Kashubian Americans


Kashubian Americans are Americans of Kashubian descent.
The two earliest Kashubian American settlements in the United States were in the Winona, Minnesota area, including the towns of Fountain City, Pine Creek, Dodge, and Trempealeau across the Mississippi River in Wisconsin, and in Portage County, Wisconsin, including the towns of Polonia, Sharon, and Hull. The Winona settlement is traditionally dated to 1855, but actually began in 1859; the Portage County settlement can definitely be traced back to 1858. Winona is dubbed "Kashubian Capital of America", because of the largest population of Kashubians there.
After the American Civil War and the German Kulturkampf of the early 1870s, Kashubians emigrated to the United States in much larger numbers. While some headed for the Winona area and for Portage County, many Kashubians wound up living in major urban centers such as Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee. A smaller number of Kashubians settled in small farming communities scattered throughout Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana. By the turn of the century, Kashubian Americans tended to identify themselves completely as Polish Americans, although in Winona the Kashubian language would survive for another generation or two.

Notable people