12/03/2025
An interesting post about a sister Polish parish also in New Jersey.
The Miracle of Pulaski Street
On the night of December 3rd, 1997, there was a massive explosion in St. Casimir's basement bowling alley. No cause was ever precisely determined, but people speculate that the cause was a buildup of methane gas or the oily rags that were used to polish the bowling alley's floor.
By the time firefighters arrived minutes later smoke was billowing out from the belfries and flames were appearing from the basement stairs.
Nonetheless, Newark Fire Department and parishioners themselves were able to save St. Casimir's. The explosion took place beneath the church in the basement bowling alley, but the force of the explosion went through tunnels and came out in the school. The school was badly damaged and a few stained glass windows in the church itself were destroyed, but the damage was slight considering power of the explosion. In September 1999 the church reopened, looking as brilliant as ever.
St. Casimir's has undergone a Renaissance under the charismatic, capable, and visionary leadership of Father Andrew Ostaszewski. Father Andrew has retired the church's $500,000 debt and attracted hundreds of new families. Under Father Andrew St. Casimir's future has seldom looked brighter.
St. Casimir's Church is a repository of the hopes and memories of Newark's Polish American community. It is a testament to Poland's trials, triumphs, rise, fall, and rebirth. It was the center of what was one of the largest ethnic communities in Newark and remains the center of a community that is still going strong, despite the Ironbound's ethnic transformation.
St. Casimir's - "The Basilica of the Ironbound" - stands out in a city of many architecturally beautiful churches for its ornamentation and proud ethnic identification. Its richly decorated interior is a "catechism on walls." St. Casimir's is also one of Newark's most nationalistic churches. Although other churches are palpably Italian, Portuguese, or German, none testifies to the same degree to its home country's holiness and pride. In sum, St. Casimir's church is a brilliant interpretation of Renaissance architecture in the industrial Ironbound and a unique blend of religious and secular motifs.
The great Polish wave of immigration to New Jersey began in the 1880s. In 1890 the Census claimed 3,600 Poles in NJ, 14,300 in 1890, and a huge 69,000 in 1910. Nearly all of the Poles who came to the United States were rural in origin, but settled primarily in cities like Newark.
Poland at this time was divided between Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Russia, but the Poles were keenly aware of their nationhood. Polish nationhood that was primarily channeled through the Catholic Church and political efforts to resurrect the lost state of Poland.
The first Poles to come to Newark settled around Belmont and Springfield Avenues. Their numbers were large enough that by 1882 they founded their first fraternal organization, the Jan III Sobieski Society, named for the heroic Polish king who saved Vienna from the Turks. Just seven years later, in 1889, the Poles founded their first parish, St. Stanilaus.
However, the Ironbound Polish community eventually eclipsed the Central Ward Polish community. The Ironbound was the factory center of Newark and most of the Poles who came to Newark came here to be factory workers. Like with St. Stanilaus, fraternal organizations came before the founding of the parish. Indeed, the White Eagles (bielago orla) were extremely important in getting St. Casimir's founded.
Incidentally, the Diocese initially had a difficult time finding Polish speaking priests. At first Polish parishes were staffed by German speaking priests, taking advantage of the fact that most Poles could also speak German.
http://www.newarkhistory.com/stcasimirschurch.html
Pulaski NJ Newark St. Casimir's Church The Basilica of the Ironbound
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=476634539082323&set=a.1011174655628306
