are seeing. The lighting was exquisite in the way it provided a regal red tint to the entire inside of St. Francis d’Assisi almost, appropriately, like a high-red vestment symbolizing the representation of the Holy Spirit that feels so strong in this beautiful and regal Polish Roman Catholic Church. The lighting is a work of art in and of itself. (See photo, below).

The leaders and maintenance staff of the church, including Rev. Robert J. Wojciechowski, the Pastor, and Mr. Tom Rys, Maintenance Director, are to be commended for the perfect lighting (of the hundreds of light bulbs, not one was burned out) inside the church and for the fine manner in which they have maintained this venerable old Polish Roman Catholic Church. And, thanks to Charlotte, secretary, for making sure everything administrative runs on an even keel like a finely tuned Polish watch!

The present St. Francis d’Assisi Polish Roman Catholic Church was designed by Kastle and Hunger. The cornerstone was laid in 1903 and the building completed in 1905. It is constructed of Malvern brick with carved Bedford trim and designed in the Italian Renaissance style. The church has a seating capacity of 1,700 people.

The stained glass windows were produced by the Detroit Stained Glass Works (1861 – 1970). All the main floor windows depict scenes from the life of our Blessed Mother (see photo, below).

Our Polish Roman Catholic Churches are part of complexes and in most cases huge complexes that resemble cities. The churches themselves are the hub of the wheel with schools,

halls,

parish offices

(St. Francis d’Assisi Parish Center is pictured in photo, below),

rectories (photo, right, top, is of St. Francis d’Assisi rectory), convents (photo, below, is of St. Francis d’Assisi convent),

parish centers, chapels, funeral homes and parking lots emanating from that central hub like the spokes of the wheel. The religious staff that includes pastors, priests and nuns and secular staff including teachers, coordinators, administrators and maintenance staff act as the finely lubricated bearings to allow the wheel to roll forward carrying the people successfully through this world into the arms of our Lord to our eternal reward in heaven.

If anything, we Polish Roman Catholics embrace our faith as an important and integral part of our lives. This is the legacy we received from our parents and grandparents who came to this country as poor peasants in many cases and built these beautiful, wonderful houses of worship called Polish Roman Catholic Churches.

It seems appropriate that since we have talked about St. Francis d’Assisi Polish Roman Catholic Church, we remember his prayer:

“Prayer of St. Francis”

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in
pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

A Note From the Author: The next installment, Part II, will take us deeper into the west side Polonia, traveling from Jos. Campau, Caniff and Davison Avenue in the east side Polonia to Junction, Michigan Avenue and Lonyo Street in the west side Polonia. And, we’re going to sample those pączki from the New Palace Bakery on the east side and the Proctor (Lombardia Bakery, now) Bakery on the west side. Then how about lunch on the east side at Zosia’s, or for you newcomers, Polish Village Café on Yemans Street in Hamtramck or Krakus Restaurant on Jos. Campau in Detroit with dinner on the west side at either Starlite Restaurant on Michigan Ave. in Detroit or Sabinas Restaurant on Oakwood Boulevard in Melvindale. See you in the next installment of the West Side Detroit Polish American Historical Society e-Newsletter. Do zobaczenia!

The Poletown Struggle for Survival against "the powers that be".

2008-10-13T11:17:00.011-04:00

On one side you had General Motors, political leaders of Detroit and Hamtramck including Mayor Coleman A. Young and the City Council of Detroit and the City of Hamtramck with the exception being City Council member Kenneth Cockrel, the Archdiocese of Detroit including Cardinal John F. Deardon with the whole power of the Catholic Church behind him and sorted and various business interests and people of fear that saw their tax base eroding.

On the other side you had the Poletown neighborhood with Immaculate Conception Polish Roman Catholic Church "the beacon of resistance" fighting against the destruction of this community. The church’s spiritual leader The Reverend Joseph Karasiewicz a lifelong resident of the Poletown neighborhood with roots in St. Hyacinth Polish Roman Catholic Church his childhood parish and a graduate of St. Mary’s Polish Seminary with Fr. Joe’s flock following him in his struggle for their survival.

It was money, power and business interests against people and faith the typical David and Goliath scenario. What the Bible teaches us is to not lose faith in the face of massive odds and opposition. What else can an institution of faith do but to lead us on with faith and hope? These are wonderful qualities and often times in life all we have left is faith and hope but what the Bible doesn’t tell us is that Goliath wins over David much more than David wins over Goliath. But, we have to strive for that 1 in 1,000 chance to defeat Goliath in our titanic struggle with the forces of opposition in our world.

So, Fr. Joe and his parishioners meet all the powers mentioned above on the plains of their Sokho, Immaculate Conception Polish Roman Catholic Church in Poletown in a battle for their very existence. Unfortunately, there was no Biblical prophecy driving the force of this resistance. Awesome and overwhelming forces crushed the people and the church right where they stood after a valiant struggle by some with Fr. Joseph Karasiewicz pouring his heart and soul into the struggle for the survival of his parish and parishioners even against the orders of the Detroit Archdiocese under the auspices of Cardinal John F. Deardon that was shocked at the disobedience of one of his priests.

At the expense of being a cynic we know what the outcome was even before it was an outcome but there is much in history books, newspapers and the internet describing the demise and fall of this kind struggle. Besides, it is too sad to discuss at any length, now. But, what I want to share with you are some photos of Immaculate Conception Polish Roman Catholic Church that might elicit some beautiful and tender memories of something so good and intransient in our collective and individual memories.

Click on the thumbnails and a larger image will come up so you can look at the detail in the photos of the inside, outside and the Memorial to Polish Christianity of Immaculate Conception Polish Roman Catholic Church.

St. Albert's Roman Catholic Church.

2008-10-08T21:33:00.003-04:00

St. Albert's Roman Catholic Church serving a Polish and Slavic Community, on St. Aubin Ave. and Fremont St. White brick church with plain glass windows and tall steeple topped with a cross. This was the precursor to St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church. Ca. 1880

"Dom Polski: Dance Hall Days of Detroit's Polonia" deleted from the DY Forum.

2008-10-07T21:04:00.004-04:00

The reason I am posting these deleted posts from the, "Dom Polski: Dance Hall Days of Detroit's Polonia" thread of the DY Forum was to follow the lead of one of the participants of the DY Forum with Member User Name of Townonenorth that said,

"While it's all well and good to complain, this is not really what this little piece of Polish history should be about. I intend to erase my posts on this subject, as it has no bearing on the topic. I suggest that you do the same. As these are HOF threads I'd hate to have them ruined."

I agreed with the sentiment and the reasoning for why we should both remove our posts but I thought what had to say in response to an earlier post by DY Forum with Member Username: Isle_of_fun that said,

"Lowell & Mortalman Chene st. growing up in that area was really great. does anyone remember Felician Academy connected to St. Albertus in the later years or Chene street summer day camp ? here are some web sites that are of great interest.

http://creativegene.blogspot.c om/2006/10/update-on-chene-str eet-project.html

http://www.umich.edu/news/?Rel eases/2004/Dec04/library/index

Also as of 2004 or 05 the people removed from the Immaculate Conception area because of eminent domain stuff won their lawsuit
best to you all"

I considered what I said to be important enough for me to move it from the DY Forum to the blog, DETROIT'SOUL,

Post 1 Deleted from DY

Let me say this about that. What we are talking about here is the difference between commercially collected data to be used for books, academic purposes and institutions, individuals or organizations versus information that will be made readily available to the average person that has no more agenda than to seek the knowledge for their own enjoyment whatever that is. My much larger fear is that there are people in the background or in the above mentioned audiences that are trying to figure out how to corral the internet and make it a pay-for-view venue thereby allowing only those people that have financial resources to access the information. It’s the same principle at work that is the forces that come in and gentrify neighborhoods and push out the people that made the neighborhoods what they had become. In the end it’s all about business and money. It’s not that I have anything against business or money it’s just that people that are in pursuit of those two items seem to never have a happy medium. Then we end of with greed and growth taking over and it never ends.

A real life example is the difference between what and how Marian Krzyzowski goes about collecting and disseminating his information concerning the so called Chene Street Project, and make no mistakes just his attitude when he made his presentation where he took no questions (Above it all and who are you to question me at all!) this is his information, leads one to believe that he is dealing with collective knowledge in a commercial manner i.e. future book and interactive website versus Lowell Boileau and the DY Forum and other parts of the website. Lowell does own it because he pays for it but if you follow the simple rules of courtesy you can be a part of the Forum and the information gathered, and there is a lot of it, is available to not only other Forumers but anyone that wants to come to the site and pursue or do research. And, he meaning, Lowell, makes the information he gathers in an egalitarian manner for all to enjoy. I may have been awkward in the way I presented my thoughts but I think you get the spirit of what I am saying. These are my opinions and concerns.

