Polish Americans (Polish:Polonia amerykańska) areAmericans who either have total or partialPolish ancestry, or are citizens of theRepublic of Poland. There are an estimated 8.81 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.67% of theU.S. population, according to the 2021American Community Survey conducted by theU.S. Census Bureau.^[2]

Polish Americans

Polonia amerykańska
Americans with Polish ancestry by state according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey in 2019
Total population
Alone (one ancestry) 2,686,326 (2020 census)[1] 0.81% of the total US population Alone or in combination 8,599,601 (2020 census)[1] 2.59% of the total US population
Regions with significant populations
Northeast Midwest California Florida Texas
Languages
English (American English dialects) Polish
Religion
Christianity Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Poles Kashubian Americans Czech Americans Slovak Americans Polish Canadians

The first eight Polish immigrants to British America came to theJamestown colony in 1608, twelve years before thePilgrims arrived inMassachusetts. Two Polish volunteers,Casimir Pulaski andTadeusz Kościuszko, aided the Americans in the Revolutionary War. Casimir Pulaski created and led the Pulaski Legion of cavalry. Tadeusz Kosciuszko designed and oversaw the construction of state-of-the-art fortifications, including those at West Point, New York. Both are remembered as American heroes. Overall, around 2.2 million Poles and Polish subjects immigrated into the United States between 1820 and 1914, chiefly after national insurgencies and famine.^[3] They included former Polish citizens ofRoman Catholic,Protestant,Jewish or other minority descent.

Exact immigration figures are unknown owing to several complicating factors. Many immigrants were classified as "Russian", "German" or "Austrian" by theU.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service as many former territories of Poland were underGerman, Austrian-Hungarian and Russian occupation between the 1790s and the 1910s. Complicating the U.S. Census figures further is the high proportion of Polish Americans who married people of other national descent. In 1940, about 50 percent married other American ethnics and a study in 1988 found that 54% of Polish Americans were of mixed ancestry from three generations or longer. The Polish American Cultural Center places a figure of Americans who have some Polish ancestry at 19–20 million.

In 2000, 667,414 Americans over five years old reportedPolish as the language spoken at home, which is about 1.4% of the census groups who speak a language other than English or 0.25% of the U.S. population.

The history of Polish immigration to the United States can be divided into three stages, beginning with the first stage in the colonial era down to 1870, small numbers of Poles and Polish subjects came to America as individuals or in small family groups, and they quickly assimilated and did not form separate communities, with the exception ofPanna Maria, Texas founded in the 1850s. For instance, Polish settlers known as theJamestown Polish craftsmen came to theVirginia Colony as skilled craftsmen as early as 1608.^[9][10] Some Jews from Poland even assimilated into cities which were Polish (and also other Slavic and sometimes additionally Jewish) bastions to conceal their Jewish identities.^[11]

In the second stage from 1870 to 1914, Poles and Polish subjects formed a significant part of the wave of immigration fromGermany,Imperial Russia, andAustria Hungary. The Poles, particularly Polish Jews, came in family groups, settled in and/or blended into largely Polish neighborhoods and other Slavic bastions, and aspired to earn wages that were higher than what they could earn back in Europe and so many took the ample job opportunities for unskilled manual labor in industry and mining. The main Ethnically-Polish-American organizations were founded because of high Polish interest in theCatholic church,parochial schools, and local community affairs. Relatively few were politically active.

During the third stage from 1914 to present, the United States has seen mass emigration from Poland, and the coming of age of several generations of fully assimilated Polish Americans. Immigration from Poland has continued into the early 2000s and began to decline after Poland had joined the European Union in 2004. The income levels have gone up from well below average, to above average. Poles became active members of the liberalNew Deal Coalition from the 1930s to the 1960s, but since then, many have moved to the suburbs, and have become more conservative and vote less oftenDemocratic.^[12]

Helena Lopata (1976) argues that Poles differed from most other ethnic groups in America in several ways. They did not plan to remain permanently and become "Americanized." Instead, they came temporarily to earn money, invest, and wait for the right opportunity to return. Their intention was to ensure a desirable social status in the old world for themselves. However, many of the temporary migrants decided to become permanent Americans.

