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History on a Pinhead
Settled by Polish immigrants sometime in the second half of the nineteenth century,
Polonia started off with a store, gin, blacksmith, two schools and a church.
No population figures are available but in the late 1940s Polonia’s schools joined
those in Lockhart. Today all that’s
left of Polonia is the town cemetery. |
Polonia
Cemetery Historical Marker
N from Lockhart on US 183, then W on CR 233
Photo
courtesy Barclay
Gibson, December 2006 |
Historical
Marker TextPolonia
CemeteryThe three-acre
tract of land that was the Polish settlement of Polonia was deeded to Bishop John
Neraz of the Catholic Diocese of San
Antonio in 1894 by Joseph and Veronica Dzierzanowski. The community was founded
one year after the death of Simon Dzierzanowski (1853-1896), who was the first
to be buried in his family's cemetery on this site.
The settlement once
boasted a cotton gin, blacksmith shop, general store, and the Sacred Heart Catholic
Church. Schools for both English and Spanish speaking students were built. The
Polish population retained many traditions from their homeland. Polonia declined
in the late 1930s because of a failing farm economy. The Catholic church was razed
in 1939.
The Dzierzanowski Family Cemetery, now Polonia Community Cemetery,
is the last reminder of the once vibrant village. Twenty-five percent of those
buried in the cemetery are veterans of the United States Armed Forces.
The first known families of Polonia, settling near this site from 1891, were Bienek,
Boniewiez, Bonkowski, Dedek, Dikowski, Dykowski, Dzierzanowski, Foerster, Foryszewski,
Grabarkewitz, Kalinowski, Krzywosinski, Levandowski, Malinowski, Petroski, Pieniazek,
Reisner, Scholwinski, Slawinski, Urbanski, Wacluwzcyk, Wisniewski, Zaleski, Zarrasky,
Zawadski, and Zolewski.
(1998) | |
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