St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church, the Polish mother parish of Cleveland, Ohio was created in 1873 by Bishop Gilmour of the Cleveland Diocese. The Parish was established to meet the religious needs of an increasing number of polish immigrants residing in Cleveland. During the first nine years of its existence the parish lacked a permanent location and pastor. It met in several locations and was ministered to principally by Fr. Victor Zareczny of the Polish parish of St. Adalbert in Berea, Ohio.
By 1880 the Polish population of Cleveland had increased substantially and necessitated the construction of a permanent edifice for the parish. The site chosen for the first, wooden church-building and school was at Tod (East 65th) Street and Forman Avenue. This location was at the center of the first Polish neighborhood in Cleveland which was then developing in response to job opportunities at the Newburgh Rolling Mills nearby.
After the completion of the church building, the parish received its first permanent pastor Fr. Anton Kolaszewski established a broad reputation as the community's spiritual and temporal leader. Through his efforts, a second Polish Catholic parish, Sacred Heart of Jesus, was established in 1889 to serve the members of St. Stanislaus who lived too far south of the parish to use the original facilities conveniently.
As Polish immigration to Cleveland increased, St. Stanislaus parish increased in size also. Its first wooden structure soon became inadequate and Fr. Kolaszewski drew up plans for a larger building. The building, which was completed in 1891 at a cost of $250,000 was, at that time, the largest church structure in Cleveland.
The debt incurred in building this church, along with certain of his other activities, placed Fr. Kolaszewski in disfavor with a number of his parishioners, Their displeasure and subsequent agitation resulted in his removal from the parish early in 1892. He was assigned to a church in Syracuse, New York, but returned to Cleveland in 1894 -- against diocesan orders -- to found a schismatic parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary, several blocks away from St. Stanislaus. Fr. Kolaszewski and the parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were reconciled with the Diocese of Cleveland in 1908.
After Fr. Kolaszewski's removal, St. Stanislaus parish was pastored by Fr. Benedict Rosinski until 1906. At that time, he too, fell into disfavor with a portion of the congregation. In order to save the parish from another divisiveness, Bishop Ignatius Horstman requested the Franciscan fathers of the American Province of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Teutopolis, Missouri to take over the administration of the parish, under whose control it has remained.
The Parish achieved tremendous growth in the post-1906 era, occasioned primarily by a massive influx of Poles into Cleveland in the pre-World War I era. By 1910 it had a membership of 1500 families, the largest of any church in the diocese. The present century has seen the parish undertake a number of building programs including: the construction of two new school buildings in 1906 and 1922, a rectory in 1911 and a new recreation hall in 1961.
The construction of the recreation hall represented the parish's commitment to serve its community at a time when the nature of that community was changing drastically. The change was characterized by a loss of Polish identity as many first-generation immigrants died and their children and grandchildren left the neighborhood. Evidence of this change was most apparent in the operation of the parish's school.
Begun in 1882, the St. Stanislaus school was given the responsibility of not only educating the children of the parishioners, but maintaining Polish culture and traditions in succeeding generations. By the turn of the century the school had expanded greatly, and in the early years of the century, again expanded its operations to include a high school -- this at a time when most parish schools taught only to the eighth grade. However, declining school enrollment at St. Stanislaus, and three other parochial high schools in the 1950s and 1960s forced their merger into a single unit, Cleveland Central Catholic High School.
Similarly, the Polish nature of the church has changed with the alteration of the neighborhood population-pattern. Many parishioners are no longer of Polish descent, and the liturgy is celebrated primarily in English. However, the church is still very conscious of its central position in the history of the Poles in Cleveland, and makes every effort to see that its structure and history are maintained.
The St. Stanislaus Church Photographs, ca. 1905-1960, consist of photographs of interior and exterior views of St. Stanislaus Church, Cleveland, Ohio. Included are portraits of various pastors, brothers, and members of the congregation. The collection includes 29 black and white and color photographs that measure 10 x 14 inches and smaller.
This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of the Polish immigrant community, religion, and the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, in the first half of the twentieth century.
The collection is arranged by subject.
The researcher should also consult MS 3657 St. Stanislaus Church Records.
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] PG 143 St. Stanislaus Church Photographs, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
These photographs were removed from MS 3657 St. Stanislaus Church Records. Gift of St. Stanislaus Parish in 1976.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.