St. Joseph's Polish Immigrant Community

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Initially, the Polish immigrants to St. Joseph, who were overwhelmingly Catholic, attended services at the Immaculate Conception Church at 501 S. 10th St.. They were dissatisfied with the German-language liturgy and so in 1906 they purchased land at 20th and Messanie Streets facing Warsaw Street and built the “Polish Church,” Saints Peter and Paul.

2. Immaculate Conception

In the 1870s, a large community of German Catholics called St. Joseph home. They formed the Immaculate Conception Parish and a substantial complex of four structures were built on South 10th Street. As the newer immigrants came to the city from Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe, initially they worshipped at Immaculate Conception. But they became dissatisfied with the German-language services and formed their own parish of SS. Peter and Paul on Messanie Street. When SS. Peter and Paul was closed in 1978; the alters from that church were installed at Immaculate Conception.

3. St. Stanislaus Church

In the 19teens the Southside of St. Joseph was home to a large Polish-speaking community. These families wanted their own church and school. They built their new church at 515 Alabama and named the parish after St. Stanislaus, the Polish bishop-martyr. For several decades St. Stanislaus was an important center for the Polish community. By the 1970s, the Polish population has disbursed throughout the city and the church was sold.

4. Packing House District

From the earliest days of St. Joseph history, meat packing has been an important component of the local economy. Many of the Polish immigrants worked in the packing houses. The district has a rich, and sometimes tragic history, marked by hard work and unspeakable tragedy. The Polish community was at the heart of this history. In May 1930, the Armour Packing House was ripped apart by an explosion killing 19 workers including Frank Wieczorek, the 40-year-old son of Polish immigrants. During the hey-day of the meat-packing industry in St. Joseph, many of the Polish workers lived in the modest residential neighborhoods surrounding the district creating a tight-knight community. As the plants closed, much of the unique character of the Polish district was lost.

5. Mount Olivet Cemetery

Though the Polish community built their own church at SS. Peter and Paul rather than continue to worship in German at Immaculate Conception, that sense of separateness did not extend to where they buried their dead. Initially they used Calvary Cemetery and when that closed, they buried at Mt. Olivet.

6. Goosetown

The Polish community was centered largely in the Goosetown neighborhood. For the Poles, the primary street was Warsaw Street. Most of the Polish community worked either in the packing houses of South St. Joseph or at Devil’s Backbone, a substantial brickyard located behind St. Patrick’s Church. Others made their livings in the garment factories in downtown. For those who worked in the Southside, transportation from the Goosetown neighborhood to work was difficult. Though there were streetcars running down Messanie Street to the packing house district, most of these workers could not afford to ride them. This prompted some of them to move further south to be closer to their jobs. They established St. Stanislaus Church. The move to the Southside marked the end of the ethnically homogenous community; once there they began to intermarry with the many other groups who lived and worked in that part of St. Joseph.

7. Marek's Deli

Every town has its iconic dishes; the food that is unique to the place and reflects its particular character. The Torpedo Sandwich from Marek’s Deli is one of those dishes for St. Joseph, MO. Marek’s Deli has been a staple in the Southside since Polish immigrants John and Frances Marek opened their neighborhood grocery store in 1919. It is now in a new location but remains a family business.

This Tour is a Thematic Tour or Heritage Trail.

St. Joseph's Polish Immigrant Community

Created by Kim Schutte on July 14th 2022, 7:50:19 pm.

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Between 1850 and 1920 huge numbers of people left Eastern Europe and came to the United States. This migration was fueled by the bottomless demand for cheap, unskilled labor in the emerging industrial cities – including St. Joseph, Missouri. Many of these immigrants came to the Midwest and found work in the packing houses. Like most of the Midwestern industrial cities, St. Joseph had a diverse population; one of the largest groups were Polish and Ukrainian Catholics.

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St. Joseph's Polish Immigrant Community

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