Our History

History of the Holy Spirit PNCC Parish in Little Falls, NY

In the 1920s there were about 100 Polish-American families in the Little Falls area. In 1926 there was one Roman Catholic parish in the city. Fr. J. Blonkowski was the pastor. He reportedly had been against building the Polish Home in Little Falls and he didnâ€™t want to give First Holy Communion to children who attended the Polish School. These events caused many of the Polish people to leave the Roman Catholic Church and establish a Polish National Catholic Church Parish[1. Source: Ksiega Pamiatkowa â€œ33â€, p.375-379, Scranton PA, 1930].

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The first organizational meeting was held in 1926 at the tailor shop of Henry Wiernicki. The church was officially incorporated on May 20, 1926. The original trustees were John Lolo, Henry Wiernicki, John Fortuna, Peter Wojcicki, Alexander Mikus, and Peter Mikus. The people then elected the first Parish Committee consisting of Antoni Adamkiewicz â€“ chairman, J. Kurgan â€“ vice chairman, F. Kurpiak â€“ financial secretary, Alexander Mikus â€“ recording secretary, Josef Banasiak â€“ treasurer and trustees; John Lolo, Henry Wiernicki, John Fortuna, Peter Wojcicki, Peter Mikus, and Wojciech Skuza.

1940s-first-holy-communion2-father-brzostowski The first Holy Mass was celebrated in a rented church by Father Leopold DÄ…browski, who was the pastor of the Holy Cross PNCC parish in Utica, NY. The church was on the north side of Main Street, west of Furnace Street. It had been used by an African-America congregation which had dwindled as its congregants left the area in search of work elsewhere.

â€¨In November 1926 the red brick church at 618 Gansevoort Street was purchased. It previously had been a Lutheran church. The dedicated parishioners repainted and remodeled the building. Mr. Sikora designed and constructed the main altar. A few years later Mr. Koszalkowski built the two side altars and the pulpit. In the 1930â€™s the parish had the following organizations: Maria Konopnicka Womenâ€™s Poetry Society, Juliusz SÅ‚owacki Poetry Society, Jozef Pilsudski Children Group, and two choirs; the Frederick Chopin choir and the choir of Saint Cecilia. The Pastor at that time was Father Pawel Kozlowski (1929-1932). He led the Polish School and was also the Choir Director. At that time the parish counted around 60 families[2. Source: Ksiega Pamiatkowa â€œ33â€, p.375-379, Scranton PA, 1930.].

Peter Mikus played the organ, rang the bell, and served at the altar. It was said that he never missed a Sunday, holiday, or funeral.

Polish language classes were taught three times a week and religious classes on Saturday.

The adjoining parsonage served as the home of the Rev. Father Nandowski who was the first resident pastor.
The people worked hard to pay for the church and the cemetery. As many as 500 people attended the dinners and Dozynki in the fall. Birthdays and anniversaries were regularly celebrated. Each person or family gave $.50 and a gift was purchased and the rest of the money was donated to the church. Mrs. Krutz recalled that her parents had entertained people playing cards at their home and $30.00 was donated to the church. Today, we still carry on the tradition of supporting our church and cemetery by sponsoring dinners, coffee hours, food sales, picnics, and polka festivals.â€¨â€¨

â€¨In the early years, only Polish people attended our church but as time went by families intermarried. In July 1958, a resolution was passed for the parish to celebrate one entire mass on Sunday in the English language. As time went on, more people attended the English service. Today, our masses are celebrated in English, but our choir still sings many traditional Polish hymns.â€¨â€¨

Establishment of the Parish Cemetery

The Parish has its own cemetery on the north side of Route 5 in the Town of Herkimer. Five acres of were purchased in July 1926 from John and Anna Marusic.

â€¨The men of the church worked together to clear the land by hand. The women prepared food at home, took the trolley to East Herkimer to the back of the property and climbed the hill to the cemetery to feed the workers. â€¨â€¨There was an old factory in Middleville, NY that was free for the taking. The men of the church cut this building into sections and transported it to the cemetery. They rebuilt it into the pavilion that still stands today. â€¨â€¨Frank Gambala, a stone mason and member of the church constructed the pillars at the entrance to the cemetery as well as the vault and chapel. Mr. M. Kaleta gave the fence around the cemetery. Thanks to a generous donation from the Hyla family this fence was replaced in 2003.

â€¨â€¨Jadiviga Adamkiewicz, wife of Antoni, age 42 was the first person buried in the new cemetery. She died in December and was buried the following May.

The State of New York purchases some of the unused cemetery land when they needed to widen Route 5.â€¨â€¨

Father Senior Walter Madej sculpted the sign for our cemetery.

The founding of the Holy Spirit PNCC parallels the founding of our denomination, the Holy Polish National Catholic Church.

Priests that have served Holy Spirit Parish in Little Falls: