POLISH AMERICAN CITIZENS CLUB
 1038 Lowell Street, Camden NJ

The Polish American Citizens Club was first organized in 1914, to provide a social and educational resources for the rapidly growing Polish-American community centered around St. Joseph's Church in the Whitman Park section of Camden NJ. The Club's first president was Josef Zbieratsky. Journalist Peter Liwoch was for many years the recording secretary, served on the board of directors, and founded the club's library, whose books numbered in the thousands.  By the 1920s the club was meeting at 1559 Mount Ephraim Avenue. This building was purchased in January of 1928. After Prohibition was repealed in 1933,   a bar was opened for members. In the late 1940s, Stephen Stemborski was the steward.

The Polish American Citizens Club also sponsored sports teams and leagues to keep the boys and girls of the community out of trouble. At least one PACC baseball player, Sig Jakucki, went to the major leagues.

On March 18, 1950, the Polish-American Citizens Club dedicated the fine hall that they had built at the corner of Warsaw and Lowell Streets. The building served the Polish-American community and the entire neighborhood for many years. Activities included furnishing classes to Polish immigrants so they could become naturalized American citizens. It is interesting to note that in this effort the PACC partnered with the Camden County organizations of the YMCA and the Patriotic Order Sons of America to provide these services. 

The Polish-American Citizens Club remained open in Camden into the early 1990s. The building was subsequently sold to the Board of Education of the City of Camden.

Camden Courier-Post January 11, 1928

POLISH CITIZENS CLUB TO CHANGE NAME

 Steps were taken to change the name of the Polish Citizens Club to the Polish American Citizens Club at the installation of the newly elected officers of the organization in the clubhouse, 1559 Mt. Ephraim Avenue, last night.

The following officers were installed: Stanley Ciechanowski, president; F. Multanski, vice president; J. Witik, financial secretary; J. Mroz, recording secretary; Edward Praiss, corresponding secretary, and F. Benclawski, treasurer. The installation was conducted by J. Zbieratzki, honorary president. 

President Ciechanowski, in his address to the members, spoke of the necessity of enlarging the club’s headquarters, and of plans for a membership drive. He also spoke of having a large number of Polish citizens represented in the next naturalization class here.

Camden Courier-Post - October 15, 1931

CAMDEN AMATEUR LOOP IN CONFAB TOMORROW

Managers of teams which were represented in the Camden Amateur League during the past baseball season are requested to attend a meeting of the circuit tomorrow night at the Polish American Citizens' Club, Mt. Ephraim Avenue and Morton Streets.

The confab, which is scheduled to start promptly at 8 o'clock, is to be held so that plans can be made for the coming basketball season. Any other club desiring to enter the circuit for the court campaign may make its application tomorrow evening.

POLITICAL PARAGRAPHS

A. Harry Moore, Democratic can­didate for governor, is scheduled to speak at the meeting of Gloucester Democrats in the city hall there next. Wednesday night. The meeting will be in charge of Mayor J. Emerson Jackson and the county Democratic committee.

Gloucester Republicans tonight will hold a. rally at the headquarters of the city committee, 104 North King Street.

The Polish-American Women's Citizens Club, in its recent resolution pledging support to David Baird, endorsed a candidate for the first time in the club's six-year history, according to Mrs. Priscilla Ciechanowski, secretary. The club is two to one for Baird, she said. Other officers are Mrs. A. Bec, president; Mrs. H. Stojak, vice-president, and Mrs. A. Skierska, treasurer.

A huge new sign, in vivid lettering, has appeared on the east side or Admiral Wilson Boulevard, south of Baird Boulevard, urging a vote for Baird November 3. It is one of the largest campaign signs in Camden County.

Congressman Charles A. Wolverton is appearing almost everywhere with Baird. The congressman is one of the gubernatorial nominee's ablest campaign advisers. He was with the candidate at the Trenton convention of the New Jersey Taxpayers' Association Wednesday.

David Tattersdill, Broadway merchant, is among the latest members of the Speakers' Bureau at Republican headquarters, Broadway and Stevens Street. He is one of the organizers of the Forty-second Street Baird Boosters' Club.

