Parisville, Michigan: One of the First Polish Settlements in the U.S.
This little Michigan burg just happens to be one of the first Polish American settlements in the United States; it’s Parisville, in Paris Township, Huron County.
Sometime between 1848-1854, three Polish immigrants from Canada arrived here. After a couple of others came in 1855, the settlement began to grow. In 1861 the township was organized and named ‘Paris’ after the settlers hometown of Paris, Ontario.
In 1873, its first post office was implemented and named “Parisville” after the township.
A couple of miles north, a village named “New Parisville” made an attempt. The name didn’t last long and soon took on the name “Pawlowski”. A 1913 atlas shows it listed as ‘New Parisville’ and a 1930 atlas shows it as “Pawlowski”. Other dates have been thrown around on other historic sites, listing Pawlowski in the 1890s. But atlases are more credible, so I’ll have to go along with what they show.
The Pawlowski post office went belly-up in 1904, followed by the closing of the Parisville post office in 1905. That was it for any future growth for either community. Scroll down to see images of these two former towns...