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747 Shotwell St.
The Polish Club of San Francisco is located in a district rich with
cultural diversity and historic significance. It is located in the Mission
District of San Francisco -- originally the home of the Ohlone Indians. During
the mid-19th Century came the great European and Asian immigrations. The
mid-19th Century was marred by political turmoil and great famines. Poland was
among the countries that suffered great political upheaval. The ancient state
of Poland was conquered and divided by three imperial powers—the Russian,
Prussian, and Austro-Hungarian empires. The national identity of Poles came
under harsh attack by these hostile imperial regimes, but Poles were unified by
their belief in their right to independence and freedom of worship and in their
distinct identity as a people. Oppression and the difficulty of maintaining
Polish identity under hostile regimes led many Poles to seek freedom and refuge
outside their homeland. Many settled in the United States. At the turn of the
20th Century, Polish immigration exploded. With imperial repression, land
shortages, religious repression and chronic unemployment making life more and
more unbearable for the Poles of Europe, they left for America by the thousands
and hundreds of thousands. By the mid to late 19th Century and the beginning of
the 20th Century, the majority of Polish immigrants settled in the eastern and
mid-western states of the U.S. but many also ventured further west in search of
opportunity. After the great 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco,
many of the City's displaced businesses and residents moved to the Mission
District, making Mission Street a major ethnic commercial thoroughfare -- a
characteristic it retains to this day. Much of the Mission District was saved
from the 1906 conflagration by a fire hydrant known today as “the little giant”
– water from which is credited with stopping the 1906 fire from thoroughly
destroying the Mission district. One building saved from the conflagration was
the local Baptist church located at 22nd and Shotwell Streets that later became
the Polish Club (in 1926). The Polish Club building continues to have great
significance for Polish-Americans today. The original Polish settlements in
Northern California did not have a place to meet, so society meetings took
place in private homes or in spaces rented from other organizations. The oldest
San Francisco Polish society, founded in 1863 by Rudolf Korwin Piotrowski and
Kazimierz Bielawski, known as the Polish Society of California, rented office
space at 273 Golden Gate Avenue in a building that no longer exists. The Polish
St. Stanislaus Benevolent Society, founded in 1889 in San Francisco, held its
meetings at St. Boniface Catholic Church, established as a place of worship by
the local German community. The Polish Community in San Francisco, seeing the
great necessity to establish a meeting place of their own for social events and
for the preservation of their culture and language, began to look for a
permanent meeting place. The result of their collective efforts is today’s
Polish Club at 3040 22nd St. in San Francisco’s Mission District.
The existing structures were built between 1886 and 1900. The original Shotwell St. house (built in 1886) has approximately 1,500 square feet.
The Polish Club Hall has approximately 4,000 square feet. The entire lot, including the parking area is approximately 7,914 square feet.
1929 SF Public Library Photo
HISTORY OF THE POLISH CLUB
The mission of today’s Polish Club is to
serve as a center for the propagation of Polish culture, art,
language and community. Historic Newspaper Articles │History of the Polish
Club in the Mission District │ About 3040 22nd
St. and 747 Shotwell Polish Club, 75th
Anniversary Booklet | Polish Club, 80th
Anniversary Booklet | The Polish Society of
California, 100th Anniversary Booklet |