Seventy-two hundred applications for challengers were received Tuesday afternoon, the deadline, by the Camden County Board of Elections. Of the total, 4000 were for challengers for Republican candidates and the remainder for Democratic candidates, including those seeking office as governor, freeholder, justice of the peace and various borough and township offices. No Socialist or prohibition applications for challengers were filed here.

Joseph A. Varbalow, former assistant prosecutor, was so eager to read Moore's speech he had to borrow a cent from Chief of County Detectives Lawrence T. Doran to buy the Morning Post.

Camden Courier-Post January 20, 1928

Buy Polish Citizens Clubhouse

Here is the building committee of the Poish American Citizens Club, which has just completed negotiations for purchase of the club house, 1559 Mount Ephraim Avenue. In the front row, from left to right, are Joseph. Mroz, recording secretary; Frank Multanski, vice president; Stanley Ciechanowski, president; Joseph Witek, financial secretary; and Frank Benclawski, treasurer. In the back row are shown, from left to right, Edward Praiss, Stephen Srzechowski, Joseph Zbieratzki, Aloysius Wilk and Walter Supernack. The club has occupied the headquarters on Mount Ephraim Avenue for some years and now has purchased it at a reported price of $18,000. 

POLISH A.C.C. CLIMBS IN S.J. POOL LEAGUE
Locals Gain Extra Point to Beat Westville and Take Third Place

Last night’s Results
Polish A. C. C. 287;  Westville 267 

By gaining the extra-point for high total score, the Polish American Citizens Club's cue artists defeated the WestvilIe team last night at the latter's tables in the South Jersey Pocket Billiard League.

As a result of its triumph, the Polish American Club climbed into undisputed possession of third place, only three points in the rear of the pace-setting Maple Shade outfit which nosed out Thirteenth Ward for the sunberth last Tuesday night.  

Tonight, all eight clubs will again swing into action with the "Shaders" defending their lead against Haddonfield, while Thirteenth Ward. entertains Pitman and Polish is to Westville with Paulsboro traveling to Collingswood.

 Walt Petris, who has been the most consistent winner for the Polish A.C.C, continued his victorious stride for the Whitman Park aggregation last night, while Stan Kaminski also chalked up a victory: Lenardo and Fox won for WestvilIe, the latter beating out Steve Gromacki in a keenly contested duel by the score of 75 to 71.

"Pusey", the firstbaseman for the P.A.C.C., was Camden police officer Leon Puszcykowski

POLISH SOCIETIES WANT CURFEW LAW
Commission to Study Juvenile Delinquency Here Also Advocated

The passage of a curfew law and the appointment of a commission to study juvenile delinquency were advocated last night at a meeting of the United Polish organizations at the Polish-American Citizens Club, 1559 Mt. Ephraim avenue.

Thadeus A. Sikorski, president, said 32 Polish organizations were represented at the meeting and approved a proposed curfew law, which would take children under 16 years from the streets at 9.30 p. m. during the Winter and 10 p. m. in Summer.

"We propose two plans," Sikorski said. "The policeman finding a child on the street after hours would take him home and the parents would be handed a summons to court, where a  nominal fine would be imposed. Or, the child could be taken to a police station and the parents summoned to take the youngster home. A large factory whistle could be blown as a curfew in North, South and East Camden.

"We know Mrs. Mary W. Kobus, director of public safety, is in favor of correcting juvenile delinquency, and we will ask her to name a committee to study correcting this evil."

Sikorski said the proposals will be sent to the city commission in the form of resolutions. He spoke before the commission on previous versions on the curfew law .

January 11, 1938

Another predominantly Polish-American group in Whitman Park was the
South Camden Civic Association.

Also active in Whitman Park at that time was
St. Joe's Polish Athletic Association.

A galaxy of sports notables will be the guests at the annual Sports Dinner sponsored by the St. Joseph's Polish Athletic Association at the parish house, Tenth and Liberty streets tomorrow night.

Heading the list of prominent figures will be Maurice "Clipper" Smith, coach of Villanova's undefeated football team, who will also bring along several of the Wildcats' star gridmen and basketball players. Alexander Wojciehowich, All-American center at Fordham last season, will also attend and address the gathering along with Walter Budniak and Stanley Ciechanowski.

The banquet is being tendered to the football, baseball and basketball squads representing St. Joe's.

A star-studded array of sport8 notables will be grouped around' the speakers' table at the first annual Sports Dinner of the St. Joseph's Polish Athletic Association tonight it the parish hall, Tenth and Liberty Streets.

