Berea’s Polish Village (Est. 1872)
Berea was originally a part of the Township of Middleburgh. The first settler of Middleburgh was Jared Hickox who came from Connecticut in 1809 to start a homestead in the Western Reserve. Later, Ephraim Vaughn came with his sons and settled in the present day area of downtown Berea and started a saw mill and grist mill. But it would be John Baldwin’s settlement and discovery of sandstone in 1842 that would eventually draw Polish immigrants to Berea.
John Baldwin realized that sandstone made a good grinding stone and began manufacturing and selling grindstones. Eventually, the business drew other entrepreneurs to the area to mine the stone that was also an ideal building material. This lead to the establishment of many small quarry outfits along the Rocky River. Berea sandstone or “Berea grit” as it was called would become world renown. As the quarrying business grew, it attracted immigrant laborers from Ireland, Scotland, and England. Eventually, German and Polish immigrants moved into the area. The Polish immigrants established a settlement on the north side of Berea. The first Pole to settle was Jerome Mucha who came in 1865.
The Poles in Berea were predominantly Roman Catholic and first worshipped at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church on Front Street. By 1873, there were about 100 Polish families in Berea and they wished for their own church. They petitioned the Bishop and were granted permission to form St. Adalbert’s Parish. Land on what is now Adelbert Street was purchased from John Nau in 1874. The church was completed and dedicated in September of 1875. Polish immigration to Berea continued well into the 20th century as the quarrying industry was booming and workers were needed. Many men died from “stone cutter’s consumption” when the fine dust generated by the cutting of the stone would fill their lungs and lead to respiratory disease. By the 1940s, the sandstone industry declined but the established Polish neighborhood in Berea remained.