1937 (Image courtesy the Polish Home Association)
In 1918, the same year the modern state of Poland was formed, a group of Poles came together on Capitol Hill. The neighborhood barely existed at the time, and the group purchased what had been a country club, remaking it into the Polish Home.
100 years later, the Polish Home still stands on 18th Ave.
As America was forming, Poland was falling apart. In the last decades of the 1700s, the country we now know as Poland had dissolved and was divvied up by Prussia, Russia and Austria. Once that happened, Poles starting emigrating in waves, explained Pawel Krupa, president of the Polish Home Association.
By 1918, after World War I and the Russian Revolution, the countries that had once controlled Poland were shadows of themselves, if they still existed. Poles took the opportunity and modern Poland was formed.
But more than a century of upheaval had caused many Poles to look for a better life in other parts of the world, including America. While most who came here stayed on the East Coast, Krupa explains that some, inevitably, made their way westward. A lot, he said, were miners, drawn to the coal mines in eastern King County like those at Black Diamond.
Once here, they sought each other out. Like many immigrant groups, they wanted a sense of community: people who speak the same language, have a taste for the same food, and know the same dances. They also sought a place to commiserate about the difficulties of assimilating into a culture that was, as it can still be, both overtly and covertly hostile to new immigrants. The Polish Home was born.
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It serves many of the same purposes now that it did then. Krupa said he came to America in 1985; along with a newer wave of Poles leaving Poland in the wake of the Solidarity movement. Like his countrymen decades earlier, he sought out, and found companionship at the Polish Home.
The home today is likely better known by Capitol Hill residents for its restaurant. Each weekend, except for its August break, the home opens for stuffed cabbage, pierogis, polish liqueurs and other Polish treats.
The home also hosts two bazaars, one in the fall and the other in the spring, and hosts pierogi fest usually the first or second weekend in May. They’re also instrumental in the Polish Festival, held at the Seattle Center the first weekend of July.
The Polish home has been hosting events all year to celebrate both their own, and Poland’s 100th anniversaries. They are sponsoring a Polish-themed art competition and photo competition, with submission deadlines on October 15th.
Next up is the Polish Film Festival, which begins October 19th. Then on November 10th, the group will be hosting a gala dinner. At this point, tickets are only available to members, though if there are tickets remaining, they may be made available to the general public, Krupa said.
Though Krupa is hopeful, whether the Polish Home will be around in another 100 years is an open question. Second- and third-generation Americans don’t often feel the same kind of attachment to their ancestral countries. Indeed, many end up with a mix of different ancestries, and might have a hard time finding just one with which they identify.
Younger people, in particular, aren’t as likely to be members, Krupa said. They focus on their career, getting jobs and filling contracts. They don’t pay much attention to the place their grandparents were born.
But Krupa said when they get older, they sometimes do start taking an interest, often when they have children of their own, and want to pass along family traditions.
“At some point, you think about your heritage. Your roots,” he said. “Places like this will have a place in our society. I hope it will, anyway.”
The Polish Home is located at 1714 18th Ave. You can learn more at polishhome.org.
