Commemoration of Casimir Pulaski

General Casimir Pulaski
1931 Commemorative Issue, 2c

Casimir Pulaski ( March 6, 1745 – October 11, 1779) is one of the most honored persons in American history, in terms of places and events named in his honor.

Hundreds of monuments, memorial plaques, streets, parks and similar objects are named after him.^[1]

Cities and other locales

Several cities and counties in U.S. states are named after Pulaski, including the cities of Pulaski, Tennessee and Iowa; counties in Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia; as well as villages in Illinois (Mt. Pulaski) and Wisconsin and New York; and many Townships.

Parks

General Casimir Pulaski

Pulaski equestrian statue at Pulaski Park in Manchester, New Hampshire

• "Pulaski Park" sits on Main Street between City Hall and the historic Academy of Music Theater, in the town of Northampton, Massachusetts. Northampton and the surrounding area is home to many Polish-American immigrants and their descendants.
• "Pulaski Park" in Manchester, New Hampshire, located at the corner of Union and Bridge streets, is home to equestrian statue of Pulaski.
• "Casimir Pulaski Memorial Park" is located in Chepachet, Rhode Island, within the 4,000 acres (16 km²) George Washington Management Area. The 100 acres (400,000 m²) park features the 13 acres (53,000 m²) Peck Pond, hiking, and cross-country skiing, and general recreation facilities.
• In Hammond, Indiana, there is a park named in his honor on the north part of Hammond which is 2 blocks square between Sheffield Avenue and Grover Avenue and between 137th St. and 139th St.
• "Pulaski Park" sits along 20th Street, between Cleveland and Oklahoma Avenues, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Roadways and bridges

Pulaski Memorial in Patterson Park, Baltimore, Maryland

• The (General) Pulaski Skyway, a 3.5-mile series of bridges between Jersey City and Newark that connects to the Holland Tunnel, opened in 1932 in his honor. Interstate 93 in Boston has a Pulaski Skyway as well. The North-South Arterial (Rtes 5, 8 and 12) in Utica, New York is also named the Casimir Pulaski Highway. There is also a statue of him on Utica's Memorial Parkway.^[1]
• The Pulaski Bridge connects the neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, one of the largest Polonias in America, to Long Island City, Queens.
• In Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, the town where the Little Egg Harbor massacre occurred, there is a section of the Mystic Islands development named "Pulaski's Village", with a street named "Pulaski Blvd", which is home to a monument in Pulaski's honor. The monument is the starting point for the town's Memorial Day celebration and parade.
• Other streets named for Pulaski, in various cities including Riverhead, New York, Huntington, New York, Brooklyn, NY, Hamtramck, Michigan, Calumet City, Illinois, Bellingham, Massachusetts, South Bend, Indiana, Columbia, South Carolina, Athens, Georgia, Toledo, Ohio, Pulaski Street in Peabody, Ma, and Pulaski Road in Chicago. Pulaski Avenue in Philadelphia runs through Germantown, Philadelphia, which was the site of the Battle of Germantown in which Pulaski participated. Interstate 65 through Lake County, Indiana is designated as Casimir Pulaski Memorial Highway. U.S. Route 40 from Midvale, Delaware, to Baltimore, Maryland, is named Pulaski Highway, and the latter city's Patterson Park contains a monument in honor of him. NW 22nd Ave. in Miami, Florida is also Gen. Casimir Pulaski Way.

Holidays

• The United States has long commemorated Pulaski's contributions to the American War of Independence, but Polish immigration in the 20th century heightened the interest. In 1929, Congress passed a resolution recognizing October 11 of each year as "General Pulaski Memorial Day",^[2] dedicated to Pulaski's memory and to the heritage of Polish-Americans. Each October Grand Rapids, Michigan, celebrates "Pulaski Days".^[3] There is also a statue of Pulaski in Detroit, Michigan, in the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Michigan Avenue.^[4]
• The Commonwealth of Kentucky has by law, since before 1942, recognized General Pulaski's Day. The State of Illinois has since 1977 celebrated Casimir Pulaski Day on the first Monday of March, when all state government buildings are closed. School districts have the option of observing Pulaski Day as a holiday. Wisconsin and Indiana extend similar recognition, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, also holds an annual parade and school holiday. On this day there is a Pulaski Day parade on Fifth Avenue in New York City.^[1]
• Buffalo, whose population comprises a great percentage of Polish immigrants and their descendants, honors Pulaski with the Casimir Pulaski Memorial Monument at Main and South Division Streets, and an annual parade on Pulaski Day (which does not coincide with either of the other Pulaski Days in March or October, instead being held in mid-July).

Monuments

Pulaski monument in Savannah, Georgia

• Casimir Pulaski Monument in Savannah

Pulaski statue in Flint, Michigan.

