Name/Title
Print, PhotographEntry/Object ID
P4222Description
Side view of the Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church built in 1916, Pe Ell, WA. In the early 1850's Bohemian settlers took up donation land claims in an isolated area of western Lewis County near the banks of the upper Chehalis River. The claims were a few miles from an area known then as Pe Ell Prairie. A French Canadian, Pierre Charles, had kept his horses there and the Indians had named the prairie for him. Pierre, with the Indian pronunciation, became Pe Ell. Forty years later, Omar Mauerman, son of one of these pioneer settlers, platted the town of Pe Ell at the time of construction of the Northern Pacilfic branch line connecting Chehalis Junction with South Bend on the Willapa River. The branch line made possible the development of a vast new timbered area. Among the people who came to work in logging camps and sawmills and to take up claims in the newly opened area were large numbers of German and Polish immigrants, many of whom had first lived in Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconson. Pe Ell became known as a strong Polish Catholic community. In 1892 Catholics there asked for a Polish Priest. Their first church was dedicated the next year. By 1902 a larger Roman Catholic church was built, served by a Polish Priest. However, near the turn of the century in the United States, some Poles broke from the Roman Catholic church and formed the Polish National Catholic Church to maintain their own language and traditions. Holy Cross, built in 1916 and still in use, is one of the few of this denomination west of the Mississippi. Have negative.Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
Print, PhotographicNomenclature Primary Object Term
PhotographNomenclature Sub-Class
Graphic DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsSearch Terms
Churches, Holy Cross Polish National, Negatives, Pe Ell, WACreated By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
April 17, 2009Updated By
lchmvolunteer@gmail.comUpdate Date
August 21, 2024