Many found manual labor jobs in the coal mines ofPennsylvania and the heavy industries (steel mills, iron foundries, slaughterhouses, oil and sugar refineries), of the Great Lakes cities ofChicago,Pittsburgh,Detroit,Buffalo,Milwaukee,Cleveland, andToledo.

The U.S. Census asked Polish immigrants to specify Polish as their native language beginning in Chicago in 1900, allowing the government to enumerate them as an individual nationality when there was no Polish nation-state.^[19] No distinction is made in the American census betweenethnically Polish Americans and descendants of non-ethnic Poles, such as Jews, who were born in the territory of Poland and considered themselves Polish nationals. Therefore, some say, of the 10 million Polish Americans, only a certain portion are of Polish ethnic descent. On the other hand, many ethnic Poles when entering the US from 1795 to 1917, when Poland did not exist, did not identify themselves as ethnic Poles and instead identified themselves as either German, Austrian or Russian (this pertained to the nations occupying Poland from 1795 to 1917). Therefore, the actual number of Americans of at least partial Polish ancestry, could be well over 10 million. In the 2011 United States Census Bureau's Population Estimates, there are between 9,365,239 and 9,530,571 Americans of Polish descent, with over 500,000 being foreign-born.^[20]

Historically, Polish-Americans have assimilated very quickly to American society. Between 1940 and 1960, only 20 percent of the children of Polish-American ethnic leaders spoke Polish regularly.^[21] In the early 1960s, 3,000 of Detroit's 300,000 Polish-Americans changed their names each year. Language proficiency in Polish is rare in Polish-Americans, as 91.3% speak "English only."^[20] In 1979, the 8 million respondents of Polish ancestry reported that only 41.5 percent had single ancestry, whereas 57.3% of Greeks, 52% of Italians and Sicilians, and 44% of Ukrainians had done so (clarification needed). Polish-Americans tended to marry exogamously in the postwar era in high numbers, and tended to marry within the Catholic population, often to persons of German (17%), Italian (10%), East European (8%), Irish (5%), French (4%), Spanish-speaking (2%), Lithuanian (2%), and English (1%) ancestry.^[22]

Polish-born population in the U.S. since 2010:^[23]

The vast majority of Polish immigrants settled inmetropolitan areas, attracted by jobs in industry. The minority, by some estimates, only ten percent, settled in rural areas.

Historian John Bukowczyk noted that Polish immigrants in America were highly mobile, and 40 to 60 percent were likely to move from any given urban neighborhood within 10 years.^[24] The reasons for this are very individualistic; Bukowczyk's theory is that many immigrants with agricultural backgrounds were eager to migrate because they were finally freed from the local plots of land they had owned in Poland. Others ventured into business and entrepreneurship, and the majority of them opened small retail shops such as bakeries, butcher shops, saloons, and print shops.^[25]

Polish American Heritage Month is an event in October by Polish American communities, first celebrated in 1981.

One of the most notable in size of the urban Polish American communities is inChicago andits surrounding suburbs.Chicago is a city sprawling with Polish culture, billing itself as the largest Polish city outside of Poland, with approximately 185,000Polish speakers,^[26] making Polish the third most spoken language in Chicago. The influence ofChicago's Polish community is demonstrated by the numerous Polish-American organizations: thePolish Museum of America,Polish Roman Catholic Union of America (the oldest Polish American fraternal organization in the United States),Polish American Association,Polish American Congress,Polish National Alliance,Polish Falcons,Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America, and thePolish Genealogical Society of America. In addition,Illinois has more than one million people that are of Polish descent, the third largest ethnic group after theGerman andIrish Americans. The Chicago area has many Polish delis, restaurants, and churches.

Chicago's Polish community was concentrated along the city'sNorthwest andSouthwest Sides, alongMilwaukee andArcher Avenues, respectively. Chicago'sTaste of Polonia festival is celebrated at theCopernicus Foundation, inJefferson Park, everyLabor Day weekend. Nearly 3 million people of Polish descent live in the area between Chicago and Detroit, includingNorthern Indiana, a part of theChicago metropolitan area. The community has played a role as a staunch supporter of the Democratic machine, and has been rewarded with several congressional seats. The leading representative has been CongressmanDan Rostenkowski, one of the most powerful members of Congress (1959 to 1995), especially on issues of taxation, before he went to prison.^[27]

TheNew York metropolitan area, includingBrooklyn inNew York City, andNorth Jersey, is home to the second-largest community of Polish Americans^[28] in the nation, and is now closely behind theChicago metropolitan area's Polish population.Greenpoint,New York in Brooklyn is home to theLittle Poland of New York City, whileWilliamsburg,Maspeth andRidgewood also contain vibrant Polish communities. In 2014, the New York metropolitan area surpassed Chicago as the metropolitan area attracting the most new legal immigrants to the United States from Poland.^[29][30][31]

Linden, New Jersey inUnion County, nearNewark Liberty International Airport, has become heavily first-generation Polish in recent years.^[when?] 15.6% of the residents five years old and above in the city of Linden primarily speak Polish at home and a variety of Polish-speaking establishments may be found by theLinden station, which is a direct line to Manhattan. St. Theresa's Roman Catholic Church offers masses in Polish.^{[citation needed]}

In the early part of the 20th century, up to and immediately following the second World War, Newark, New Jersey and Elizabeth, New Jersey were the primary, historic centers of 'Polonia' as Polish-Americans of that era thought of themselves. Castle Garden and Ellis Island generation immigrants and those that followed them found employment in the industries of these two cities as well as Linden which housed oil refineries and auto manufacturing. Initial settlements were in Newark, primarily the "Ironbound" section, where St. Stanislaw Roman Catholic Church, followed by Casimir's Parish were the first parish churches founded and built by the communities there. In Elizabeth, the first parish serving the Polish community is St. Adalbert's Roman Catholic Church. All these parishes are over 100 years old, dating from the late 1800s, with churches constructed in the early 20th century. Post-war prosperity allowed many Polish Americans to disperse from the original core in New Jersey's industrial areas to the surrounding suburban communities. Documentation of their early history may be found on individual parish websites. Other significant centers of Polish settlement in New Jersey included Garfield, New Jersey, Manville in Somerset County, Trenton, New Jersey, and Camden, New Jersey.^{[citation needed]}

InHudson County,New Jersey,Bayonne houses New Jersey's largest Polish American community, whileWallington inBergen County contains the state's highest percentage of Polish Americans and one of the highest percentages in the United States, at over 40%. However, within New Jersey, Polish populations are additionally increasing rapidly inClifton,Passaic County as well as inGarfield, Bergen County.

Riverhead, New York, located on easternLong Island, contains a neighborhood known asPolish Town, where many Polish immigrants have continued to settle since theWorld War II era; the town has Polisharchitecture, stores, and St. Isidore's R.C. Church, and Polish Town hosts an annual summer Polish Fair.LOT Polish Airlines providesnon-stop flight service betweenJFK International Airport in theQueens borough of New York City,Newark andWarsaw.^[32]

TheKosciuszko Foundation is based in New York.

