Skyline of Buffalo, NY from a drone. Captured under FAA Part 107 license/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Western New York State – a very Polish corner of America
The Buffalo Equation
By Robert Strybel, Polish/Polonian Affairs Writer
Coincidentally, my connection with things “bufffalonian” began when I was born in what was then Detroit’s predominantly Polish enclave-suburb of Hamtramck, where my family lived on Buffalo Avenue. My Michigan family had relations in and around Scranton, PA and would visit them from time to time. Back in that pre-Interstate era the shortest route led via Buffalo, NY.
Buffalo in 1813–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
But the Buffalo connection really came into its own when I started working as Polonia’s Warsaw Correspondent. The Am-Pol Eagle was among the first PolAm papers to respond to my offer. I met its founder and editor Matthew Pełczynski in the 1970s when he visited Warsaw with a group of US Polonian editors. Another early joiner was the Polish American Journal, then based in Scranton and headed by Henry J. Dende. It too is now also based in the Buffalo area.
I soon learned that the Buffalo-Niag The Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga, population 34,000, is now near 40% Polish and is the nation’s 6th most Polish community. Buffalo itself, inhibited by 34,000, is now only 11.7/% Polish, a far cry from the 1940s and ‘50s. But the nearby village of Sloan may have only 3,725 residents, but almost half of them have Polish roots.
Where it’s called de-Polonization, de-ethnicization, assimilation or Americanization, the fact remains that with the passage of time people tend to drift away from their Old Country heritage. From time to time we hear that this Polish parish has been shut down by the Diocese, sold or handed over to some other ethno-racial group. This Dom Polski, that PNA hall or a once popular sausage shop is no more. Although this drift-away has not spared the Buffalo area, there have also been signs of creative cultural restoration and development.
Buffalo as the Dyngus capital of America is a fair recent phenomenon as is my own hometown (Hamtramck) being known as the country’s Capita Donutsl. A number of years ago Buffalo Polonians resurrected house-to-house Polish caroling as well as bar-room Christmas carols singalongs. Although unknown is the bridge of our grandparents’ generation, polka masses are only several decades old. And last year, local Polonian Mitch Gawryś formally established his Kaisertown Polka Band.
Above all, Polonia is people, and Buffalo is fortune to have some highly dedicated, talented and creative community leaders. They include Father Czesław Krys, a forceful religious leader and active promoter of our Polish heritage. Culinary expert, folklorist and author Sophie Hodorowicz Knab has also served the Polish community for many years. Rounding out what I call Buffalo’s “Dynamic Polish Trio” is radio host Andrzej Gołębiowski, whose Polish Radio Program of music and cultural commentary is heard around the globe.
Andrzej Gołębiowski
Home – Polish American Radio Program
I should also mention my Buffalo-based fellow-columnists of the Am-Pol Eagle and Polish American Journal. I’m sure native Buffalonians could name many more.
