THE POLISH SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA was created in 1863 by the idealistic and patriotic members of the Polish Committee, with headquarters in the Russ House, a hotel in San Francisco

The Polish Society of California, Lodge 7

of the Polish National Alliance

Lodge 7’s representatives on the Board of Directors:

Krystyna Chciuk: Society President

Piotr Filipowski

Frank Jasinski

Anna Maria Słonina-Oczoś

Mary Kay Stuvland

Iwona Stafanczyk Szarek

THE POLISH SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA was created in 1863 by idealistic and patriotic members of the Polish Committee that was headquartered at the time in the Russ Hotel in San Francisco. The first president and co-founder of the Society was Captain Kazimierz Bielawski under whose leadership the Society grew in membership and prestige. The Polish Society of California was the first of its kind on the Pacific Coast and one of the oldest in the United States. Charter members were:

* Dr. Marcel Pietrzycki, physician -- an ardent worker for the cause of Polish Independence

* Dr. Władysław (Ladislaus)Pawlicki, physician; personal friend of San Francisco Archbishop Riordon
* Mieczysław Balczynski, renowned San Francisco architect
* Izydor Levinson, engineer in San Francisco
* Izydor Marcinkowski, Franciszek Kosmolski, J. Bieniowski, Wiktor Dobrogoski, and Aleksander Elgass

Former officers of the Polish Society included Kazimierz Bielawski, Rudolf Korwin Piotrowski, Dr. L. J. Czapkay, Dr. Władysław (Ladislaus) Pawlicki, Aleksander Bednawski, Dr. Cohn, C. Meyer, M. Schloss, Captain F.T. Lessen, Gustav Hejlman (Heilman), Antoni Hirschfelder, Anton Czarnecki, Michał Brachawski, Ignacy Kolasa, and others.

Prince Andrzej Poniatowski, "a very enthusiastic worker in the Polish Colony, …paid for as many as 10 members of the [Polish] Society…" One of the society's great supporters in the 1870s was Count Bodzenta-Chlapowski, husband of the great Shakespearian actress, Helena Modrzejewska. The Society's library was enriched by a collection of books donated in 1864 by the Polish poet Kornel Ujejski. [Text from Silent Heroes by Mme. Wanda Tomczykowska]

Since 1880, the Polish Society of California has been known as Branch (or Lodge) 7 of the Polish National Alliance. The Polish National Alliance of the United States of North America, popularly known as the PNA or the Alliance, is the largest of all ethnically-based fraternal insurance benefit societies in this country. The Polish Club Inc. and the PNA, Lodge 7, are both long-time sponsors of Łowiczanie Polish Folk Ensemble.

Charter Members of PNA Lodge 7 in 1880: Jan Banachowski, Kazimierz Bielawski, Władysław Borejko, Antoni Czarnecki, Konstanty Engleman, Maks Engleman, Teodor Ferenz, Antoni Fijalkowski, Gustaw Hejlman, Antoni Hirschfelder, Paweł Jachowski, Władłslaw Januszkiewicz, Józef Jerczynski, Ignacy Jocz, Ignacy Kolasa, Andrzej Kopankiewicz, Leon Bronisław Łąski, Aleksander Maliszewski, Kazimierz Nowak, Jan Nowak, Ignacy Olbinski, Ludwik Opio, Władysław Pawlicki