Milwaukee's Polish population has always been overshadowed by the city's more numerousGerman American inhabitants. Nevertheless, the city's once numerous Polish community built a number ofPolish Cathedrals, among them the magnificentBasilica of St. Josaphat andSt. Stanislaus Catholic Church. Many Polish residents and businesses are still located in theLincoln Village neighborhood. The city is also home toPolish Fest, the largestPolish festival in the United States, where Polish Americans from all overWisconsin and nearbyChicago, come to celebratePolish culture, through music, food and entertainment.^[33] Polonia in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul is centered on Holy Cross Church in the Northeast Neighborhood of Minneapolis, where a vibrant Polish ministry continues to care for the Polish Roman Catholic Faithful.

Wisconsin,Minnesota, andNebraska represent a different type of settlement with significant Polish communities having been established in rural areas. Historian John Radzilowski estimates that up to a third of Poles in Minnesota settled in rural areas, where they established 40 communities, that were often centered around a Catholic church.^[34] Most of these settlers came from the Polish lands that had been taken by Prussia during the Partitions, with a sub-group coming from Silesia. The Kaszub minority, from Poland's Baltic coast, was also strongly represented among Polish immigrants to Minnesota, most notably in Winona. Despite relative isolation from Poland and larger urban Polonian communities, due to strong community integration these communities continued speaking Polish into the 1970s in some cases and continue to have a strong Polish identity.

Michigan's Polish population of more than 850,000 is the third-largest amongU.S. states, behind that ofNew York andIllinois. Polish Americans make up 8.6% of Michigan's total population. The city ofDetroit has a very large Polish community, which historically settled inPoletown andHamtramck on the east side of Detroit, the neighborhoods along Michigan Avenue from 23rd street into east Dearborn, the west side of Delray, parts of Warrendale and several sections of Wyandotte downriver. The northern part of Poletown was cleared of residents, to make way for theGeneral MotorsDetroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant. Today it contains some of the most opulent Polish churches in America like St. Stanislaus, Sweetest Heart of Mary, St. Albertus, St. Josephat and St. Hyacinthe. Michigan as a state has Polish populations throughout. In addition tometropolitan Detroit, Grand Rapids, Bay City, Alpena and the surrounding area, the thumb of Michigan, Manistee, and numerous places in northern lower Michigan and south-central Michigan also have sizable Polish populations.

The Polish influence is still felt throughout the entire metropolitan Detroit area, especially the suburb ofWyandotte, which is slowly emerging as the major center of Polish American activities in the state. An increase in new immigration from Poland is helping to bolster the parish community of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and a host of Polish American civic organizations, located within the city of Wyandotte. Also, the Detroit suburb ofTroy is home to the American Polish Cultural Center, where theNational Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame has over 200 artifacts on display from over 100 inductees, includingStan Musial andMike Krzyzewski.^[35]St. Mary's Preparatory, a high school inOrchard Lake with historically Polish roots, sponsors a popular annual Polish County Fair that bills itself as "America's Largest High School Fair."

Outside of Metro Detroit, Polish Americans retain a strong presence inNorthern Michigan. The town ofCedar inLeelanau County retains a large Polish presence, and is home to a Polish Art Center, as well as an annual polka festival.^[36] The counties ofAlpena,Presque Isle, andHuron also have a large percentage and population of families of Polish immigrants.

Ohio is home to more than 440,000 people of Polish descent, their presence felt most strongly in theGreater Cleveland area, where half of Ohio's Polish population resides.^[37] The city ofCleveland, Ohio has a large Polish community, especially in historicSlavic Village, as part of its Warszawa Section. Poles from this part of Cleveland migrated to the suburbs, such asGarfield Heights,Parma andSeven Hills.Parma has even recently been designated a Polish Village commercial district.^[38] Farther out, other members of Cleveland's Polish community live inBrecksville,Independence andBroadview Heights. Many of these Poles return to their Polish roots by attending masses atSt. Stanislaus Church, on East 65th Street and Baxter Avenue.

Cleveland's other Polish section is inTremont, located on Cleveland's west side. The home parishes are St. John Cantius and St. John Kanty.

