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St. Adalbert's Cemetery was begun for the South Side Polish Catholic parishes a few years after Holy Trinity. South Side Catholics of Polish descent wanted their own burial grounds. On Dec. 7, 1888 Archbishop M. Heiss bought 30 acres of land just south of Holy Trinity Cemetery for what was to be St. Adalbert's cemetery. Because it served all Polish parishes, it was commonly called the Polish Union Cemetery until Archbishop Messmer restored its original consecration name, St. Adalbert's. In 1908 and 1916 more property was purchased and rearranged with Holy Trinity cemetery creating the current boundaries between the two cemeteries. In December 1916, the property east of the railroad tracks, about 61 acres, was purchased. Additional purchases on both sides of the tracks in 1928, 1931, and 1937, expanded the cemetery grounds. The bridge spanning the railroad tracks to connect the east and west sections of the cemetery was opened in 1946. Source: St. Adalbert Cemetery - excerpted from "We, The Milwaukee Poles" -- 1846-1946 pgs. 43-45 [Milwaukee Public Library] submitted by Gary. At one time there was a fence between St. Adalbert's and Holy Trinity's cemeteries, but that came down several decades ago. Originally, the Holy Trinity office was on 13th Street, and St. Adalbert's office was near its Gothic chapel. But when the parishes combined - sometime after 1970 - all the records were transferred to the new office building on 6th Street. Polish Union Cemetery (totally different from Union Cemetery) was absorbed by St. Adalbert's quite awhile back. Its graves were centered around a small hill on the east side of the railroad tracks and south of the bridge. Some of the older records - pre-1900 - were destroyed by a fire. The remainder are available on the Archdiocese website. The cemetery is also known as Polish Union Cemetery.
Notable Interments
- Fabian Gaffke (1913-1992) - MLB Player
- John Casimir Kelczka (1885-1959) - US Congress
- Alan Kulwicki (1954-1993) - NASCAR Driver
- Al Simmons (1902-1956) - MLB Player
- Thaddeus Francis Boleslaw Wasielewski (1904-1976) - US Congress
- Clement John Zablocki (1912-1983) - US Congress
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