St. Joseph's Church

Many people think that the center of the Polish community in Cleveland's history is St. Stanislaus's Church and the Slavic village in the southeast of the city. But the Polish community in Cleveland is much more than this church and that brand community. At the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century, in order to find housing near Cleveland's booming industrial zone, Polish immigrants gathered in at least six different communities in the city, and each community was named after the church they built there or commemorated a Polish city. One of the Polish communities is Josephatowa, located in the northeast of the city, very close to today's Asian towns. It was named after the Catholic diocese of Tromas in St Jaffa, which was founded by Polish immigrants in the early 20th century. Polish immigrants came to this community in large numbers from 65438 to the early 1990s of 2009, and found jobs in some factories and mills built near the lakeshore, as well as the railroad tracks in southern Michigan and the Pennsylvania Railway. One of them is the huge Otis Steel Plant (later acquired by Jones and laughlin), which built a complex of factories, warehouses and office buildings in the second half of the19th century, and finally extended from East 25th Street to East 40th Street along the lake for more than half a mile. Poles working in Otis Steel Company or other nearby factories or mills first found houses by the lake and Hamilton Avenue, most of which were built and lived by Irish, Germans, Slovenes and Croats. From there, the colony spread to other streets in the south of Hunan. In the early years,

Poles worship Lithuanians in St. George Lithuanian Catholic Church at the corner of East 2 1 Street and Oregon Avenue. However, when the parish moved to a new place further east, the Poles living nearby asked for help and got permission from the Bishop to set up their own parish in 1908. Originally named after St. Hedwig, the parish was quickly renamed St. Jaffat to distinguish it from the Polish parish of the same name established in Bodtown community of Lakewood in the same year. In the nearly ten years after the establishment of the parish, people held mass in the chapel of St. John's Cathedral. Then, at 19 15, the second priest of the parish, the priest. Joseph Kocinski is responsible for the construction of church buildings on several plots purchased by the parish several years ago, which is located on the east side of East 33rd Street, between Superior Avenue and St. Clare Avenue. The new church was completed in 19 17. The original design was that the church could accommodate 800 people during worship. One of the stained glass windows depicts the battle scene in which the Polish army defeated the Teutonic Knights of Germany in the15th century. It is said that stained glass windows later became a source of anger for a German bishop in Cleveland.

Like many Catholic parishes established by immigrants from Eastern Europe, San Jose law has experienced a period of development and decline. In its early history, when some Polish immigrants returned to Europe, it experienced a sharp decline in the number of member countries, and then some people went to St. Stanislaus in the southern part of Warsaw. But the church persisted and reached the peak of about 1000 parishioners in the late 1930s. However, as large employers like Otis Steel moved their business out of the lake, small industrial shops "invaded" some residential streets, and people began to move from nearby to the suburbs. The membership of the church has decreased, but this time it has not recovered. 1966, the primary school was closed, and 30 years later, 1998, the church itself was closed by the parish.

Safaat in San Jose may have suffered the fate of other closed Catholic churches in the city center. It is difficult to find new uses after these churches are closed, but fortunately, this is not the case. In the same year that it closed, Alenka Ba, a Croatian immigrant, grew up in nearby nco and happened to drive past the church while moving furniture. Out of curiosity, she contacted the parish and learned that the church was for sale. As an art patron who opened two galleries in Cleveland, Banco proposed to buy the church. According to church officials, although the company received a higher property offer, Banco's offer was considered the best and was accepted because she proposed to use the church property for community purposes. Banco moved into the office of the former principal of the property and began to repair and renovate the church building with a business partner. She renamed it Joe Safaat Art Hall. At the end of 2005, she opened a gallery "Happy 33" in the original church building. A reporter from Cleveland was about to repeat a sentence. He said that the historic Polish church was bought and saved by an angel.