[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]
- 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]
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]
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] Oh, have you ever been in that beautiful cathedral
on Highway 51?" [laughs]
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]
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!