Emigration involved not a nation as a whole but a restricted part of it. High tides of emigration originated from and were confined to a definite and relatively small geographic area. For example many Polish immigrants came from one area, the Province of Posen.

Actually, emigration was associated with many phases of European Life. One reason may have been a change in military obligations or perhaps a change in the system of land culture. He may have been part of a religious movement or a victim of the social revolution of 1848. Whatever the reason, the story was usually the same, starting with the pooling of family resources. The funds were usually just sufficient to send only one member across the Atlantic. The eldest son left his European village, where his ancestors had contentedly dwelt and departed for America, and the great adventure was underway.

Poles leaving north and central Germany went by barge over the Elbo or Weser rivers to Hamburg or Bremen. The Poles having first gone by canal to Berlin and then boarding the barges. Bremen was an important tobacco center and ships returning to America would land its emigrants at a tobacco port. There was nothing glamorous about the hardships of steerage; and when travelers disembarked, most blindly followed the path of least resistance. The son settled in the east and found employment. In a year his savings paid for the passage of his sister. Within 2 years their combined savings brought over the parents and other children. During one of the money crises of 1819, 1837, 1842, 1857 and 1873, the family joined in the westward movement.

Before the days of the railroads, the journey from the seaport to the interior was as difficult as crossing the Atlantic and often lasted as long. The great natural highways were the Hudson River, the Mississippi River, the Ohio River and the Great lakes. Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Chicago and St. Louis were important immigration distributing centers.

Religious ties, involving language and social customs as well as spiritual needs played an important part in settlement. Polish immigration was first noted in 1835 with the arrival of 235 Polish army officers in exile who sought to obtain land in the Chicago area for a Polish township. The grant never came through. Today the Polish represent the area's largest ethnic group. Chicago has more Poles than any other city in the world except Warsaw, Poland. Also involved was the migration of European institutions, and they thrived in the American atmosphere, among these were the Polish Falcons. The stories behind these organizations contain a wealth of early history.

The Catholic Church was international, and the traditional policy was to employ the speech of the particular country and to draw its personnel from the people. In the early United States however, administrators and priests had to be obtained where and when they could be found, with the result the historic practice could not always be followed and the language appropriate to the congregation could not always be used. At the time when Catholics consisted principally of Irish and German immigrants, Frenchmen were numerous among the clergy. When the Bohemians and Poles constituted the bulk of Catholic immigrants, German and Irish were Bishops and priests. Toward the close of the 1880's the divergence between the shepards and the flocks was most striking. Factions within the Church demanded that each immigrant congregation be cared for by priests of its own nationality. This fostered a mosaic of churches each having its own language and customs.

Education was not neglected and parochial schools were founded. To mention one, only because it was unusual, St. Ambrose Academy, a beautiful convent and school located in the mansion of Chauncey Blair, 4th and Wabash Streets, and purchased by the Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1871.

Inside were marble fireplaces and frescoed ceilings. As Hoosier Slide became denuded of timber, sand drift formed ridges on the grounds and the place was sold to Haskell and Barker before the Academy became completely covered with sand.

The next migration went further east for its foundation and the Polish influx began. Most came to America for dual reasons: to escape political oppression and to find their fortunes. The first wave came over after the abortive uprising against the Russians in 1830-31. Many had been sent to Siberia and immigrated to America when released. These political refuges often worked in Pennsylvania coal mines before pushing westward toward Michigan City where they became, for the most part, factory workers, mill workers and small merchants.

Other waves followed and the economic crisis of 1850 and the second rebellion against the Russians in 1863-64. LaPorte County was well suited for the Poles and the Poles were well equipped for LaPorte County. The majority entering this county were from the Province of Posen. Their destination was Otis, a region not unlike their native land of Posen. Like Posen, LaPorte County was broken by innumerable small lakes and marshes, and fertile crop fields for growing wheat, barley, oats, corn, hops and beets. The towns of the county like the province of Posen had large and important industries, providing outlets for the crafts the men had learned in Poland, such as furniture factories, mills, breweries, distilleries, metal and flour mills. Posen, unlike Otis, was the center of Polish culture and politics. So from Posen and especially the villages of Kycnia, Szubin and Krolikowa came the first settlers of Otis, to be followed by their relatives and friends.

The families soon numbered about 200 and their spiritual needs were ministered by Father Bartosz, a Pole, and pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in LaPorte. During the summer of 1871 Rev. Szulak, a Jesuit, was a house guest at the home of Jaco Lewandoski and suggested it was time the Poles in the region of Otis had a church of their own. Apparently they thought so too and in 1873 their church St. Mary’s of Otis was completed. This then was the first Polish Catholic parish in Indiana.

The flow of Poles to northern Indiana continued and parish records for 1876 reveal Poles of Rolling Prairie, Michigan City, LaPorte, New Carlisle,

Terre Coupe and South Bend were affiliated with the Otis parish. With the growth of Studebaker and other plants a church was organized in South Bend which today supports four large parishes.

Bishop Aldering of the mother diocese of Ft. Wayne, named in 1890 Rev. Emmanuel Wrobel to start a parish for the Polish speaking people of Michigan City. Many had found work at the car shops and were moving to Michigan City. Temporary quarters were set up in St. Mary's rectory in Michigan City and services were held on the second floor of the grade school. In January of 1891 Father Wrobel was officially appointed pastor of the new parish and the same year a two-story school-church and sister's convent was constructed. The Rev. Joseph Bolka became pastor in 1909 and served the parish until his death April 28, 1941.