POLISHVILLE – A special guest paid a visit to Jefferson County over the weekend to learn about the little community south of Brighton called Polishville, the destination of Polish immigrants in the 19th century.
The special guest was Consul General of the Polish Consulate in Chicago, Dr. Paweł Zyzak. Zyzak had just visited a group of Polish Americans in Nebraska when he stopped by the Polishville Community Center Sunday afternoon to meet with members of the Polishville Association, tour the museum inside the community center, and visit the adjacent grotto and cemetery.
At the museum, Zyzak learned about the Polish-language church that once stood nearby called St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church that was built in 1882 and burned down in 1971. Stones from the former church were used to construct a grotto devoted to the Virgin Mary that was built at the site of the old church in 1982. At the cemetery, Zyzak saw tombstones with inscriptions in Polish.
Zyzak’s visit to Polishville was made possible by Konrad Sadkowski, a history professor at the University of Northern Iowa who is also a native of Poland. Sadkowski wrote a history of Polishville that was published in the Southeast Iowa Union in March 2023, and that’s how Polishville got on the Polish Consulate’s radar. Sadkowski said a member of the consulate reached out to him to say that Consul General Zyzak would like to visit during his tour of other Polish settlements and meetings with Polish-Americans.
Sadkowski said Polishville is unique in being the only rural settlement of Poles in all of Iowa. The only other known concentration of Polish immigrants was in Sioux City, which saw its Polish community develop after 1905. Sadkowski wrote in his history of Polishville that a small group of perhaps four families were identified as Poles in the 1860 census, and that the number of Polish immigrants steadily increased in the following decades. Sadkowski wrote that a Polish priest who visited in 1881 noted there were 60 Polish families in the area.
Zyzek said it was a treat to visit Polishville because it’s the only place in Iowa where Polish-Americans are well organized and seek to keep their legacy alive.
“They care about monuments of Polish heritage,” Zyzek said of the area’s residents. “They’re a great example, even for Poles living in Chicago, about how to stay active and how to involve younger generations in cherishing Polish-American heritage.”
Zyzek said the efforts of people, like those in the Polishville Association, were especially impressive given how “secluded” the area is, “surrounded by cornfields and encircled by Amish.”
Zyzek said Poles began immigrating to the United States in the 19th century, settling primarily in Wisconsin at first. Later, they spread out to northern Indiana, Illinois and other parts of the Midwest.
“These were economic migrations,” Zyzek said. “Later, in the middle of the 19th century, there was a migration of political refugees, members of the Polish nobility who were fighting with Russians during the November and January uprisings [of 1830-1831].”
Susan Mosinski Hervey was among the local residents who came to greet Zyzek during his visit. Hervey said her great-grandfather and her parents are buried in the Polishville Cemetery, and that’s one of the reasons she feels a strong connection to the area. She’s also the secretary of the Polishville Association.
David Shemanski, vice president of the Polishville Association, mowed the grounds around the cemetery and community center for eight years. Though he himself is from Keota, Shemanski’s father and his family grew up in the Polishville area.
Shemanski said the Polishville Association owes a debt of gratitude to Bill Peck, Theresa Mottet and Caryl Smith, among many others, who were responsible for the Polishville Community Center and keeping the history of Polishville alive.
“When the cemetery was overgrown with weeds, Bill mowed a path to his [sister’s grave] and kept increasing it,” Shemanski said.
Hervey said her great-uncles were the same way, coming to the cemetery to mow a path to her great-grandfather’s grave.
“If you wanted it mowed, you had to come out and mow a path yourself,” she said.
Hervey said the Polishville Cemetery Association began as a fund to allow the cemetery to be maintained in perpetuity. According to Sadkowski’s history of Polishville, that association was founded in 1978 and ushered in a revival of Polishville that continued with the construction of the grotto in 1982, the opening of the Polishville Community Center in 1988 and the addition of the Esther Johanna Peck Museum attached to it in 1995. Until about five years ago, the community center regularly hosted polka dances and bazaars.
“And it wasn’t just Polish people who came here in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s,” Hervey said. “Even though it was called the Polishville Community Center, people of all nationalities came to polka dances, bingos and other events. But it all stemmed from people who were Polish who wanted to make sure the cemetery and grotto were taken care of, and that the history lived on.”
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