The affair; which is expected to be one of the most colorful held in this vicinity recently, is in honor of the baseball, basketball and football players who represented the local club during the past and present seasons.

Heading the array of speakers will be Maurice "Clipper" Smith, who coached the Villanova College gridsters to an unbeaten 1937 campaign. Smith will bring along several of the Wildcats' outstanding gridster and basketball stars.

A few who Smith will have in tow and who are down as speakers are John Wysocki, mentioned on several All-America teams at an end post; John Mellus, another who gained prominent mention on All-America elevens at tackle, and Walt Nowak, a member of the local association and who sparkled at end for the 'Cats in his sophomore year last season.

The Villanova basketball squad will be represented by "Duke" Duzminski, crack forward who is being touted as one of the outstanding courtmen in the East, while "Doc" Jacobs, coach of the Wildcat baseball team, will also attend.

Wysocki and Mellus, however, are not the only All-Americans who will be on hand. Alex Wojciehowicz, who gained mention as an All-America center at Fordham last year, will also be a guest.

Ted Nitka, coach of the St. Joe's grid team, was a former teammate of Wojciehowicz at Fordham, the former graduating two years ago after starring at an end post.

Toastmaster for the occasion will be Joseph Scechowski, former president of the association, while other speakers will be Henry Ciechanowski, president; Stanley Ciechanowski, and Walter Budniak. The banquet committee is composed of Edward Ziemnicki, chairman; Edward Rydzewski, Edward Snitowski and Henry Ciechanowski.

The bi-monthly amateur boxing shows sponsored by the Polish-American Citizens Club of this city, held at the Bonsall School gymnasium and listed for tomorrow night, have been postponed according to officials of the club.

The next show will be held on Wednesday, February 23 at the above site.

Campbell's Soup Wins Slugfest from 12th Ward, 12 to 8
Victory Gives 'Soupmen' Deadlock for Sunberth
St. Joe's Routs Polish, 13-1 as Walker Robins Trounce Sacred Heart
LINCOLN ALSO TRIUMPHS

Outslugging Twelfth Ward, Campbell’s Soup went into a tie for first place in the American Division of the Kobus Twilight League when it defeated the "Warders" 12 to 8 at Dudley Grange Park in one of four games played last night.

In another American Division tussle, St. Joseph's Polish soundly trounced the Polish American Citizens Club, 13 to 1 at Broadway and Everett street.

In a pair of National Division tussles, the Walker Robins gained a firmer grip on second place when it whipped Sacred Heart at the Fairview Ball Park, 13 to 1 and Lincoln took the measure of St. Joan of Arc at Seventh and Jefferson by the score of 5 to 1.

Pitchers in the Campbell's-Twelfth Ward fracas took a beating with the "Soupmen" collecting 13 blows off Mike Huggard and Martin, while the "Warders" slapped Norm Young for 11 safeties.

Campbell's lost no time in putting the game away, tallying seven runs in the first inning and then added one in the third and two in the fourth to clinch the verdict. The "Warders" tried hard to overcome the lead and in the sixth session put on a rally which netted five runs.

Gresk was the hitting star for Campell’s, rapping a pair of singles and a home run, while Herb Dunn sparkled at the plate for the Warders with three for four.

The Polish-Americans were no match for St. Joe's Polish, Jim Stubbs setting down the former outfit without much trouble, giving up but six hits. St. Joe's on the other hand rapped T. Martin and Huston for 19 wallops with Stubbs and Gray pacing the offense, each getting four hits. Walt Nowak also hit hard, getting three for four. Galecki was the only Polish-American who could solve Stubb's offerings, smacking three singles.

The Walker Robins also had little difficulty with Sacred Heart, scoring in each of the six innings with the exception of the fourth. Carpenter worked on the hill for the Robins and set down his foe with only two hits, while his mates clubbed Phillips, Rudolph and Savich for 11 bingles. Warren, Jones and Carpenter led the attack with two hits apiece. Sacred Heart's lone run came on a homer by Cianfrani in the second inning.

Two runs in the first and three in the eighth spelled victory for Lincoln over St. Joan of Arc. Schoekolf went the route for Lincoln and spaced out eight hits, the Saints' lone run coming in the third on a homer by Gondolf. Lincoln collected eight hits off Franks and Collins with Lyback and J. Schramm each getting two.