"Post 2 Deleted from DY

"Let me say this about that, again. What is happening with this information that Marian Krzyzowsk, and, by the way Townonenorth is exactly correct because I remember when the request went out for information many years ago, also, and there never was any mention of a book, commercial endeavor or academic spin on this so called Chene Project. I was led to believe that this was some kind of genealogical project that would be made available to anyone through one of the Polish Cultural organizations. I didn’t trust it then and I certainly don’t trust it, now.

I have run into some of the best and most enlightened researchers on the DetroitYes Forum that give of their time and effort freely with no thought of any kind of compensation other than what satisfaction they get out of making a contribution to something that is like a family, DY! We don’t always get along and we certainly don’t see eye –to-eye on things but together we make up a tapestry of community called DY which I am proud to be a small part of. And, what I really like and love the best out of this experience is the free exchange of knowledge and ideas.

When I first wrote my concerns about the way this Chene Project was going I had some fear of swimming against the current but I’m so glad I said what I said. But, let me take it a step further to really tap into what is really going on with me concerning the knowledge of this Chene Street Project is being handled makes me very sad. I am sad because I am of Polish heritage and I am proud of my heritage that’s why I talk about it. The sadness comes from the Chene Street Project being a metaphor for one more time that the Polish people are not united in their pursuits. We in the “old” country visited much heartache and pain because of our own selfish pursuits going back to the Polish Sejm back in the 16th Century with the principle of liberum (Latin for “I free forbid”) and one person could veto what is in the best interest of the whole of the population and it was always for selfish interests. This in the end led to Poland being divided up amongst the other European powers and Poland ceasing to exist for so many decades or really centuries.

Bringing this full circle to why this is significant to Detroit and DY it is because of this lack of unanimity amongst us Poles that we are watching our heritage crumble before our eyes. We ran away from the problems of Detroit, we assimilated and brought ourselves up by our bootstraps, doing better, making more money, getting more initials behind our names and abandoned the City of Detroit to the destruction that exists today. So, when we see scrappers climb up on the roof of St. Albertus to steal the copper roof we have no one to blame but ourselves because we use to have strong communities where these things could never happen because there we always eyes watching and people walking and there aren’t anymore!"

A Presentation of the Detroit Institute of Arts at Historic St. Albertus.

2008-10-07T11:28:00.002-04:00

Art in the Age of Cathedrals

A Presentation of the Detroit Institute of Arts at Historic
St. Albertus

Sunday, November 2, 2008 at 12:30 P.M.

Travel backward to the medieval period to explore the architecture of cathedrals, Gothic chapels, and the objects found in them. The presentation will be given by Becky Hein of the Detroit Institute of Arts at Historic St. Albertus Church.

St. Albertus Church still stands proudly at the corner of St. Aubin and Canfield as an icon of Detroit's Polonia. Historic St. Albertus Church was built in 1884 in a Gothic Revival style. The church seats 2,500 and contains over a hundred religious paintings and statues. The building's historic and architectural significance has been recognized. The church was declared a State of Michigan Historic Site and placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior. The buildings that make up the St. Albertus Historic District are maintained by the Polish American Historic Site Assoc., a non-profit group.

There is no charge for attending this event however we gratefully accept donations which are used to maintain and restore the buildings that make up the St. Albertus Historic District. Call 313.527.9321 or 313.285.9398 for more information about St. Albertus Church.

St. Albertus Church is located at 4231 St. Aubin at the intersection of St. Aubin and Canfield, just east of WSU’s medical campus in Detroit. A parking lot is located just north of the church.

St. Hyacinth Polish Roman Catholic Church another of the magnificent "palaces of prayer" in the Eastside Detroit Polonia.

2008-10-04T16:49:00.009-04:00

This posting is dedicated to my Polish Catholic brother-in-Christ, Tom S. whose childhood parish is St. Hyacinth.

St. Hyacinth Polish Roman Catholic Church an of the magnificent "houses of prayer" in the Eastside Detroit Polonia.

2008-10-04T16:42:00.001-04:00

St. Hyacinth Polish Roman Catholic Church another of the marvelous awe inspiring "Palaces of Prayer on the Eastside Detroit Polonia.

2008-10-04T16:27:00.002-04:00

St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church's "foot print" 1884...

2008-10-03T21:17:00.006-04:00

This map of the entire St. Albertus Complex dates from sometime after February 14, 1884. As you can see Canfield St. use to be called Fremont St. This is the kind of stuff that makes things difficult to track down because the street names changed all through the years and the numbering systems changed at different times, also. This is a Sanborn Map that was used by property and casualty insurance companies that insured the various properties. So, things relevant to property insurance needs are delineated i.e. lighting, heating, fuel, etc. If you know what you’re looking for it can always be found if it exists. Notice that the old church is still standing on what is the site of what is the current rectory, today. The new church is under construction which tells us that this snapshot is from the time of Fr. Dominic Kolasinski's pastorate in early 1884 after the contract for construction was signed on the above mentioned February 1884 date. The 1st St. Albertus School on the NW corner of Fremont (Canfield) St. and St. Aubin listed on this Sanborn Map is long gone and the one that is currently right behind and west of the current church was not even a thought, yet. Notice that on these original blueprints the wrong name was listed inside the section of the new and old churches and the school. It is referred to as "Church of St. Albert" in both the old and new churches and as "School of St. Albert Parish" in the school on the blueprint when in fact the name is St. Albertus. But, there was some mix up concerning the official name of the church that we will explore in later postings.

Lively Americans: The U.S. Poles

2008-10-02T17:31:00.009-04:00

Life Magazine April 25, 1955 A time when the Polish Community of Hamtramck was buzzing with activity, excitement and enthusiasm.

St. Francis D' Assisi Polish Roman Catholic Church...

2008-10-01T23:58:00.002-04:00

Detroit Polonia the Westside Version!

Traditional Polish Folk Dance and its Importance to the Growth and Continuity of the Detroit Polonia.

2008-09-28T16:33:00.020-04:00

One of the significant cultural contributions of Polish Americans to the greater society and its own continuity is traditional Polish dance. There is a whole subculture of activity involved in carrying on the very fine and colorful tradition of Polish dance. First of all there needs to be an infrastructure of some kind to carry on this tradition which is in the form of Polish dance schools steeped in the history, tradition and skills required to perform in the manner of “the dance” of the “old” country, Poland.

Next, there needs to be women that are familiar enough with the traditional costumes of the region in Poland that the dance they are involved in wear for the dance. More often than not many of the women have the sewing skills necessary to make these costumes from scratch. But, there is a whole industry shooting up that provides traditional Polish costumes that come from Poland or other parts of the world that provide inexpensive hand sewn costumes.

The next two components are the resources human and material to make this tradition a reality. First of all it takes a significant amount of money to pay for the dance lessons, costumes, shoes and transportation to and from the dance classes and recitals. But, behind all of these resources is the real contribution that makes it all happen which is the commitment on the part of the parents that pay, spend time, support and spread the word about this important cultural contribution. Don’t forget the children because without them there is no future for traditional Polish dance. They have to make the commitment in time, energy and enthusiasm for this important cultural endeavor. In the beginning it is, “Do I have to? But it rapidly becomes an activity that provides community, continuity, accomplishment and excitement for the children.

PRCUA Halka Dancers

Polish traditional culture has two distinct styles of folkloric dance – one from the nobility and one from the peasantry. In Poland there are nearly 40 distinctive cultural regions – each with their own specific dances, melodies and songs as well as folklore. The five “national” dances of Poland, recognized throughout Poland as being quintessentially “Polish”, include the Mazur and the Polonez from the nobility tradition, and the Oberek and the Kujawiak from the peasantry, and the Krakowiak, a courtship dance from Southern Poland.
Both men and women wear leather shoes with pressed-in ornaments, called the kierpce, and heavy woolen hand-knit socks. The men’s wool trousers have a pom-pom on each leg and some yarn decoration. Their vests may be either bright red or blue and are decorated with tassels and their hats are either white or black wool.

PRCUA Halka Dancers

The women’s dress features wool skirts that have flowery patterns of roses on green, red, blue, black or white background. They wear white blouses finished with lace, tight ornamental velvet vests of burgundy, green, blue or black with a peplum of little overlapping tabs, and strings of coral beads on their necks. The vests and beads are tied with ribbons, and women wear flowered wool shawls.

PRCUA Halka Dancers

There are a number of traditional Polish dance schools and troupes in the Metro-Detroit Area. Just a couple of them are the PRCUA Halka Dancers and the Wawel Dance Ensemble. Here is just a snapshot of continuity of these young and gifted traditional Polish dancers from the current era as well as an earlier time in the evolution of this cultural GEM of the Polish Community. Many of these photos are current photos of the PRCUA Halka Dancers taken at the Michigan State Fair on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006 @ 12:00 Noon in the Family Grove.

PRCUA Halka Dancers

If you have interest in helping the dance troupe or have children of dance age you can contact them at:
Halka Dancers PRCUA
Our Lady Queen of Heaven Activities Building
Detroit
Ages 3 to 17
Saturdays
Rita Cerankowski (313) 891-2403

PRCUA Halka Dancers

PRCUA Halka Dancers

Last generation Polish Folk Dancer Alfreda nee Grygiel and current generation Polish Folk Dancer from the PRCU Halka Dancers

Polish Folk Dancers -- Alfreda Grygiel front center 1961

L to R Marsha Lewandowski and Alfreda Grygiel Circa 1956

Bottom row L to R Marsha Lewandowski and Alfreda Grygiel with other Polish Dancers in Traditional Dress with Felician Nuns at Our Lady Queen of Apostles Polish Roman Catholic Church Circa 1956

Alfreda Grygiel in Traditional Polish Dance Dress in her backyard on Caniff on the Detroit/Hamtramck Border. Alfreda's Mother Frances Grygiel was a Master Seamstress and made all of Alfreda's beautiful clothes and costumes from scratch July 1959

Annual Polish Constitution Day Parade on Belle Isle starting at the Scott Fountain, May 8, 1961. Polish Dance Troupe in Traditional dress from the Cracow region of Poland. Alfreda Grygiel in back 2nd from left of the tall girls, smiling with dark hair

Detroit's Polish Pioneers and Their Remarkable Progress The Detroit Free Press Sunday, June 3, 1906

2008-09-27T15:20:00.004-04:00

St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church and the history and Pastorate of Fr. Francis A. Mueller .

2008-09-23T03:16:00.024-04:00

The 1st Polish Roman Catholic Church in Detroit was St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church. There is much interest in this the mother church of all Polish Roman Catholic Churches in the Polish Community of Detroit.
One of the more successful and interesting pastorates in the history of St. Albertus was the pastorate of Fr. Francis A. Mueller. A very fine if not the best historical Centennial I have ever read of any church anywhere was written and photographed by some gifted priests and a lay photographer.
What follows is the exact excerpt from that Centennial book reproduced here as a service to the Polish Roman Catholic Community for research purposes because the book is so hard to find. I have included a copy of the cover and credits page so due credit can be given. I hope you enjoy reading about this fascinating priest and his contribution to the history of this living thing called St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church.

St. John Cantius Has Passed Into the History of the Polish Roman Catholic Village of Delrey in Detroit, Michigan!

2008-09-20T23:23:00.007-04:00

Ironically the 105th Anniversary of St. John Cantius on October 28, 2007 was the saddest day in the lives of Genevieve Rakoczy, 77 and Leon Strameck, 85 both livelong parishioners of St. Cantius Polish Roman Catholic Church in the Polish Community of Delray, Michigan because it was the final Mass. Father Edward Zaorski said the final mass at this venerable “old” Roman Catholic Church in the Polish Village located at 844 Harbaugh at Thaddeus and north of W. Jefferson Ave. in this exclusively industrial community along the Detroit River.

Here we have another of the architectural gems among so many precious places of worship built as a gift to the City of Detroit by the Polish settlement to enhance the fabric of the city over the many decades. This is a beautiful stained glass window in St. John Cantius Polish Roman Catholic Church depicting the patron saint of the church St. John Cantius.

St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church Profile 1985

St. John Cantius Has Passed Into the History of the Polish Roman Village of Delrey in Detroit, Michigan!

2008-09-20T21:18:00.007-04:00

Pope Pius XII: "I hear all around me innovators who want to dismantle the Holy Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the Church, throw away her ornaments, give her a remorse of her historical past. Well my dear friend, I have the conviction that the Church of Peter must assume her past or she will dig her own grave."

Ironically the 105th Anniversary of St. John Cantius on October 28, 2007 was the saddest day in the lives of Genevieve Rakoczy, 77 and Leon Strameck, 85 both livelong parishioners of St. Cantius Polish Roman Catholic Church in the Polish Community of Delray, Michigan because it was the final Mass. Father Edward Zaorski said the final mass at this venerable “old” Roman Catholic Church in the Polish Village located at 844 Harbaugh at Thaddeus and north of W. Jefferson Ave. in this exclusively industrial community along the Detroit River.

The article written by Mark Hicks of the Detroit News with powerful comments by Fr. Z is definitely not to be missed. So, take the time to paste this URL into your web browser and read this wonderful article at this link:

http://unamsanctamcatholicam.blogspot.com/2007/10/st-john-cantius-in-detroit-mi.html

St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church Profile 1985

844 S. Harbaugh, Detroit, MI 48209
842-2276
*Closed (2007)*	School in Operation:	No
1902	Year Present Church was Built:	1923
Rev. Fr. Walczak	Pastor in 1985:	Rev. Fr. Edwin A. Szczygiel
Saturday 6:00pm (English); 8:00am (English), 10:30am (Polish), 12:00pm (English)
425	Percentage of Polish Descent:	75%

Fr. Mueller...

2008-09-18T20:41:00.003-04:00

This is the funeral cortege for the very beloved Fr. Francis A. Mueller, Pastor of St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church in the heart of Poletown at Detroit, Micigan. The date of this solemn procession was April 23, 1913 a very sad day, indeed. Photo: WSU Virtual Motor City

Mr. Ski on E. Canfield...

2008-09-16T10:14:00.005-04:00

Here we see a member of the Polish Catholic “tribe” that will not be driven from his home by the blight in the city. He lives in the St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church “old” Parish neighborhood on E. Canfield just a few blocks from St. Albertus. We’ll call him Mr. Ski and he is a hearty soul if there ever was one. He walks all through the neighborhood impervious to the blight, crime, destruction and devastation in what was a thriving Polish-American enclave that has turned into the worst kind of ghetto this city has spawned. He walks to go shopping, take care of chores and travels to the bus stop so he can go to get the services that no longer exist in his home neighborhood. He has turned his home into a fortress to ward off the worst elements of the ‘hood that will come in to try to steal, rob, scrap or use for a “crack house” that will eventually be burned down by drug addicts and “crack hoes” in a drug induced high. Mr. Ski walks around smiling which makes all of us smile to see the “weed” that is growing out of the only crack in the “cement”!

The structure looks like one of the old fashion storefronts with living quarters in the back. Many Polish immigrants established mom and pop stores to service the neighborhood in these types of dual purpose structure so they can be on the scene to take care of business. They could also, be near home by taking advantage of the economies of scale in building a structure for these dual purposes. Being so close to the neighborhood parish established their legitimacy for servicing the parishioners of St. Albertus.

This was a thriving neighborhood with people coming and going all the time, day and night. For Mr. Ski it is still a thriving neighborhood where he comes and goes but only during the day because the night is owned by the lower elements in the ‘hood. You make us proud Mr. Ski with your coming and going and we hope to see you for a long time!

Mr. Ski on E. Canfield...

2008-09-16T10:10:00.000-04:00

Here we see a member of the Polish Catholic “tribe” that will not be driven from his home by the blight in the city. He lives in the St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church “old” Parish neighborhood on E. Canfield just a few blocks from St. Albertus. We’ll call him Mr. Ski and he is a hearty soul if there ever was one. He walks all through the neighborhood impervious to the blight, crime, destruction and devastation in what was a thriving Polish-American enclave that has turned into the worst kind of ghetto this city has spawned. He walks to go shopping, take care of chores and travels to the bus stop so he can go to get the services that no longer exist in his home neighborhood. He has turned his home into a fortress to ward off the worst elements of the ‘hood that will come in to try to steal, rob, scrap or use for a “crack house” that will eventually be burned down by drug addicts and “crack hoes” in a drug induced high. Mr. Ski walks around smiling which makes all of us smile to see the “weed” that is growing out of the only crack in the “cement”!

The structure looks like one of the old fashion storefronts with living quarters in the back. Many Polish immigrants established mom and pop stores to service the neighborhood in these types of dual purpose structure so they can be on the scene to take care of business. They could also, be near home by taking advantage of the economies of scale in building a structure for these dual purposes. Being so close to the neighborhood parish established their legitimacy for servicing the parishioners of St. Albertus. This was a thriving neighborhood with people coming and going all the time, day and night. For Mr. Ski it is still a thriving neighborhood where he comes and goes but only during the day because the night is owned by the lower elements in the ‘hood. You make us proud Mr. Ski with your coming and going and we hope to see you for a long time!

Detroit Cornice & Slate repairs St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic church's roof

2008-09-14T03:59:00.004-04:00

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - 11:46 am

8 days later and $12,000 poorer the "wound" in the roof of St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church was repaired by roofing company Detroit Cornice & Slate a reputable and experienced company that has worked on many of the area churches and recently did the roofing on the Book-Cadillac Building. PAHSA remains as dedicated as ever to the preservation of St. Albertus! Any support for this project would be greatly appreciated. Make checks payable to PAHSA and mail to:
PAHSA
4231 St. Aubin
Detroit, MI 48207
Here are a couple of photos with the "wound" to the roof repaired.

St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church roof attacked by scrappers

2008-09-13T21:36:00.003-04:00

I received this email just today:

I'm sad to report that two days ago St. Albertus Church was broken into and a portion of the copper roof was stripped. It appears the thief entered through a small window on Canfield and then went up into the bell tower and got on to the roof where three sections of the copper standing seam roof were stolen from. A police report was filed and measures have been taken to prevent this from happening again. However, PAHSA is now stricken with the task of repairing the damage that was done. We are in the process of getting estimates for the repairs, but if past repairs are used as an indicator then I doubt if we will be able have the repairs done for less than $10,000. Anyone who wishes to support PAHSA in our efforts to repair the roof should please send donation to the rectory address:
PAHSA
4231 St. Aubin
Detroit, MI48207
Your help would be greatly appreciated. I've attached photos of the effected area. I will send updates of the situation as they develop.

PAHSA President

What you are looking at is the wound caused by the terrible damage done by the scrapper that ripped off sheets of copper roofing from St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church under the darkness of night in this brazen attack on this venerable "old" institution in Detroit, Michigan. The scrappers are dismantling the City of Detroit piece by piece of copper with no end in sight and no law enforcement agency within the city limits that has either the manpower or the will to stem this terrible tide of destruction.

Immaculate Conception Church is the Mother Church of All Polish Roman Catholic Churches in the U.S.

2008-09-12T20:51:00.004-04:00

Immaculate Conception Church is the Mother Church of all Polish Roman Catholic Churches in the U.S.
Founded by: Fr. Leopold Moczygemba, Franciscan
Founded on: December 24, 1854
Oldest Polish Parish in America
Located in: Panna Maria, Texas
P.O.Box 9
Panna Maria, TX 78144
E-mail: pan1854@yahoo.com
Website: www.pannamariatexas.com
Telephone: 830-780-2748
Fax: 830-780-4564
Fr. Adrian M. Adamik, Administrator and Fr. Mariusz Lazarek, Parocial Vicar
Saturday Mass: 5:00 P.M.
Sunday Mass: 7:30 A.M.
Holy Day Masses: The same as on Sundays
Daily Mass: 7:30 A.M. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday; 5:30 P.M. Monday and Friday
First Friday: Exposition of Blessed Sacrament 5:00 P.M.; Mass: 5:30 P.M.
Confessions: 1/2 Hour before every Mass

St. Albertus Fest 2008

2008-09-11T21:06:00.002-04:00

Frank Smyk Remembered 40 years later January 5, 1968 -- January 5, 2008 © by Mike Sadaj

2008-03-17T13:43:00.007-04:00

Story about Frank Smyk for Chip at the Hamtramck Citizen

Frank Smyk Remembered 40 years later January 5, 1968 -- January 5, 2008 © by Mike Sadaj

It was the week of January 14, 1968, and I had been out of the jungles myself only since December 11, 1967. I was still reeling from my reintroduction to civilian life while trying to fight off some of my own readjustment difficulties as I tried to figure out my next move. People that have not been in combat don’t know the mindset of someone that has been through the hell of life and the possibility of violent death on a minute to minute basis. I was covered from head to foot with “jungle rot” from being in a tropical jungle for a prolonged period of time. My mind raced with vulgar cautionary words associated with every possible actual or imagined threat. My sense of well being and goodness had been replaced with the harsh reality that evil does exist in the world, and that evil was more than just a word or idea. The feeling of lost youth and innocence was palpable.

I had just been to the VA Hospital in Allen Park, Michigan, a near suburb of Detroit and the hospital was overflowing with veterans needing medical care that day. We were entering the height of the Vietnam War; the casualty lists were large and getting larger, and the military was so overwhelmed with wounded, hurt and sick warriors that they were discharging them with the admonishment, “If you have more medical difficulties and problems, visit your local Veterans Administration Hospital for care.” It was a case of the military “passing the buck”. I guess they never read the saying on President Harry Truman’s desk, “The Buck Stops Here!”

I was sitting in Duke’s Bar in Detroit near Hamtramck, the Polish enclave within the city limits of Detroit having a piwa and talking to another Polish friend of mine named Archie Pruss about the war and our future when Bobby Sutkievitch came in to have a shot and a beer with us and said, “Did you hear that Frankie Smyk was killed in action in Vietnam?” It went through me like an electric shock. I had known Frankie Smyk all my life. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Bobby, his family would suffer the loss of one of his brothers, Allan, in the same way, culminating in concurrent funerals for Frankie and Allan from the same church and funeral home on the same day. We lived in an area of Detroit/Hamtramck where the boundaries blurred because we lived right on the border of the two cities at Carpenter St. between Joseph Campau and Conant Sts. Other people that didn’t live there would refer to them as different cities, but it was all the same to us that lived there. It was one of the largest Polish American enclaves in the country, second only to Chicago.

We didn’t get much information about his KIA status other than he had been killed in action on January 5, 1968. It got really quiet, and everyone slipped into their own thoughts with somebody saying every once in awhile, “What a damn shame that somebody as nice as Frankie got killed.” Or, “One of the nicest kids in the neighborhood you’d ever want to know.” I thought, “It will kill his father, Edward Smyk” a Detroit Police Officer at the Davison Precinct which was the Precinct that served our home neighborhood. Mr. Smyk, who was also a World War II Veteran, used to take us kids to the Detroit Zoo or Tiger baseball games through the PAL Police Athletic League Program.

Frankie was born Frank Barth Smyk on August 9, 1947 to Polish parents, Edward and Stella Smyk. Frankie was born in the New Grace Hospital in Detroit, Michigan that serviced the Polish American Community which is where I was born, also. He was the oldest son and second oldest of six children in the Smyk family – his brothers were Edward and James; his sisters were Marlene, Kitty, Corrine and Sue. The Smyk family was members of the Polish Roman Catholic Our Lady Help of Christians Church on McDougall St. in Detroit where Frankie and I were altar boys together. He said mass and served at funerals at the parish associated Anthony Wysocki Funeral Home where so many of our friends and relatives had said their last goodbye.

The Smyk family lived at 3322 Cody St. in Detroit; just two (2) short blocks from the Polish settlement of Hamtramck. Frankie and all of his siblings attended Our Lady Help of Christians Parochial School with him graduating from Pershing High School in Detroit in 1966 after attending St. Ladislaus High School for a year. When Smyk was 19 years old, his number came up in the Selective Service Lottery, and he was drafted into the United States Army. To the uninitiated, you may ask why I specified, “He was drafted into the United States Army”. Back in those days the causality lists were so high for killed and wounded in action, anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 a month, combined with a shortage of men for the other services, that men were being drafted for the Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps as well as the Army.

Men were being processed at a heightened rate with inadequate training to go into the meat grinder known as the jungles of Vietnam. There was and is a direct correlation between the amounts of training a man has for combat and his ability to survive that combat. That’s why the elite forces such as Army Rangers or Airborne Troops, Navy Seals, Air Force Pararescue and Marine Corps Forced Recon have a much lower mortality rate; they and their comrades are highly trained which also creates unit cohesion and a greater likelihood of survival. So, after minimal training in Basic Training or “boot camp” of as little as 8 weeks and in some cases only 6 weeks, Frankie was going into the highest risk job of an entering military person – US Army, draftee, combat infantry specialty - on his way to Southeast Asia to fight in the Vietnam War. The military, given its mandate by the civilian leaders of the government, could do nothing more than, “salute” and say, “Yes, sir!” which was a disaster for so many young men that were draftees.

I can remember Frankie and his sister, Kitty, as far back as about 1954 or 1955 coming into Joanne’s Candy Store on Davison Ave. between Joseph Campau and Conant Sts. after mass to get an ice cream cone. I can remember Frankie with that shock of wild red hair that looked like a haystack, smiling, freckled face and a green suit that he had outgrown. And, when he came in, he was so full of life that he lit up the whole place with his aura and the smile on his face like he had just done something mischievous. Frankie was just the cutest little kid! That’s one of the many fond memories I have of Frank Smyk. Because of the joy the world was cheated out of by his loss, it is so sad for me to think of him 40 years after his terrible, untimely death. But, then again, I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

Some days later Frank Barth Smyk’s body came home from the battlefields of Vietnam. He was transported to the place where we served as altar boys many times, Anthony Wysocki Funeral Home right across the street from our childhood parish, Our Lady Help of Christians Polish Roman Catholic Church. Back in those days there was a much more ritualized arrangement for viewing, masses and a funeral, especially in length, than there is today. To make this already sad event even sadder, another young Polish American Catholic kid from the neighborhood who happened to be Frankie’s boyhood friend and was exactly the same age as Frankie, 20 years old, Allan Sutkievitch, was killed in an equally senseless shooting incident and was laid out in the room across from Frankie in the same funeral home at the same time. Death is always sad, but when it comes to those so young it is tragic.

The Smyk Family was a well known active member of the parish and community so the outpouring of people was very large. I remember going to the funeral home the first night for the viewing and it was standing room only. I went in and went right to the casket and knelt down, made the sign of the cross and prayed for Frankie, but the thing I remember the most is the fact that he had an open coffin. I had known battlefield death intimately and in many cases you would not want to know what the remains looked like or if they were all there which would exclude the viewing of any kind. Death, often, especially from war is not pretty and in fact is ugly and gruesome which is the face of war and death in war. I couldn’t take my eyes off Frankie because I couldn’t believe that this cute little kid I knew all my life was laying dead in front of me. I was struck by the fact that Frankie looked like he was sleeping and I had the fantasy that any minute he would sit up and say, “What are you all doing here?” But, he did not and would not.

Finally, I got up and went to where the family was seated and offered my condolences. Frankie’s oldest sister, Kitty, who I had a crush on while I was growing up, pulled me into a seat next to her to talk to me. As I said, we always had a passing interest in each other and we had a conversation about Frankie, reminiscing about all the good times. We talked about how shocked we both were that he had been killed in action in Vietnam. Then I said to Kitty, “I can’t get over how good Frankie looks, it’s almost like he’s sleeping” and she said, “Yes, it does.” Then she grabbed me by the hand and led me to the casket and said, “Look over Frankie’s left eye, and you will see where the bullet that killed him entered above his eye.” Then Kitty said, “Frankie looks like he is sleeping but he will never get up again.” The Smyk Family really suffered over the loss of Frankie and it was a very solemn occasion.

One of the really good memories I have of this terribly sad occasion and remembrance has to do with such a touching and traditional ritual amongst my Polish American countrymen. A very fine husband and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Michael and Martha Golabek were Polish American neighbors of the Smyk Family that lived three houses east of the Smyk Family and told me that they remembered the day Frankie came home from the hospital when he was born in August of 1947. In fact they saw him the very first day he ever lived in his family home there at 3322 Cody St. in Detroit. So, Mrs. Martha Golabek went around to all the neighbors in the neighborhood to collect money for flowers for Frankie’s remembrance to be delivered to Anthony Wysocki Funeral Home and then to be transported on the day of the funeral to Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Detroit.

L to R Michal (Michael) and Marta (Martha) Golabek

For some reason beyond my understanding, I was haunted by and continued to be haunted by Frank Barth Smyk’s death on the battlefields of Vietnam. Time passed and the feelings of sadness and loss never left me. After some years, it occurred to me that I needed to do something for Frankie and me to put this chapter of my life to rest and exorcise my own demons from that war. In 1968, another man was killed in action in Vietnam by the name of Victor David Westphall III from New Mexico also known as David. David’s Father, Dr. Victor Westphall was so overcome by grief over the loss of his namesake son that he took the money he received from David’s GI insurance, $10,000, and used it as “seed money” to build a memorial to his son that has blossomed into a Memorial for all Vietnam Veterans located in the beautiful mountains of Angel Fire, New Mexico.

So, I decided I was going to establish a memorial to Frankie to be located at the Memorial in Angel Fire. I set about to collect information and data about Frank Barth Smyk and I did a pretty good job. The only thing I was lacking was some photos of Frankie. I didn’t even have a school picture, snapshot or any kind of image of him and this was the key for me. So, I started searching and made contact several times with Frankie’s family, but for whatever reason I never even received an answer. Some years later, I made contact with one of his sisters that was living in Toronto and we had some nice conversations. But, after about the third conversation, I finally brought up Frankie and what I was trying to do for a memorial for him. I must have touched a pool of sadness that was too deep, because I never heard from this sister again and she would not answer my phone calls. This was a very frustrating time for me because without a photo of any sort, I felt as though it would be an inadequate and less than respectful memorial, given the other memorials I had seen in Angel Fire. So, my search for a photo of Frank Smyk intensified and took on a desperate and hopeless nature as I couldn’t think of what to do next.

A few more years went by, and then the internet was developed. So I had a new avenue available to me to find people, information and photos. I researched the information concerning Frank Smyk’s Army units while he was in the Army at the time of his death. What I found out was that his unit designations were 2^nd Platoon, Company B, 4^th Battalion, 9^th Infantry (Manchu) and 25^th Infantry Division. I found out through the National Archives that Frankie had been killed in action on January 5, 1968, in South Vietnam, in Tay Ninh Province. He was a ground casualty by hostile, small arms, gun fire and that his body was recovered, as I knew. I also found out that his tour of duty in Southeast Asia began on July 11, 1967 and his Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) was 11B20 which stands for Drafted Army Infantry. In addition, I found out Smyk’s Military Grade was Specialist 4^th Class, or as they were known at the time Spec. 4, his pay grade was E-4 standing for enlisted man that he was a Male, Caucasian, Catholic and a U. S. Citizen.

So, armed with all of the above information, I started a search on the internet for any additional information about Frank Barth Smyk. I scoured the internet but didn’t really find much more information than I already possessed, but this was about 1995, in the infancy of the internet. So, I kept searching on and off over the next couple of years until about 1999 as the internet started getting more sophisticated and user friendly but still had no luck. But, if I am anything, I am persistent and I kept searching until, finally, in 2001, I found a website for the 9^th Infantry (Manchu) of the 25^th Infantry Division. I did a search of the website for anything about Frank Smyk but there wasn’t much more than I already had. I saw that they had a “Manchu Message Board” and I posted a simple message, “Looking for anyone that knew and/or served with Frank Smyk in Vietnam.” I left it alone, forgetting about it and didn’t do anything about my search for close to three years.

Three years almost to the date I received this e-mail,

“Mike,

I knew Frank Smyk in B Co. I don't think I have any pictures of him, but I might be able to find someone who does.

Regards,

Larry Mitchell B/4/9 OCT67-OCT68”

Well, I was so excited I could hardly contain myself and shot off an answer to Larry Mitchell that started the most incredible correspondence between two people that have never met face-to-face. We both shared information about Frank Smyk that the other had no idea about. I was filling in Larry’s questions about Frankie’s life before the Army, and he was filling in my questions about Frankie while he was in the Army and Vietnam. We carried on quite a communication for sometime with me explaining to him what it was I wanted to do for Smyk. Finally, on August 13, 2004, four days after what would have been Frank Smyk’s 57^th birthday, I received an e-mail from Larry Mitchell with the subject line, “BINGO!!! – photos”. There were two very good photos of Frankie with one of them being a haunting clear, almost prophetic picture of Frankie staring into the camera so intensely that he reaches out from time and eternity to say, “Here I am!” It is one of the most incredible and haunting images of it’s kind, and I am a photographer that has seen and taken thousands of photos. The note said that, “Denny came through big-time.” Meaning Dennis Wagner, one of Frank Smyk’s closest friends in Vietnam had come up with these two photos of Smyk for posterity. Finally, after 35 years on my quest, I had what I had been searching for so long and so hard.

L to R Frank Barth Smyk and Fred Sonkson

These two men, Larry Mitchell and Dennis Wagner, even though I have never met them face-to-face, have become some of my closest friends and confidants about the war through our correspondence and the work we did to establish a memorial for Frank Barth Smyk. I communicated with them every step of the way in establishing the memorial for Frankie. It was a well thought out, methodical and tender process of remembering someone so good and so young who gave his life on the altar of freedom for his country. There is no more glorious sacrifice human beings can make for their fellow countrymen than to give their all for an idea and concept called freedom.

My plan was to travel to the Vietnam Veterans National Memorial in Angel Fire, New Mexico from my home in Zionsville, Indiana to enshrine Frank Barth Smyk’s memory in a fitting memorial to his life, death and resurrection to eternal life. I asked Dennis Wagner and Larry Mitchell to write down some remembrances of Frankie so we could provide them for his memorial to make him come to life and become a real human being not just a memory. After all, we will not be here one day but the memorial will and it’s important to know Frankie for the vital, good and valuable human being he was for the short 20 years he was on this earth.

This is what Dennis Wagner had to say, “Frank and I had a pact about trading parts of C-Rations. I always took what he didn’t want because it really didn’t matter to me. We always had a good time in the trade process. His favorite was the pound cake and peaches and I always traded mine in exchange for his fruit cake. He didn’t like the ham and lima beans so I always traded for what I had if he liked my selection.

We were both tall and lanky so we saw eye to eye on a lot of perspectives. He was usually happy and had a big smile on his face. I remember him telling stories about growing up in Hamtramck and the Detroit area. I still remember his vow that he was going to make it back home alive and getting out of SVN and counting the days.

His face and voice will always be permanently etched in my mind, and that memory will never fail. I still remember the last scene of seeing him alive that day. I lost a very close friend that day and cried a lot the next day. We were all devastated by his death. He will never be forgotten. The portable “Wall” has been to Boise twice, and each time I find his name on the wall, and I remember.

Mike, thank you for developing the memorial to Frank at the DAV Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Angel Fire, NM so that he will always be remembered. I know his family doesn’t know how close we became and the depth of my grief. After 37 years it still hurts. When you are at his memorial, tell him, ‘I’m sorry. Friends are friends forever, and we will see each other again. We had a good time together. I hope you still like pound cake and peaches. Love, Denny.”’

These are Larry Mitchell’s remembrances, ““This seems like a small thing, but in Vietnam where a pair of dry socks was more valuable than tickets to the theatre, it meant a lot. No one ever got enough sleep, and when you got a chance you wanted to get as much as you could. The Army issued some pretty nice mosquito nets that you could slip over your head at night and improve the quality of sleep tremendously. The problem was that the stiff circular frame (probably 10" diameter) made the thing difficult to stow away and carry the next day. Frank had some experience in a machine shop where someone showed him how to fold up a band saw blade into 3 small, neat concentric circles for storage. He immediately applied this to the mosquito net, and it folded up pocket sized. He showed me how to do it, and I showed everybody I could. It transformed a marginal piece of gear into an absolute luxury.”

Frank and I shared a foxhole during a mortar and ground attack at Bo Tuc during the week before Christmas, 1967. We had to keep watch over the area in front of our position due to the ground attack, but we had to get down in the hole when mortars were dropping nearby. I noticed Frank ducking down, so I would follow. Sure enough, a mortar would go off nearby. He explained that he could hear them dropping, and get down just in time. After a bit, I was able to hear them as well. No one had ever told me that before. The next morning our gear outside the foxhole was riddled from shrapnel from the mortars. Had Frank not gotten us down at the right time and taught me how to do it, I probably would be telling a much different story right now, if at all. Frank had a sharp mind, and it served him and his friends well.”

My contribution was the remembrances I shared earlier in this story, the research I did and the memorial program that follows. The program is a one page 8 ½” X 11” piece of paper, folded over so you have 4 pages – front back and two pages in the middle.

Right side is the front and the left side is the back of the program.

Top and bottom of above are pages 2 and 3 respectively.

The Smyk’s followed a parallel path to the Westphall’s without them even knowing of the existence of each other or the contribution that they were each making to their fallen sons. The Westphall’s built a Memorial to Victor David Westphall III in Angel Fire, New Mexico with the $10,000 GI insurance policy paid for upon his death in combat. And, the Smyk’s used the $10,000 GI insurance policy paid for the death of their son in combat to build and run for 35+ years a resort they named after their fallen son called Frankie’s Modern Resort in Houghton Lake, Michigan. Both of these were fitting memorials to their respective sons that made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

So, 37 years after his death, with the moral support from Larry Mitchell and Dennis Wagner along with their memories and photos, I visited Angel Fire with the companionship of Linda Gregory as a witness to this august gathering, and provided a fitting memorial to our friend, comrade-in-arms and Brother-in-Christ Frank Barth Smyk, thus laying to rest the haunting need to do something to remember Frankie. Now, marking a milestone of 40 years after Frankie’s passing, we remember him again with these words of love and respect.

Frank Barth Smyk’s tombstone at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan

AVE ATQUE VALE, Frankie!

Finally, I will go to Angel Fire to the Vietnam Veterans National Memorial in New Mexico to remember Frankie again, on this, the 40^th anniversary of his passing from our lives. I will say a prayer for him and our other lost, but not forgotten, brothers and comrades-in-arms in the Peace Chapel on the mountaintop of the former Val Verde Ranch of the Westphall’s at the end of the switchback descent into the Moreno Valley. Beautiful, indeed!

DETROIT'SOUL has kinsmen in the Southwest...

2007-02-02T18:25:00.000-05:00

The DETROIT’SOUL moves outside of the bounds of Detroit to the Southwest to a place along the Santa Fe Trail to a little crossroads called Pecos, New Mexico. This is where a Polish immigrant by the name of Martin Kozlowski arrived in 1846 and opened a stage stop along the Trail. Another bit of history was played out at Martin Koslowski’s stage stop during the American Civil War. The Battle of Glorieta Pass which took place a few miles west of Koslowski’s in March of 1862. Colonel John P. Slough the commander of Union Forces used Koslowski’s Ranch as the Union headquarters.

Looking through this gated window frame into the compound of Koslowski's stage stop along the Santa Fe Trail.

The front entrance where customers unloaded from the Stagecoaches on their way to thier to southwest towns and destinations.

Santa Fe Trail marker outside of the front door of Martin Koslowski's stage stop.

Historic Stagecoach Stop and Trading Post along the Santa Fe Trail.

2007...

2007-01-01T00:32:00.000-05:00

Szczesliwego Nowego Roku or Happy New Year!

Politics, dancing and Pierogies

2006-12-29T02:56:00.000-05:00

There are two things that Poles like their politics and their dancing. They like their politics like their dancing – fast and passionate. The politics in the Polish Community is replete with rough and tumble political races with lots of fast activity and mud slinging. You had to move fast and think on your feet because your opponent was going to be coming after you full-speed ahead. Almost like a Polka Dance with fast movements with sharp curves. Both politics and dancing in the Polish Community got the heart beating very rapidly with sweat beads forming on the brow.

Here’s a great example of the politics and dancing working hand-in-hand. The Young Men’s Democratic Club endorses P.C. Jezewski for Mayor for the City of Hamtramck. The YMDC sponsors a dance on Sat., Feb. 20, 1932 at the Metropolitan Hall in the heart of the Polish Community in Hamtramck at the corner of Jos. Campau and Evaline. The dance features the Michigan Stompers – if that’s not a heart pumping name I’ll eat your Pierogies at the corner of Campau and Holbrook! The doors open at 7:30 P.M. with dancing till?? Sounds like a great night of dancing and politics to me.

Assimilation, abandonment and ghosts...

2006-12-28T02:09:00.000-05:00

St. Stanislaus Polish Roman Catholic Church was/is located at Dubois Street and Medbury Avenue in the Polish enclave on the east side of Detroit. The year 1898 marked the commencement of the founding of the parish. Bishop Foley founded the parish and appointed Rev. F.G. Zella to its rectorship. As of 1910 the parish built a parochial school attached to the parish that could readily accommodate one thousand pupils. As of that date the enrollment was eight-hundred and fifteen children under the tutelage of the Felician Sisters from the Motherhouse at St. Aubin and Canfield Sts. (Fremont St. at that time.)

Rev. F.G. Zella was identified with the church from its inception until the date of the 1910 survey and beyond. He received his early education in the Detroit College (Later to become the University of Detroit.) and his theological and philosophical training at St Francis' Seminary in Milwaukee. He was ordained by Bishop Foley in 1893. In his parochial work he is assisted by Rev. N.W. Zbranice.

There was much hustle and bustle around this church and school from its inception until its sad closing in 1989. I had many friends that attended this school. I attended the high school graduation ceremony on June 21, 1961 which was a big event for me in many ways in my young life that has continued to have repercussion in my life to this very day.

Now, all that is left is memories and ghosts of those persons that past this way into life and on into eternity. I was casually perusing ebay when I came across these pews up for auction from St. Stanislaus Polish Roman Catholic Church. They’ve been relegated to the dustbin of history or more correctly to someone’s garage to be sold on ebay.

It is sad to see the Polish Community become dismantled right before my eyes. I look at the churches in Europe and so many of them have lasted for hundreds of years and in fact are still active parishes. I lived in Texas for many years and toured the Missions of San Antonio where they are all over four-hundred years old and are still active parishes with vibrant ethnic communities. Why can’t we do this in Polish Detroit, too? I think the answer is assimilation and abandonment of the “old neighborhoods”, the curse of continuity, history and culture!

Marching Poles...

