Alliance of Poles of America (Cleveland, Ohio : 1895-2005)

The Alliance of Poles of America was a regional cultural and fraternal insurance organization established in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 22, 1895. Originally named the Alliance of Poles in Ohio, the organization was founded by 68 members of Group 143 of the Polish National Alliance (PNA) who were dissatisfied with that body's decision to admit non-Roman Catholic Poles to membership. Thomas Zolnowski was elected chair of the new organization, Teofil Golembiewski vice-chair, Thomas Rutkowski secretary, and Joseph Deranek treasurer. The new group, named the Alliance of Poles of Ohio, held its first convention in St. Stanislaus's Parish Hall on 2 Jan. 1897. Its treasury then held $1,918. By its 1903 convention in Toledo, OH, the Alliance had expanded to other cities and the treasury had surpassed $20,000.

The Alliance initially received most of its membership from the Cleveland area and from Ohio cities with substantial Polish communities. In 1917, however, the organization changed its name to the Alliance of Poles of America in order to more accurately reflect its growing membership outside Ohio. In 1925 the Alliance, with 17,000 members, began construction of its $180,000 national headquarters at Broadway and Forman avenues in the heart of Cleveland's Polish community in the Slavic Village neighborhood, which opened on February 7, 1926. Membership fell to 13,000 in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan in 1935; 8,000 of these belonged to the Alliance's 66 Cleveland branches. Yet the Alliance expanded its activities, beginning a newspaper, Zwiazkowiec (the Alliancer), and contributing to charitable and educational efforts to benefit Poles both in the homeland and in the U.S.

Membership later opened to men and women and to individuals with other than Polish or Roman Catholic background. By 1973 the Alliance continued as both an insurance and a social organization with 15,000 members in 60 lodges in the Cleveland area, cooperating with other Polish American organizatoins in cultural activities. In addition to insurance, it offered to its members mortgage loans, maintained a welfare fund for sick or disabled members, awarded college scholarships, sponsored sports, a drama club, a scouting program, and showings of Polish films. The drama club evolved into the Polish theater, and a library, and the Polish School were added.

The Alliance of Poles of America merged with Polish Roman Catholic Union of America in 2005.