OtherPolish language churches in Cleveland city includeSt. Casimir,St. Barbara, andImmaculate Heart of Mary. Outside of annual church festivals, other major city celebrations includeDyngus Day and the Slavic Village Harvest Festival, celebrating with Polish food, customer, andPolka music.^[39] Cleveland is home to thePolka Hall of Fame.

Poles in Cleveland were instrumental in forming theThird Federal Savings and Loan in 1938. After seeing fellow Poles discriminated against by Cleveland's banks, Ben Stefanski formed Third Federal. Today the Stefanski family still controls the bank. Unlike Cleveland'sKeyBank andNational City Corp., which have their headquarters inDowntown Cleveland, Third Federal is on Broadway Avenue in theSlavic Village neighborhood. Third Federal Savings and Loan is in the top 25 saving and loan institutions in the United States. In 2003, they acquired aFlorida banking company and have branches in Florida and Ohio.

Panna Maria, Texas, was founded by Upper Silesian settlers on Christmas Eve in 1854. Some people still speakTexas Silesian.Silesian is regarded as either a dialect of Polish, or a distinct language.Cestohowa,Kosciusko,Falls City,Polonia,New Waverly,Brenham,Marlin,Bremond,Anderson,Bryan, andChappell Hill were either founded or populated by the Poles.^{[citation needed]}

Other industrial cities with major Polish communities includeBuffalo, New York;Boston;Baltimore;New Britain,Connecticut;Dallas,Houston,Portland, Oregon;Minneapolis;Philadelphia;Columbus, Ohio;Erie, Pennsylvania;Rochester, New York;Syracuse, New York;Los Angeles;San Francisco;Seattle;Pittsburgh;South Bend, Indiana;central/western Massachusetts; andDuluth, Minnesota. There is a relatively large Polish population inKansas City andSaint Louis, Missouri in addition to the area's many German-Americans.

Luzerne County, innortheastern Pennsylvania, is the only county in the United States where a plurality of residents state their ancestry as Polish. (See:Maps of American ancestries) This includes the cities ofWilkes-Barre,Pittston,Hazleton, andNanticoke. Many of the immigrants were drawn to this area, because of the mining ofAnthracite coal in the region. Polish influences are still common today, in the form of church bazaars,polka music, andPolish cuisine. It is widely believed thatBoothwyn, Pennsylvania, has one of the fastest growing Polish communities in the United States.

In 2007, at the urging of Attorney Adrian Baron and the local Polonia Business Association, New Britain, Connecticut officially designated its Broad Street neighborhood asLittle Poland, where an estimated 30,000 residents claim Polish heritage. Visitors can do an entire day's business completely in Polish including banking, shopping, dining, legal consultations, and even dance lessons. The area has retained its Polish character since 1890. There is also a Polish community inLas Vegas.^[40]

As of the 2021American Community Survey, the distribution of Polish Americans across the 50 states and DC is as presented in the following table:

Christianity andJudaism are the most common religions among Polish Americans. However, a small group ofLipka Tatars, originating from theBiałystok region, founded thePowers Street Mosque inBrooklyn in 1907.^[42]

The Central Archives of American Polonia is a research center at the Orchard Lake Schools.^[43] The archives compiles data about the history of Christianity among Polish Americans. Its General List of Polish Parishes counts 1.036Roman Catholic parishes of a Polish character that were established over the history of the United States. A portion of these parishes are no longer active. The first parish, Immaculate Conception, was established inPanna Maria, Texas in 1854.^[44] The dioceses with the largest concentration are theArchdiocese of Chicago at 64, theDiocese of Buffalo at 50, theDiocese of Scranton at 49, and theArchdiocese of Detroit at 40. ThePolish Roman Catholic Union of America was instrumental in establishing many churches in the dioceses of Chicago, Detroit, and Buffalo.^[45] The monumental scale of some of these urban churches led to the creation of a new genre of architecture known asPolish cathedral style. Parishes were established in rural areas such as farming communities and mining towns as well. The General List of Polish Parishes indicates that 177 parishes were established in Pennsylvania, 122 in New York, 118 in Michigan, 112 in Wisconsin, and 99 in Illinois.

