I haven't fully determined the reasons for picking Grand Rapids as their final destination but it is clear that Anthony Raczkiewicz and other relatives did. When sixteen-year-old Anthony and his twenty-two-year-old brother Joseph left Antwerp and traveled to Quebec, Canada, they took a train to Detroit with their final destination Grand Rapids, Michigan where their brother Jan had been since early in 1910. The earliest person from their group that I have found so far arrived in 1909. The names of the travelers -- Raczkiewicz, Czarnopys, Kudlicka, Niedzwiedz (Nedzwed), Kwiatkowski, Kurkiewicz, Golebiowska, Malec, Eifler, Kiszczynska--to name a few--would later show up somewhere in the family tree as some sort of cousin or aunt or uncle. The family was obviously a big reason. They came together, they helped others that were still in Poland to come. I would really like to know who was the first from Tomaszow to Grand Rapids and how did it spread? I know my Grandma could communicate in Russian & Polish even though she was born in Oil City, PA, (her parents were 1rst generation) and she apparently wrote and read letters to and from the "old country."
Why Grand Rapids specifically? I have read that Grand Rapids was recruiting foreign workers for the furniture industry and the associated businesses. In the 1920 census, there were 4,269 foreign-born Poles counted in Grand Rapids. The Dutch greatly outnumbered the Polish except on the Westside where they lived and many factories were located. Polish Catholics were more likely to vote against prohibition, regulations on theaters, and other entertainment and more likely to vote for an eight-hour workday. (Information from “The Poles, the Dutch and the Furniture Strike of 1911”, Mary Patrice Erdmans, Polish American Studies, Vol. 62, No. 2 (Autumn, 2005), pp. 5-22)
While Anthony and others he knew likely came to Grand Rapids for the economic opportunities, most of the jobs available to immigrants without a lot of education were in the factories on the Westside of Grand Rapids, within walking distance of where they lived. Immigrants were more likely to work in the brickyards, gypsum mines, and furniture and other factories than native-born Americans of British descent. The Dutch also worked in the factories but they had arrived much earlier so were making better wages and getting better jobs. (Information from “The Poles, the Dutch and the Furniture Strike of 1911”, Mary Patrice Erdmans, Polish American Studies, Vol. 62, No. 2 (Autumn, 2005), pp. 5-22)
The Grand Rapids furniture market included the furniture factories and associated businesses, including all the tanning of hides, hand screws, clamps, varnish, glue, veneers, and lumber. The city hosted a huge furniture market that was attended by buyers from all over. Anthony would end up working in a tannery on the Westside for many years and his other relatives also benefited from the jobs that were available.
MORE ABOUT ANTHONY & HIS BROTHER'S WORK IN GRAND RAPIDS:
When they came to the United States in 1912, Anthony and Joseph said they were farm laborers. In the earliest Polk Directory I could find that listed him (1914), Anthony is a laborer, John (older brother who emigrated earlier) is a cabinetmaker at Phoenix Furniture Company which in 1988 was razed by Grand Valley State University for part of their downtown campus. A large section of the 1873 building was salvaged by the Grand Rapids Public Museum. http://www.furniturecityhistory.org/company/3773/phoenix-furniture-co Joseph was a tacker at Keifer Tanning Company (260 Front St. SW,owner Irving Orr, 915 Cambridge Dr SE leather works.) In 1915, Anthony was a polisher and John was a shoemaker at Adolph Montrim (shoe repairer.)
Picture on left: John worked here in 1914--Phoenix
Picture on right: Johnson Furniture Company where John worked in 1917. http://www.furniturecityhistory.org/company/3645/johnson-furniture-co
In January, 1916 when John (26) got married, he was still a shoemaker and his fiance, Frances (25), was a dishwasher. Later that year in June when Anthony got married, he was a laborer/polisher and his fiance, Clementena, was a factory hand. When they registered for the WWI draft the following June,1917, Anthony (22) was a Tanner at the tannery. Joseph no longer was at the tannery and was a cabinet maker at Grand Rapids Piano Case Company. Jan was no longer a shoemaker and was a cabinet maker at Johnson Furniture Company.
In 1921, John and Joseph were still cabinet makers. Anthony left the tannery and was a clerk at Charles (Powlski) Powlowski’s Billiards at 612 Bridge St. NW. I will tell yo in another post about Anthony’s short lived “game room” career. By 1925, Anthony was listed as a laborer. In 1928 Anthony was still a laborer, Joseph a cabinetmaker and John is no longer listed. By 1929 Anthony was a worker
By 1930, Joseph was listed as a veteran. Anthony worked at Keifer Tannery as a tacker and made $6500. “The early 1930's, of course, were the years of the Great Depression. With its onslaught in 1929 and its relentless persistence, the community of St. Adalbert's suffered many setbacks, beginning with the closing of the Polish-American Bank, located at the intersection of Bridge, Lexington, and Stocking. As a result of its closing, many parishioners lost a large share of their life's savings. The setbacks continued with the folding of small businesses and the slowdown of larger industries, resulting in layoffs and, at least, cutbacks in working hours.” http://www.mipolonia.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/St.-Adalbert_1881-1981_Grand-Rapids_MI.pdf
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