The drawing and following article were created by Trina Galauner and published in the January/March 2015 edition of Our Polish Ancestors. They are reproduced here with her permission.
Barbarowa
James and Moses Fish of Groton, Connecticut first settled the neighborhood of Brooklyn Village in 1812. These early settlers cleared an 80-acre tract of land that was on both sides of present day Denison Avenue. Soon after, the families Hinckley, Brainard, Young and Foster arrived. Ebenezer Foster owned a large tract of land, which would become a large part of “Barbarowa”. He was a farmer and raised horses.
By 1898, much of the Foster land had been subdivided. A development partnership, Petty and Baldwin, had also divided land into residential lots. There were now homes along Denison Avenue (then known as Newburgh Road) and West 15th Street (then known as Gertie Avenue). Leather tanneries and soap and fertilizer industries were established on the west bank of the Cuyahoga River. These industries attracted German immigrants and later, Polish immigrants. The lack of transportation to these factories and necessity of the workers to be able to
walk to their jobs led to the further increase of settlement into the nearby residential neighborhood.
By 1900, the area was developing but had more vacant lots than houses and numerous undeveloped streets. The Poles living in the area were dependent on the pastor of St. John Cantius for their religious needs. There was also an increase in the number of independent Catholic churches being formed and a belief that they were luring away the faithful from the Catholic diocese.
It was in this environment that the Polish parish of St. Barbara’s was founded in 1905. The establishment of the church drew more Poles to the area so that by the late 1920s Polish immigration had filled the neighborhood that was now called “Barbarowa”. The neighborhood would encompass the area south of Riverside Cemetery, west of the Cuyahoga River, north of Big Creek and east of West 25th Street.
For a very interesting read about St. Barbara’s church please visit: St. Barbara
My father grew up on W. 23rd Street and every Advent we make a pilgrimage back to the old neighborhood to visit his old house and go to mass at St. Barbara’s.