St. Hedwig Church

St. Hedwig church was first organized in 1888 to serve Polish families that did not have a nearby Polish church. The church was staffed by the Resurrectionists Fathers. Controversies erupted in 1894 when a new assistant priest was put in place who tried to take over the church. Violence and schisms occurred, which led eventually to a new church being built in 1901, designed by the architect, Adolphus Druiding. A history of the church can be found on the St. Hedwig website.

For the parish’s golden jubilee in 1938, John Mallin, who was a well known church decorator at this time, was hired to redecorate the church for the amount of $23,375. The Rev. Francis Uzdrowski, CR was the pastor of the church between 1935-1945. The church decorations have not been altered since 1938 but need cleaning and restoration. The neighborhood where the church resides eventually became gentrified, and few Poles still live in the area. However the Polish tradition of the Blessing of the Baskets still occurs the Saturday before Easter here every year, and the church conducts masses in Polish, Spanish and English.