2006-12-27T03:17:00.000-05:00

The Poles loved a good parade and never missed an opportunity to get a marching band out to strut their stuff and get everybody worked up into a patriotic frenzy both American and/or Polish. Look close you may find one of your Polish uncles, cousins, fathers, brothers or what have you in this vintage photo of this Polish Legion of American Veterans State Corps Marching Band from Detroit, Michigan. And, if you look closely at the bottom right hand side of the photo you will see that the photo was made by Hoffman Studios which was an institution in the Polish neighborhood for weddings, baptismals, 1^st Holy Communions and other important events in the lives of the Polish immigrants.

I remember...

2006-12-24T23:46:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve of 1949 would make this photo 57 years old and there I am with my Hopalong Cassidy shirt on with my cousin. Our traditional 12-course Polish Wigilia dinner served on Christmas Eve didn’t vary much from year to year, but it was always meatless and usually included gefilte fish which as far as I remember only my grandmother ate. We figured this was proof enough that she wasn’t Polish Catholic but a Polish Jew! The dinner included cucumber, onion and sour cream salad; herring in sour cream and sweet vinegar sauce; hearty rye and pumpernickel breads; peirogi with sauerkraut, potato, cheese and fruit; carp when we could; and, sweets such as the following: dried fruit; kutia, a treat made from wheat, poppy seed, honey and almonds; poppy seed or honey cakes or strudel; rolls or bread.

The first thing is the tradition of sharing the Wafer (Oplatek) - Before beginning to eat. My grandmother and grandfather would begin the tradition by breaking and sharing of the Oplatek – a thin wafer (similar to communion host). They would face one another, then brake and share a part of the other's wafer. They wished each other fulfillment of their wishes. Then each one of my family members would brake and share the Oplatek with each other family member present.

Later in the night would be Pasterka or Midnight Mass but when I was little I couldn’t keep my eyes open past 10:00 P.M. Tonight I remember all those Polish relatives of mine that I shared Christmas Eve with that are no longer with me.

Saturday House Cleaning -- Polish Style...

2006-12-24T02:01:00.000-05:00

The Polish people are people of great faith and for the most part they are part of the Roman Catholic Church. This home is located at 9801 Winfield in Hamtramck, Michigan more specifically it is located at the SW corner of Winfield and Evaline Sts. And, it is directly west of Zussman Park named for 2^nd Lt. Raymond Zussman, Medal of Honor recipient born in Hamtramck, Michigan and entering the service at Detroit, Michigan killed in action on September 12, 1944 at Noroy le Bourg, France during a heroic action commanding two tanks and an infantry against a superior number of enemy Germans. Which in turn is directly west of Hamtramck City Hall that was built as Hamtramck Municipal Hospital later changed St. Francis Hospital.

This particular house doesn’t have one Blessed Mother on its porch. They have two Virgin Mary’s attesting to their faith. And, if you will notice that this house is well taken care of and neat and clean. While I was growing up in my predominately Polish neighborhood, we did have one Russian Lady that lived on the corner and we called her “the Russian Lady”, Saturdays were the day to clean the house on the outside. Everyone, even “the Russian Lady” cleaned their house on the outside in a ritualized manner because everyone was watching and you wanted to make sure your house was as clean as everyone else’s house.

The way it started was that you would get the step ladder, garden hose, a pail with soapy water in it and a broom. You would hose the whole front of the house from the top of the peak all the way down to the sidewalk. Then you would put the step ladder in front of the house and with the soapy water and broom you would start scrubbing the entire front of the house from the second floor on down to the first floor making sure to get the windows extra clean. Then you would go onto the porch with another pail of soapy water and do the same thing except you would clean the front of the porch along with the floor and take it all the way down the steps clean and scrubbing with that broom full of soapy water.

But, that wasn’t it because then you would take a third bucket of soapy water and scrub the sidewalk from the bottom of the porch stairs, down to the main sidewalk and the entire front sidewalk all the way down through the little patch of sidewalk that went from the main sidewalk down to the street. Now, you were all done with the cleaning and scrubbing. All that was left was the rinsing of the soap with the hose and I found this the most fun and satisfying because you could see all the dirt just rinse away. And, that was the Saturday Morning house cleaning ritual. Those were good day! I wonder what “the Russian Lady’s” real name was?

8th State Convention of the P.L.A.V....

2006-12-23T03:10:00.000-05:00

Polish-Americans are very sociable people that love to associate in fraternal organizations. There’s nothing like taking up the pluralistic notion of getting together for common interests – as American as Apple Pie! So, here’s an example of the Polish Legion of the American Veterans and Ladies Legion or P.L.V.A. conducting their 8^th State Convention in Hamtramck, Michigan on August 27-28, 1938.

The cover of the program melds American with Polish Patriotism together in a natural brew of unity and solidarity. First of all the colors red, white and blue stir up the emotions of the red, white and blue American Flag and the red and white Polish flag. There’s Lady Liberty carrying the American standard in one hand and a flaming torch symbolizing liberty in the other hand. Kneeling next to Lady Liberty is a American Doughboy with a rifle with an attached bayonet representing the veterans that the convention is representing.

In the bottom right and corner is the emblem of the Polish Legion of American Veterans with the eagle perched on top of the defensive shield framed by an olive wreath interspersed by a pentagon star. To the right of Lady Liberty is an information block punctuated by a quill used by a scribe to record for posterity what transpired at this convention. All of this sits on one of the most important yet sublime symbols on this cover. A winged shield surrounding two unobtrusive letters U P standing for a United Poland – the dream of Poles the world over for hundreds of years.

History and continuity...

2006-12-21T22:47:00.000-05:00

Our Lady Help of Christians Polish Roman Catholic Church in Detroit, Michigan conducted its final Mass on October 29, 2006. The reason for this is that the Archdiocese of Detroit decided to close down this Parish. The Archdiocese also decided to sell the OLHC Church Complex to the Muslim Community of Michigan. It was a money for real estate transaction pure and simple. As I said in an earlier post the farther away from the grass roots of the Parish the farther you get from the real purpose of the church. A Black Church

on the next street over, on the NE corner of Mitchell and Halleck Sts. wanted to buy the Our Lady Help of Christians Church Complex but they didn’t have the “Benjamin’s” to buy the complex.

The good news in all of this bad news was that Fr. George A. Rutkowski, the last pastor of OLHC, found a needy church in Poland to donate all of the statues, relics, pews, furnishings and icons associated with the 83 years of this venerable old church. The good Fr. Swierad Pettke, CCG, Pastor of Our Lady of Fatima in the region of Włocławek in Plocka, Poland is going to take charge of all these items for his Parish. The photo includes Fr. George A. Rutkowski in the back, center and in the right back is Fr. Swierad Pettke, CCG.

Immaculate Conception Polish Roman Catholic Church...

2006-12-19T01:15:00.000-05:00

This is where it all started in the U.S.A. at Immaculate Conception Polish Roman Catholic Church in Panna Maria (Virgin Mary), Texas established in 1854. The first Mass was held at midnight on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1854 under the oak tree showing in the picture. This Christmas Eve it will be the 152nd Anniversary of that first Mass by the first Polish immagrants to this country.

Queen of Apostles...

2006-12-17T19:40:00.000-05:00

This is Our Lady Queen of Apostles Polish Roman Catholic Church located at 3851 Prescott and Conant Sts. in Hamtramck, MI. This photograph is of the mosaic mural depicting the Queen of Apostles, designed and executed by Pietro Cantu, Arta Musiva, Milan, Italy after a mural by Adam Styka, Poland’s great artist.

Patriotic Polish-Americans in Fraternal Association…

2006-12-17T01:58:00.000-05:00

Post 1 P.L.A.V. is the Polish Legion of American Veterans located at 3105 Holbrook St. in Hamtramck, MI. Poles have volunteered because of their patriotic commitment to their new country for every war the U.S. has been involved in and have distinguished themselves valorously and intrepidly. This is one of the veterans organizations they have organized for their natural desire to associate with each other fraternally.

This is the way they have organized and laid out their charter:

Mission Statement

The Polish Legion of American Veterans is an organization of veterans whose membership shall not be discriminatory on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin.

Commitment

We are committed to the ideals of patriotism, charity and volunteerism through allegiance to our Country, honor of our Country's standards and aid in the rehabilitation of disabled veterans.

Goal

Our goal is to dedicate time and effort to insure that no benefits are denied to those who served their country and to support legislation intended for those who earned the right to the benefits being considered.

I am very proud of this Polish-American Veterans organization and the principles it stands for.

The Felicians...

2006-12-16T03:04:00.000-05:00

Some of those important people that made up Our Lady Help of Christian Polish Roman Catholic Church were the Felician Nuns that were the cornerstone of the Parochial School Education in the Polish neighborhoods. You hear all kinds of bad stories about Nuns but let me tell you for the most part they were dedicated and sweet educators. Now, you did have some that were pretty tough but then again they needed to be to deal with some of the scrappy student body. I always contended that they gave us some of the best education anytime, anywhere. Now a day’s people complain when there are 30 or 35 students in a classroom. Some of the class sizes the Nuns had to deal with on a regular basis was 60 to 65 students.