• In Freedom Plaza, Washington, D.C., there is a statue dedicated to Pulaski located at Pennsylvania Avenue, between 13th and 14th Streets.^[1]
• A monument commemorating Pulaski and The Affair at Little Egg Harbor is located in Little Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey near the site of the massacre. The street in which the monument sits is also named in Pulaski's honor.^[5][6]*Additionally, there is Pulaski Square in downtown Savannah and Fort Pulaski National Monument outside Savannah. In McGlachlin Park, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, stands a statue of Count Casimir Pulaski. There is a small park named in his honor in Northampton, Massachusetts and in South Bend, Indiana.
• Pulaski Square, erected in 1937 on Mall C, adjacent Cleveland Browns Stadium in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, was built by the Polish Legion of American Veterans and the city's Polish community.^[7]
• General Casimir Pulaski monument located at Pennsylvania Avenue and 13th Street, N.W., Washington, District of Columbia dedicated on May 11, 1910.^[8]
• General Casmir Pulaski statue located on the Lackawanna County Courthouse square in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
• Kazimierz Pułaski statue located at the corner of Church Street and Main in Buffalo, New York.
• There is a monument from 1931 in Milwaukee^[1]
• Fort Pulaski National Monument, active during the American Civil War, is named in honor of Casimir Pulaski.
• A monument to Pulaski exists in Baltimore, Maryland.^[1]
• A statue of Pulaski mounted on a horse stands in Roger Williams Park in Providence, Rhode Island. It was erected in 1979, the bicentennial of his death.
• A statue of Pulaski stands in Riverbank Park in Flint, Michigan. It was also erected in 1979, the bicentennial of his death.

Military

• One of the first tributes to Pulaski was paid when George Washington on November 17, 1779, issued a challenge-and-password set for identifying friend and foe when crossing military lines: "Query: Pulaski, response: Poland.^[9]
• A US Navy submarine, USS Casimir Pulaski, has been named for him, as was a 19th-century Revenue Marine (Coast Guard) cutter.^[10]

Schools

• There is a technical university in Poland known as Kazimierz Pułaski Technical University of Radom.
• Also, there are Casimir Pulaski elementary schools in Chicago, Illinois, Detroit, Michigan,^[11] New Bedford, Massachusetts, Wilmington, Delaware, Meriden, Connecticut, and Yonkers, New York, Pulaski High School in Milwaukee, Pulaski Middle School (formerly Pulaski Senior High School) in New Britain, Connecticut, North Pulaski High School in Jacksonville, Arkansas and an industrial park is named for him in nearby Wallingford, Connecticut. Within the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, Pulaski House is the name for a student residential building.

Pulaski Academy in Little Rock Arkansas is one of the top college preparatory schools in the United States, educating children from Pre-K 3 through 12th grade.

Miscellaneous

Statue at the Kazimierz Pułaski Museum in Warka, Poland.

• Although there are several disputed birth and baptismal records, Pulaski's birth is honored in Warka, Poland, by the Kazimierz Pułaski Museum, which opened in 1967.^[12] The museum occupies the manor house which Pulaski's family lived in during the 1760s, and includes rooms dedicated to his activities in Poland and the USA. It also includes rooms dedicated to Polish-American emigration and contributions of Polish émigrés to American culture and history.
• After a previous attempt failed,^[13] the United States Congress passed a joint resolution conferring honorary U.S. citizenship on Pulaski in 2009, sending it to the President for approval.^[14] President Obama signed the bill on November 6, 2009, making Pulaski the seventh person so honored.^[15]
• Detroit folk singer Sufjan Stevens released a track called "Casimir Pulaski Day" on his 2005 album "Illinois"
• Chicago punk band Big Black released a track called "Kasimir S. Pulaski Day" on their 1987 album Songs About Fucking; elsewhere in music, Maryland hard rock band Clutch recorded a track titled "Pulaski Skyway" on their 2005 album Robot Hive/Exodus.
• America paid a special millennial tribute to Pulaski in the year 2000 involving a large party in Chicago's Grant Park. The party included live DJ Food and a varied dance setlist—including artists such as Two Hours Traffic alongside Snoop Dogg and Moby—followed by a multimedia presentation on Pulaski's life and accomplishments set to orchestral music performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and specially composed for the occasion by Yanni.

References

Further reading

• Wytrwal, Joseph A. (September 1960). "Memorials to General Casimir Pulaski in the United States". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. Georgia Historical Society. 44 (3): 245–262. JSTOR 40578067.  (subscription required)

External links

• General Casimir Pulaski Rides Again
• Pulaski County, Arkansas site
• Pulaski County, Georgia site
• Pulaski County, Indiana site
• Pulaski County, Kentucky site
• Pulaski County, Missouri site
• Pulaski County, Virginia site
• Pulaski Days, Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Casimir Pulaski Museum (brief description of Warka museum in English)