The General List of Polish Parishes shows that the most common names for the parishes established were Polish saints such asSt. Stanislaus,St. Casimir,St. Stanislaus Kostka, andSt. Adalbert.^[46] Also common wereSacred Heart andSt. Joseph. However, the most popular wasSt. Mary including asOur Lady of Czestochowa.^[47] Devotion to this form of St. Mary was confirmed by the opening of TheNational Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in 1955. This shrine in Pennsylvania proved so popular that a larger facility was built in 1966.^[48] Several statesmen and bishops have visited includingPope John Paul II.

In Michigan the Orchard Lake Schools were established in 1885.^[49] One of the schools was theSS. Cyril & Methodius Seminary which trained foreign-born priests for ministry to Polish-speaking Catholics in the United States. The seminary operated from 1885 to 2022.^[50] The Archdiocese of Chicago offers Polish language services through its Polonia ministry.^[51] As of 2025 there are 37 parishes in the diocese which offer masses in the Polish language and 38 schools which offer religious education in Polish.

Customs around the liturgical year remain common among Polish Americans.Wigilia is practiced atChristmas Eve whileswieconka is performed at churches onHoly Saturday.

Though the majority of Polish Americans remain loyal to the Catholic Church, a breakaway church called thePolish National Catholic Church was founded in 1897.^[52] At that time Polish parishioners in Scranton believed that church leadership, then dominated by Irish bishops and priests, was lacking in Polish representation. At the beginning of 2025 the church consisted of 108 parishes of which 27 are in Pennsylvania and 13 are in New York.

World Agudath Israel was formed in Poland in 1912 by Jews who disagreed with the secular orientation of Zionism.Agudath Israel of America, also known as Agudas Yisroel or Agudah, was established in 1922.^[53] This organization advocates forOrthodox Jews at all levels of government in the United States. It also provides social, educational, and youth services.

When drafting theConstitution of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was inspired by the religious tolerance of theWarsaw Confederation.^[54]

The Congressional Poland Caucus is a congressional membership organization.^[55] The caucus advocates for stronger U.S.-Poland relations around shared values and economic ties.^[56]

Polish-Americans founded thePolish American Congress (PAC) in 1944 to support a free and sovereign Poland at the end ofWorld War II.^[57] In 1948 it successfully lobbied the U.S. government to admit 140,000 Polish displaced persons, war victims, and veterans to the United States. During the communist era the congress organized humanitarian efforts to Poland. PAC encouraged the passage of the Support East European Democracy Act of 1989 which committed $800 million to Poland. The congress urged the admission of Poland into NATO which happened in 1999. The federation comprises six national membership organizations as of 2025:Polish Daily News,American Council for Polish Culture, Polish Army Veterans Association of America,Polish Falcons of America,Polish National Alliance, andPolish Roman Catholic Union of America.^[58]

Two Polish volunteers,Casimir Pulaski andTadeusz Kościuszko, served in theContinental Army during theAmerican Revolutionary War. Casimir Pulaski created and led thePulaski's Legion of cavalry. He was mortally wounded at theSiege of Savannah.Fort Pulaski is named in his honor.^[59] Tadeusz Kosciuszko designed and oversaw the construction of state-of-the-art fortifications, including those at West Point.^[60] The National Monument Audit is an inventory of public monuments in the United States. It counts 51 monuments of Pulaski and 22 of Kosciuszko.^[61]

During theAmerican Civil War the58th New York Infantry Regiment was known as the Polish Legion.

