The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked a period of significant Polish immigration to the United States. As with many different ethnic backgrounds, both before and after, families left their native countries to escape hardship and seek opportunities in the United States. This is the story of Stanley Wielgosz and his long history of serving many families at his grocery store and assisting many families in their quest to relocate to the United States.
According to records obtained from Ancestry.com, Stanley (Stanislas) Wielgosz was born in Klikuszowa, Poland, on March 24, 1896 (poss. 1895), the son of Walter and Mary Wielgosz. He traveled to the United States on the S. S. Columbia, which departed from Glasgow on March 15, 1913, and arrived in New York on March 25, 1913. His destination was Easthampton, Massachusetts, where he would live with his godfather.
In 1917, he is shown as living at 12 Clinton Street, Easthampton and working as a clerk in a grocery store owned by John Stasz at 24 Maine Avenue. Mr. Stasz opened a second grocery store in 1919, located at 43 Parson Street. Stanley Wielgosz worked at the second store and resided at 106 Parsons Street.
A newspaper ad published in the Holyoke Transcript in December 1919 showed Mr. Wielgosz operating his own grocery store at 118 High Street in Holyoke. He appears in the 1920 Federal Census as a lodger in the residence of Antony and Jadwiga Stasz at 59 Front Street. The census also revealed that Mr. Wielgosz owned a grocery store.
The High Street grocery store was sold around 1921, and he worked for a short time at the nearby Hampden Cash Market. He then purchased a sausage factory in New Britain, Connecticut, but the work was overwhelming and affected his health. He returned to Holyoke and, in 1922, was shown as working as a clerk in a grocery store at 215 Lyman Street owned by Leon Otfinowski.
In 1923, he, along with John Dobosz and Frank Armata, owned the business known as A D Wielgosz Company, located at 215 Lyman Street, at the corner of Elm Street.
On May 21, 1923, he married Julia Chwalek in a ceremony held at Sacred Heart Church in Easthampton. In 1925, the couple purchased their long-time home on Miller Avenue in Holyoke.
In 1926, Messrs. Wielgosz and Dobosz are shown as owning the meat and grocery store at 215 Lyman Street and a second grocery market at 497 High Street.
By 1927, Stanley Wielgosz had the business to himself at 215 Lyman Street. The meat and grocery store became a staple in the predominantly Polish Ward 4 neighborhood at the time. When his sons, Henry and Stanley, were still youngsters, they started to help out in the store.
Mr. Wielgosz also sponsored over 50 people who emigrated from Poland to the Holyoke area to start new lives and obtain citizenship. As noted in a prior blog post, he owned Daly’s Hotel on High Street for a time.
The early 1970s Prospect Heights Urban Renewal Project initiated a mass exodus of residents from the neighborhood on the north side of Lyman Street to Pulaski Park. The city’s plan was to level all the old tenement buildings and homes and start anew, so a majority of the store’s customer base had moved elsewhere. The business continued until closing on May 24, 1974. Stanley Wielgosz retired at about the age of 78, having served his friends and customers for well over 50 years.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): including Price & Lee Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
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