Polish Triangle Officially Recognized in Boston

Updated 17:30 Monday, 21 October 2008.Poles in Massachusetts will celebrate the City of Boston's official designation of a part of Andrew Square, an area of Boston, as the "Polish Triangle."

The celebration will start with a public ceremony at Andrew Square on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, at 12:30 p.m., with Thomas Menino, mayor of Boston; Krzysztof W. Kasprzyk, consul general of the Polish consulate in New York; Bishop Robert Hennessey; Linda Zablocki of the Andrew Square Civic Association; and other officials.   

For more than 100 years, Polish immigrants have lived or worked in the South Boston and Dorchester sections of Boston, in the area of land bounded by Andrew Square, Columbia Square, Dorchester Avenue and Boston Street.

The Triangle is no longer bustling with Polish immigrants as it was decades ago.  However, more than two dozen Polish businesses and organizations still reside there, drawing 2,000 visitors per week, according to the White Eagle, or Bialy Orzel, a Boston-based national Polish- and English-language newspaper.

A Polish church built in 1894, Our Lady of Czestochowa, remains in the Triangle, as does the city's only Polish restaurant, Cafe Polonia.

White Eagle Media co-publishers Darek Barcikowski and Marcin Bolec spearheaded the Polish Triangle designation, with the Eagle's Gosia Tomaszewska managing the project. 

Meeting with Andrew Square civic groups and communicating with the Boston mayor's office over recent years, the White Eagle worked steadily for the "Polish Triangle" designation. 

Barcikowski is well acquainted with the Polish community and the Triangle area.  His parents opened Cafe Polonia decades ago in Andrew Square, where it remains a central business of the Polish Triangle.

Barcikowski, in Poland earlier this week, told Pawel Bialic in an article for the White Eagle newspaper, "Perhaps as many Poles don't live here anymore, but they do come back here week after week to shop at the local stores, utilize the services of the local agencies, see cultural shows and recitals and, most importantly, worship in their native tongue."

According to Bialic, the Polish community in Boston dates back to 1893.  As with Polish communities elsewhere in Massachusetts, the Catholic church has been the center of Polish life, as well as social clubs and Saturday language schools, which are among the organizations still thriving in Andrew Square today.

Marek Lesniewski-Lass, the Polish consul general in Boston, could not attend the ceremony for the Polish Triangle.  In an e-mail to EthnicNEWz.org, he acknowledged the signficance of the Triangle to the Polish community and thanked Mayor Menino for officially recognizing it.

"The 'Polish Triangle' has in the past and continues now to serve as an important center of Polish American life in Boston," he said.  "Polish American community of Boston is most gratified by this recognition."

The public ceremony at the Polish Triangle begins at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, in Andrew Square, accessible by the "red" train line of public transportation.  

Performers at the ceremony include about 100 children of the Polish Language School, Krakowiak Polish Dancers of Boston, musical group Lajkonik, and works of Polish artists will be on exhibit as well.

PHOTO BELOW:  Massachusetts state Sen. Jack Hart addresses the crowd at the official ceremony for the designation of the Polish Triangle.  Behind him are Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and the White Eagle Media's Gosia Tomaszewska (wearing scarf), who worked with city officials to recognize the Triangle.(photo:  Angelika Nosek, WhiteEagleNews.com)

source:  EthnicNEWz.org

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