church bells ringing
Polish waltz music
Narrator
In 1976, the community of Stevens Point welcomed a Polish cardinal to their city.
Waclaw Soroka
This is my distinct privilege, pleasure, and honor to introduce to you His Eminence, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla.
applause
Waclaw Soroka
Narrator The visit of the future Pope John Paul II shone a spotlight on the rich Polish heritage of the Stevens Point area, a heritage that began in the 1800s with the arrival of Michael and Frances Koziczkowski and their nine children.
Polish waltz music
Anton Anday
Michael Koziczkowski was a member of the minor nobility in Poland. He will come to the United States in 1857. He will be the first Polish settler in Stevens Point.
Ron Zimmerman
He spoke German well, so he could settle with the Germans and feel quite at home. He wrote letters home and convinced a number of his Polish neighbors to move to central Wisconsin.
Audry Somers
Wisconsin, everything from one end to the other, is like little Poland, in the seasons, in the topography, and everything about it. What they left behind, they found in Wisconsin.
Narrator
The opportunity to own land and to find jobs began a steady migration of families from what is now Northwest Poland, with a large majority of people coming from the Kashubian region. Many Polish tradesmen found work in Stevens Point and settled on the north side. The city would eventually become home to the largest per capita population of Polish Americans in the country. At the turn of the 20th century, more than one-third of Portage County would be of Polish descent, creating the largest rural Polish population in the state.
Polish waltz music
Narrator
Most of the farmers that came weren't able to buy land back home and had to work for the local landowners. But in the Stevens Point area, they could pursue their dream of buying a farm of their own, even if it wasn't on the best land.
Audrey Somers
When the Poles came here, the Yankees or even the Germans and Irish had already purchased or got the best land.
Ron Zimmerman
The land was full of boulders and forested.
Audrey Somers
To be able to make it productive was a challenge. The whole family would work. They were all out in the fields.
Anton Anday
When they came over here, they started with potatoes. Winter wheat was grown a lot. You had large, large vegetable gardens that they sold on the public square.
upbeat waltz music
Audrey Somers
The market square was a place not only to gather and sell produce, but a social life. So, the square was a very important part of life for the Polish people.
Anton Anday
They come here for new opportunities. And at the same time, they want to maintain their heritage. They want to maintain their culture. And so, they congregate around the only institution which they trust, the Roman Catholic Church.
ethereal worship singing
Narrator
With the church at the heart of their heritage and culture, Polish communities devoted their time, labor, and resources to constructing their own houses of worship. In 1871, Father Joseph Dabrowski moved his parish in Ellis, away from the rowdy saloons there, to a new site he called Polonia. Eventually taking the name Sacred Heart, it would grow to become the largest rural Catholic parish in Wisconsin.
Anton Anday
Father Dabrowski also was very much involved in education. He got the Felician Sisters to come over here, newly found order in Poland, in Krakow, and brought five nuns over here to teach the Polish children.
Audrey Somers
These are the sisters that taught the schools. They were very disciplined, very thorough in their teaching. If you went to a Polish school, you got an education.
ethereal worship singing
Narrator
In Stevens Point, a new order of Polish sisters began training nuns to teach in Catholic schools. The Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of Saint Francis would go on to serve throughout the country.
bright guitar music
Narrator
The religious devotion of Polish farm families is also seen in the many shrines constructed throughout the countryside.
Anton Anday
The roadside shrines is part of the Polish culture in Poland that was brought to the United States.
Audrey Somers
It was a way of connecting with their spiritual soul. Because the church was perhaps miles away, they could not attend.
mellow guitar music
Narrator
Craftsmanship and devotion is evident throughout the churches of the community. After a devastating fire destroyed St. Peter's Church, congregants came together to raise funds and rebuild. Local wood manufacturer John Bukolt donated supplies and tools for his workers to create an impressive high altar.
Dorothy Zmuda
My pa helped build the alters. Lullabye let them use all the tools. They spent many hours there. And when I went to work in Milwaukee, and I said I lived at Stevens Point, the people that were talking to me said, "
gasps
Dorothy Zmuda
Oh, have you ever been in that beautiful cathedral on Highway 51?"
laughs
Dorothy Zmuda
It was very beautiful.
"The Stevens Point Polka"
jolly music
Narrator
Polish heritage is also conveyed through music, and in Stevens Point, that means polka.
Dorothy Zmuda
Polka was big. It's always big. It's always going to be big.
chuckles
Dorothy Zmuda
Everybody polka'd.
laughs
Audrey Somers
I met my husband at a polka dance. Everybody I know, they met their spouses at a polka dance. When they play the polka From Stevens Point How we laughed
Patti Wolfe
It's amazing to me that the polkas are still so popular, and some of the same old ones we played years ago are still being played.
Dorothy Zmuda
It was just fun to watch them dance. The daddies and mamas with the little kids dancing! And the kids would be flaying around sometimes, and you know that those kids were gonna be dancing to the polka forever.
Audrey Somers
I'm Polish and proud. I love our tradition. I hope it never dies.
jovial polka music
Band leader
Oh, yes, everybody polka!
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