The Polish Warszawa
neighborhood has its beginnings with the
settlement of Newburgh, founded by James Kingsbury and his family
in 1799. Other settlers from New England arrived and established
mills. A main coach road was developed that eventually would become
Broadway Avenue and in 1814 the area was organized and named
Newburgh Township.
In the 1840s, the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad was built through the township and in 1857 Jones & Co. established an iron rolling mill which eventually became the Cleveland Rolling Mill Co. With the increase in industrial employment, Welsh and Irish immigrants settled in the area and eventually Poles.
Slowly, parts of Newburgh Township were annexed by the city of Cleveland. By 1873, the heart of Newburgh became part of Cleveland. That same year, the Polish St. Stanislaus parish was established for the growing number of Polish immigrants to the area.
The Turner Worsted Mill was established in 1878 thus attracting even more Polish immigrants and in 1880 a young Polish entrepreneur named Michal Kniola arrived to work in the Cleveland Rolling Mills. He would be instrumental in the growth of the Warszawa neighborhood.
In 1881, St. Stanislaus parish erected a wooden church and school at Tod (E. 65th St.) and Forman, the church?s location today. Fr. Anton Kolaszewski was installed as pastor. The church had such a large and supportive Polish congregation that by 1891 a marvelous brick church building was built to replace the wooden church.
The neighborhood became known as Warszawa and is considered the
largest of the original Polish settlements in Cleveland. Today it
is part of Slavic Village
.