March 10, 1950

Click on image to Enlarge

It all begins in a little row house (they call them “townhouses” now) on Grant Street in Camden NJ. I remember my mother telling me once that she and my father paid $3,000 for that house somewhere around 1952, when they married.

I slept in the same bed with my older sister Chris, who was only 18 months older than me, and later, my 5-year younger sister Cindy joined us in a crib added to our bedroom. There were only two bedrooms in the house: One, the front bedroom, where our parents slept, and ours, in the back.

We were very close to my mother’s parents whom we called Nana and Pop-Pop while growing up. My dad was in the Naval Air Reserve and when he’d go to do his two weeks’ active duty for training in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, we’d all go and stay with my mom in my grandparent’s house which was on Louis Street in Camden where they remained until the city got taken over by the ravages of poverty in the form of crime, drugs, and physical decay. Growing up Polish-American was interesting and a source of great pride today. The neighborhood in which my grandparents lived and the church community of which they were a part was mainly Polish. While we grew up hearing Polish being spoken by our grandparents it was usually when they didn’t want us kids to understand what they were saying. Although food was prevalent in the house of my grandparents, it wasn’t as much polish food as you might think. That was primarily reserved for holidays. There would be the occasional “galumpki” (ground meat wrapped in cabbage and cooked in tomato sauce), fresh kielbasa, and a chicken broth based noodle soup called “kluski and oso”, but generally the Polish dishes were reserved for holidays. On Christmas Eve, when we celebrated the traditional “Viglia” (vigil) where no meat was eaten, the fare was sauerkraut soup, pierogies stuffed with cheese, potatoes, or sauerkraut, and salmon cakes. We would break the bread (“opoetek”) with each other, making a wish as we did so, for the other, such as good health in the new year, or some particular fortune we knew the other was seeking (most of my adult years, my relatives wished for me to find a husband—which should settle once and for all any question as to the effectiveness of that ritual). On Easter, it was hot beet soup into which we put slices of hard boiled egg and fresh kielbasa, beets, and torn up pieces of rye bread. After the soup were ham sandwiches (both red and white i.e., fresh, ham) and an array of deli salads such as coleslaw, potato salad, and macaroni salad. Also at Easter would be the traditional breaking of the opoetek, and the breaking of the hard-boiled eggs with each other (end to end to see whose would crack).

Visits to Nana and Pop-pops often involved a walk down to the corner park (Whitman Park) where we would chase or feed the squirrels despite admonitions of the rabies they carried, and make “daisy chains” from clover flowers. Around the corner on Mt Ephraim Avenue was a bakery where we loved to go and see the Felix the Cat clock on the wall as its eyes and tail switched back and forth from side to side with the ticking of the clock. There we could get cookies, or powdered cream filled donuts that were delicious.

One of the things I remember well from my grandparents’ time living in Camden was the Polish American Citizens Club (PACC). In its hall was held just about every wedding reception I had ever been to as a kid—and probably all the wedding receptions of the members of the local Polish community. If you recall the scene of Michael and Angela’s wedding reception in the movie the Deer Hunter, you have an idea of what those receptions were like. Mostly I enjoyed just going to the PACC with my grandfather on a weekend afternoon and sitting on a bar stool next to him while he had a beer or two and chatted in Polish and English with other bar patrons. I would sip a coke with a cherry in it, or, if I wanted to feel really grown up, a ginger ale, through a straw as I breathed in the aroma of stale beer and played with the pressed cardboard coasters with the Ballantine Beer logo on them.

There are memories that come to me in bits and pieces of the eight plus years of my life in Camden. The music that began the TV show “Sea Hunt” that my father liked to watch. Going with my father to see my grandmother in Ablett Village on Mom’s Bingo nights. “The Late Show” back then didn’t star David Letterman, but rather was a late night movie, that always began with a photo of a clock tower while the music of Percy Faith’s “The Syncopated Clock” played. The red bricked schoolyard ringed by a black wrought-iron fence in which we played tag and dodge ball and other games at recess. Watching fireworks in Pyne Point Park. My sister, Chris, and my cousin Larry and I would lay on our backs in the grass and pretend the sparks from the fireworks were going to fall upon us like tiny arrows of flame. Near Pyne Point park was also the school where we went to line up to get our oral polio vaccine: a sugar cube in a tiny white fluted cup. Visiting Nana and going to Whitman Park and chasing squirrels and making “daisy chains” of clover flowers. The bakery around the corner where the Felix the Cat clock flicked his tail back and forth, back and forth in time to the ticking of the clock as his eyes traveled side to side. The powdered sugar cream donuts were my favorite and the powdered snowflake rolls made delicious sandwiches. Molotsky’s candy store on the corner where my sister one day got a Chunky candy with a tiny white worm in it!