Polish Americans who served in theUnited States Armed Forces duringWorld War I created three different veterans associations after the war. These associations merged in 1931 to form thePolish Legion of American Veterans.^[62] Polish Americans who served in theBlue Army during World War I created the Polish Army Veterans Association of America in 1921.^[63]

After the end of theCold War, theNational Guard created theState Partnership Program. TheIllinois National Guard has been partnered with thePolish Armed Forces since 1993.^[64]

In 2023 theUnited States Army established its eighth garrison in Europe and first in Poland.^[65] U.S. Army Garrison Poland is headquartered atCamp Kosciuszko.

Fraternal benefit societies are mutual insurance companies whose profits are devoted to a specific social mission.^[66] TheAmerican Fraternal Alliance is the umbrella organization forbenefit societies in the United States and Canada. There are several societies with a Polish American characteristic. The oldest is thePolish Roman Catholic Union of America, also known as PRCUA Life, which was founded in 1873.^[67] As its name indicates, its original mission was to build Roman Catholic churches and schools with an emphasis on Polish traditions. ThePolish National Alliance of the United States of North America, often referred to as the PNA or Alliance, was established in 1880. It was founded to promote Polish independence and to integrate Polish immigrants into the civic culture of the United States.^[68] Today both organizations offer scholarships and operate Polish language and dance schools.^[69][70] Another benefit society is thePolish Falcons of America. This organization was started in 1887 but did not become a fraternal benefit society until 1928.^[71] It emphasizes physical fitness and Polish patriotism due to its heritage in theSokol movement.

First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association, also known as FCSLA Life, is a benefit society focused on Catholic values and Slavic traditions that was founded in 1892.^[72] It purchased both the Polish Union of U.S.A and the Polish Women's Alliance of America in 2017.^[73][74]Catholic Financial Life is an amalgamation of many benefit societies. In 2017 it merged with Degree of Honor Protective Association which had purchased the Polish White Eagle Association in 2001.^[75] TheKnights of Columbus, which was established in 1882 to unite Catholic men and to help families of the deceased, expanded into Poland in 2006.^[76]

American Council for Polish Culture is an alliance of Polish American clubs, associations, and institutes that was established in 1948.^[77] The council is focused on promoting Polish culture, history, and traditions. There are 42 affiliate and supporting organizations as of 2025.^[78]

Kiełbasa is commonly marketed in the United States as Polish sausage. It comes in fresh and smoked varieties. In Chicago the sausage is the meat in the sandwich known asMaxwell Street Polish. Likewise, in Cleveland there is thePolish Boy.

Polish Jews brought thebagel to the United States. Christians eatpączki doughnuts before Lent. Other baked goods includebabka,rugelach,bialy, and placek.

Pierogi are stuffed dumplings that are shared with other Eastern European cuisines.Kluski are another type of dumplings.

Gołąbki andbigos are available sometimes in Polish American communities.

Polish Fest in Milwaukee claims to be the largest Polish festival in the United States. The festival encompasses food and drink, music and dance, arts and crafts, genealogy, and religion.^[79] It occurs in June and was started in 1982. Another festival vying for the title of the largest in the United States is theTaste of Polonia festival in Chicago. This festival includes food and beverage, music and dance, gambling, and carnival rides.^[80] It began in 1980 and is held every Labor Day weekend. Just east of Chicago in Whiting, Indiana there isPierogi Fest. This annual food festival for Eastern European cuisine was first held in 1993.^[81] One of the oldest cultural festivals, dating back to 1954, is the Syracuse Polish Festival. This festival focuses on cuisine and activities for children since the festival raises money for a scholarship fund.^[82] The Polish Festival in Portland, Oregon began in 1993.^[83]

Easter Monday isDyngus Day. This ancient holiday has been celebrated in South Bend since the 1950s.^[84] The largest celebration occurs in the Buffalo metropolitan area. There is a parade, a run, music, folk dancers, food, and drink in the historic Polonia neighborhood as well as other venues in the city and its suburbs.^[85] TheNational Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa holds its Polish American Festival & Country Fair near the feast day of its patroness at the end of August. This five-day celebration of culture and tradition was started in 1966.^[86]