Solemn and Sad Final Mass...

2006-12-15T01:48:00.000-05:00

It was a beautiful, yet solemn Final Mass at Our Lady Help of Christians Polish Roman Catholic Church. The church was packed with a standing room only crowd of parishioners just like back in the “old days” for Sunday Mass. Even before the Mass started there wasn’t a dry eye in the house and as the service wound its way to the conclusion the outpouring of sadness and grief was heard throughout the church. The saying, “The Smallest Parish with The Biggest Heart” was beating very audibly and reverberating throughout the hallowed walls of this holy place. The author was just as caught up in the emotion along with everyone else in this ceremonial final service of this living entity.

Death of a Polish Roman Catholic Parish...

2006-12-14T02:04:00.000-05:00

On October 29, 2006 Our Lady Help of Christians Polish Roman Catholic Church conducted their last Mass in the 83 year history of the Parish. It was a sad day for all those that attended this solemn Mass. Many, including this author’s, whole early years revolved around this Polish Catholic Church. It was and is a loss that is incalculable by those of us who have lived to see this day. This event will require many photos and many words but none of it will change what has taken place. The best that can be garnered by the facts may help work through a lifetime of feelings over this loss. More, much more, later!

The Polish Tribe...

2006-12-09T23:48:00.000-05:00

Is the loss of the identity of our own tribe the price we have to pay for assimilation? Are we drops of Polish water that will get consumed by the ocean of the American Tribe? Is this in our best interest or is this just another case of being put under the boot of domination not by the Russians or Germans this time but by the Americans? When we maintained our pure Polish heritage we were kings among the kingdoms of the world. On September 12, 1683 Jan Sobieski insured that the countries of Europe would maintain their own individual identities and not speak Turkish or submit to the Moslem religion or rule. I say that we need to hold onto our identity with the strength of both hands and will in our hearts!

Poles with faces but no names...

2006-12-09T00:52:00.000-05:00

I bought this photo of this wedding party on ebay sometime ago. I bought it because the studio was M. Derkach Art Studio at 11352 Jos. Campau Ave, Hamtramck, Mich. And, I knew that this studio did many of the Polish weddings, 1st Holy Communions, high school graduations and what have you in the Polish Community. I don't know who the people are but I think it would be a safe bet to say they are Poles. It's one teeny-tinny slice of Detroit Polish history with no names or any story to go along with the picture. So, I thought I would share it with you and maybe somebody out there will see this and maybe know who the people are and share some of their story with us. Do you know these people? If you do go down to the commenst section and leave me some information about who these people are and a little about their lives.

The passing of a Polish Prince of the Roman Church..

2006-12-07T01:03:00.000-05:00

Here is a regal resting place for a prince of St. Albertus, the 1^st Polish Roman Catholic Church in Detroit, Rev. Dominic Kolasinski beloved by many and reviled by the church hierarchy and opposing detractors. Fr. Kolasinski was a lightening rod in the Polish community that elevated the Polish Settlement to a public spectacle in the City of Detroit during many turbulent years. His death on Easter Monday, April 11^th, 1898 attracted 18% of the entire population of the City of Detroit to his funeral on April 13, 1898 an unprecedented gathering of people for anyone at anytime in history of the city.

Polish Priest and Prince...

2006-12-05T23:35:00.000-05:00

The most Rev. Dominic Kolasinski was maybe the most influential and important Polish priest to tend his flock in the east-side Polonia of Detroit but if he wasn't he was certainly the most controversial. He was the priest that built the magnificent edifice that is the current St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church, the 1^st Polish Roman Catholic Church in the city of Detroit. Later, he built Sweetest Heart of Mary, the almost equally magnificent Polish Roman Catholic Church that use to be three (3) blocks west of St. Albertus on the same E. Canfield St. but since Riopelle St. was eliminated at Canfield it’s only two (2) blocks, now. Photo courtesy of the book DETROIT'S OLDEST POLISH PARISH: ST. ALBERTUS 1872-1973 CENTENNIAL.

2nd Polish Roman Catholic Church in Detroit...

2006-12-02T01:31:00.000-05:00

St. Casimir Polish Roman Catholic Church was the 2^nd Polish Roman Catholic Church in the city of Detroit taking some 100 families from St. Albertus Parish in its trek to the west-side. It became the linchpin of the west-side Polonia located at Myrtle and Twenty-third Streets now known as Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and 23^rd St. The original edifice was a magnificent structure as seen in the photo courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library. This beautiful place of worship was replaced some years later by this, might we say, modern structure below that still more years later was sold to the Clinton Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church in October of 1989.

One of the Eastside Detroit Polonia Trinity...

2006-11-30T18:07:00.000-05:00

St. Josaphat is one of the Holy Trinity of Polish Roman Catholic Churches that graces E. Canfield Ave., formerly Fremont Ave., in the heart of the Eastside Detroit Polonia. This late Victorian Romanesque style of church also includes some gothic and Baroque details and features. But, the astounding thing is that this church was built by immigrant Polish peasants that lived on a steady diet of coarse black bread, blood-sausages, potatoes, cabbage and kindred vegetables. The only desire these humble peasants had was to own their own church, in which the pastor could address them in their own tongue, in which they could sing songs of their homeland, and in their own way take comfort from their Holy faith. These peasants accepted any difficulty and endured any sacrifice when the gratification of their heartfelt desire was met in their Mother Tongue.

Detroit'Soul

John Krasinski and Emily Blunt Exchange Vows July 10, 2010 in Italy...

The Three Grand Polish Churches of Canfield St.

To Nie Ptak

Davison Gang Reunion

Good Hearted Polish People from Hamtramck, MI

English Poems Claimed by the Polish Heart

My Favorite Polish Poem

Recipe for Polish Easter Soup...

Polish Easter Soup

East is East and West is West – Or Is It?, Part II

The Shepherds of the Polish Flock And Their Beautiful Temples of Worship

East is East and West is West – Or Is It?

The Poletown Struggle for Survival against "the powers that be".

St. Albert's Roman Catholic Church.

"Dom Polski: Dance Hall Days of Detroit's Polonia" deleted from the DY Forum.

A Presentation of the Detroit Institute of Arts at Historic St. Albertus.

St. Hyacinth Polish Roman Catholic Church another of the magnificent "palaces of prayer" in the Eastside Detroit Polonia.

St. Hyacinth Polish Roman Catholic Church an of the magnificent "houses of prayer" in the Eastside Detroit Polonia.

St. Hyacinth Polish Roman Catholic Church another of the marvelous awe inspiring "Palaces of Prayer on the Eastside Detroit Polonia.

St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church's "foot print" 1884...

Lively Americans: The U.S. Poles

St. Francis D' Assisi Polish Roman Catholic Church...

Traditional Polish Folk Dance and its Importance to the Growth and Continuity of the Detroit Polonia.

Detroit's Polish Pioneers and Their Remarkable Progress ~~ The Detroit Free Press ~~ Sunday, June 3, 1906

St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church and the history and Pastorate of Fr. Francis A. Mueller .

St. John Cantius Has Passed Into the History of the Polish Roman Catholic Village of Delrey in Detroit, Michigan!

St. John Cantius Has Passed Into the History of the Polish Roman Village of Delrey in Detroit, Michigan!

Fr. Mueller...

Mr. Ski on E. Canfield...

Mr. Ski on E. Canfield...

Detroit Cornice & Slate repairs St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic church's roof

St. Albertus Polish Roman Catholic Church roof attacked by scrappers

Immaculate Conception Church is the Mother Church of All Polish Roman Catholic Churches in the U.S.

St. Albertus Fest 2008

Frank Smyk Remembered 40 years later January 5, 1968 -- January 5, 2008 © by Mike Sadaj

DETROIT'SOUL has kinsmen in the Southwest...

2007...

Politics, dancing and Pierogies

Assimilation, abandonment and ghosts...

Marching Poles...

I remember...

Saturday House Cleaning -- Polish Style...

8th State Convention of the P.L.A.V....

History and continuity...

Immaculate Conception Polish Roman Catholic Church...

Queen of Apostles...

Patriotic Polish-Americans in Fraternal Association…

Mission Statement

Commitment

The Felicians...

Solemn and Sad Final Mass...

Death of a Polish Roman Catholic Parish...

The Polish Tribe...

Poles with faces but no names...

The passing of a Polish Prince of the Roman Church..

Polish Priest and Prince...

2nd Polish Roman Catholic Church in Detroit...

One of the Eastside Detroit Polonia Trinity...

Detroit's Polish Pioneers and Their Remarkable Progress The Detroit Free Press Sunday, June 3, 1906