We moved to Cherry Hill in December of 1963 for a better life, more space, and to be closer to my father’s job at the Hussmann refrigerator plant. But I will always remember and treasure my memories of Camden and the little house at 716 Grant Street. streets.

Camden Courier-Post - August 22, 2004

Polish American Group
Hopes For Permanent Home
Members Recall Club's Heyday in Camden

By LUIS PUGA

Charlie Korostynski, the president of the Polish American Club of Camden County, can't walk around the club's fifth annual picnic for long before someone yells out his name.

Korostynski is one of 300 Polish Americans who attended his club's picnic Saturday on Soupy Island. For many it was a chance to catch up with members who have spread across southern New Jersey.

"It's a reunion for people who have not seen each other in years," said Korostynski, who said members were once centered in Whitman Park in Camden. "They get to meet and enjoy themselves."

Now, club members are spread out and the club rents space in the VFW hall in Oaklyn. It's a situation they hope to change with younger members who they hope will sustain the club. And, they hope to inspire them with a new and permanent club location.

The club opened its doors in 1914, a year after St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, a Polish parish, did.

But as the city and neighborhood deteriorated, members of the club and parishioners moved out.

"People became afraid to even come out for even socials events or the weddings," said Ed Zbikowski, the club's treasurer from Washington Township.

What they left was a unified community that held Polish/English classes for recent immigrants, raised funds to bring new immigrants over to the United States, and neighbors who had a strong sense of community.

"In my day, one key fit all the houses," said Henry Baldyga, 86. "In fact, people seldom locked their doors (in Whitman Park)."

Older members said the 3,000 club members held meetings in Polish, with an opening rendition of "God Bless America" and the Polish national anthem sung at the end of the meeting. Now, there are 180 members.

Baldyga bought tickets to Saturday's picnic for as many members of his family as he could. But, he holds no illusions that the unity the community had in Whitman Park.

"It's pretty tough," he said. "It's not what it used to be. Polish was Polish."

His daughter, 57-year-old Brenda Baldyga of Delran, said she's sad that recipes and traditions have been lost over generations. What keeps her tied to her roots is her faith and the fact that she attends a Polish Catholic Parish outside of Camden.

"That means a lot to me as a Polish person," she said.

But, even she noted that each new generation speaks less and less Polish.

"It's not a bad thing," she said. "We still try to instill our children with what the heritage was," she said.

Father Edward Lipinski, pastor of the St. Joseph's, has been on the job for two months. But, 30 years ago, he was an associate pastor in the church's heyday. He was raised in Whitman Park and took all his sacraments at the parish he now leads.

"It's the church that brings people together," he said, noting that weekend Mass and major holidays bring people back to the city.

Recently, the church received a $908,000 matching grant for rehabilitation from the state Historic Preservation Office.

"(The church) belongs in Camden and I believe the people will come back to it," he said.

Club members said if they can find a permanent location they can offer younger people something tangible, a place to meet and socialize and simply be Polish.

"It's just so beautiful," said Walter Piatek, 75, of Berlin. "To me, when I here things Polish, when I hear Polish singing, I choke up."

He would hope the language survives in younger generations, but has his doubts.

"It's a melting pot and we are certainly melting," he said.

WHERE TO CALL

If you want to help the Polish American Citizens Club find a permanent location, you can call (609) 405-0099.If you want more information on St. Joseph's Catholic Church's effort to raise funds to match its state grant, you can call (856) 963-1285. 

KEY POINTS

• In Camden County, 30,615, or 6 percent, of the population identified themselves as having Polish ancestry in the 2000 census.
• In Burlington County, it was 29,876, or 7.1 percent of the population.
• In Gloucester County, it was 16,794, or 6.6 percent of the population