TheSeattle Polish Film Festival was founded in 1992 and is organized by the Seattle-Gdynia Sister City Association.^[87] Another film festival is theNew York Polish Film Festival which was started in 2005.^[88]

Constitution Day is a holiday that remembers theConstitution of 3 May 1791. This agreement codified the constitutional dual monarchy of thePolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the collapse of Poland it became a rallying cry for the restoration of sovereignty. It became an official holiday in Poland in 1919 after the establishment of theSecond Polish Republic. However, the holiday was banned by Nazi and Soviet occupiers during World War II and by thePolish People's Republic.^[89] It was restored as a holiday in 1990 after the end of communism. In the United States the oldest and largest celebration is the parade in Chicago which was started in 1891.^[90]

Polvision is a Polish language television station that was founded in 1987.^[91] It broadcasts throughout the Chicago metropolitan area.Dziennik Związkowy, also known as Polish Daily News, is a Polish language newspaper in Chicago that was started in 1908. Another Polish language newspaper isNowy Dziennik. It serves the New York City metropolitan area and was first published in 1971.^[92] A bi-lingual news publication is Tygodnik Polski/The Polish Weekly which continues the tradition of a newspaper founded in 1904 in Detroit.^[93] A digital bi-lingual news portal is the Polish News Online which began in 1997.^[94] The Polish American Journal was started in 1911 and switched to printing only in English in 1948.^[95] Am-Pol Eagle is an English language newspaper that was first published in 1960.^[96] It serves the Buffalo metropolitan area.

Hippocrene Books is a publishing house with a specialty in Polish-interest books.^[97]Ohio University Press has published 19 books in its Polish and Polish-American Studies Series.^[98]

TheU.S. Open Cup is the national championship for soccer. It was started in 1914. Two Polish American teams have won the championship:Chicago Falcons in 1953 andA.A.C. Eagles in 1990.^[99]

TheNational Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 to recognize competitors in the field of sports. The majority of the inductees have been in baseball and American football.^[100]

Polish cathedral style refers to large churches built by Polish Americans that were equivalent in size to cathedrals but not necessarily cathedrals. These religious buildings were built according to architectural styles from different periods in Poland's history. This method of architecture is known ashistoricism. The largest number of examples of these churches are found in Chicago and Detroit.

In Milwaukee raised cottages are calledPolish flats.^[101]

Polish settlers in Texas built houses with high-pitched roofs. The shadedveranda that was created by these roofs was a popular living space for the settlers. According to oral histories recorded from descendants, the verandas were used for "almost all daily activities from preparing meals to dressing animal hides."^[102] The first house built by a Pole in Texas is the John Gawlik House which was constructed in 1858. The house is located in the central historic district of Panna Maria.^[103][104]

ThePolish Museum of America in Chicago'sPolish Downtown was founded in 1935. It consists of a museum of Polish and Polish American artifacts, a library of books in both Polish and English, and an archives.^[105] ThePolish Roman Catholic Union of America started the PMA and continues to sponsor it. Another sponsor is theMinistry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. ThePolish American Museum was established in 1977 and is located in Port Washington, New York. The museum focuses on military artifacts and folk art as its two partners are the Center for Military Studies and the Polish Art Center.^[106]

A third museum of note is theKashubian Cultural Institute & Polish Museum located in Winona, Minnesota.Kashubians are a regional sub-culture from Poland who settled in Wisconsin and Minnesota.^[107] The museum was established in 1979.

• Polish people
• Polish diaspora
• History of Poles in the United States
• Kashubian Americans
• Kashubian Diaspora
• Polish Canadians

• List of Polish Americans
• List of place names of Polish origin in the United States
• List of U.S. cities with large Polish-American populations

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• PolishMigration.org, immigration records to United States between 1834 through 1897
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