Warsaw in Indiana, Kraków in Wisconsin: Polish Names on the Map of the USA

On the map of the United States, there are 20 places named Warsaw, 18 named Pulaski, 7 named Poland, and 3 named Krakow. There is Panna Maria in Texas, Polonia in Wisconsin, Radom in Illinois, and Wilno in Minnesota. Warsaw in Indiana is located in Kosciusko County, while Warsaw in Arkansas is in Pulaski County.

These names are rooted in very different histories. Some cities were named in sympathy for Poland after the November Uprising, others after a popular English novel, and some admit they do not know the origin of their name. This guide collects verified stories and debunks several myths. The numbers of places were counted in the official US geographic names database.

Polish Names in Numbers

Here are the places with exactly those names in the USGS GNIS database:

There is one place each named Panna Maria (Texas), Polonia, Lublin, and Torun (Wisconsin), Radom (Illinois), Wilno and Opole (Minnesota), and Poznan (Ohio). There are also 7 Pulaski counties and one Kosciusko county in Indiana. Interestingly, the name Kościuszko in all geographic names in the database is written without the letter "z", as "Kosciusko". The database does not include any place named Gdansk or Warszawa in Polish spelling. USGS GNIS.

The data leads to amusing comparisons. Warsaw in Arkansas is located in Pulaski County. Warsaw in Indiana is the county seat of Kosciusko County. In Hancock County, Illinois, both Warsaw and Pulaski are located.

The Emergence, Novel, and Unknown History: The Origin of American Warsaw

It is often said that American Warsaw was named in solidarity with Poland after the November Uprising. We have documented this in sources only in one case. Other cities have completely different histories.

Warsaw in Virginia: Solidarity with the Insurgents

According to the local newspaper "Rappahannock Record", the village of Richmond Courthouse in Virginia was renamed Warsaw in 1831 in solidarity with Poland after the uprising was suppressed by Russia. In 2022, the city illuminated its fountains in blue and yellow in support of Ukraine. “Rappahannock Record”, 2022. Other sources provide a later year for the name change, but the theme of solidarity with Poland is well documented.

Warsaw in Kentucky and North Carolina: An English Novel

In 1803, British author Jane Porter published the novel "Thaddeus of Warsaw". According to Kentucky Atlas & Gazetteer, the name Warsaw in Kentucky comes from this novel. The same book also named the town of Pembroke in that state. Kentucky Atlas & Gazetteer. The official city website provides a simpler reason: the settlement was named Fredericksburg, after Colonel Johnson's hometown in Virginia, but in 1831 the name was changed because there was already a city with a similar name in Kentucky. The website does not mention the novel. City of Warsaw, Kentucky.

Warsaw in North Carolina, formerly Mooresville, according to the state encyclopedia NCpedia, was named after the conductor of the first train that passed through the settlement, who was reading "Thaddeus of Warsaw" at the time. NCpedia, NC Gazetteer. Locally, there are also other versions of this legend.

Warsaw in Missouri: The History is Lost

Warsaw in Missouri, founded in the late 1830s as the county seat of Benton County, honestly states on its website that the history of its name "has been lost in history". The city only speculates that it was named in honor of Warsaw and Kościuszko. City of Warsaw, Missouri.

Warsaw in New York and Illinois

The town of Warsaw in New York was established on March 19, 1818, from part of the town of Batavia, and the first settler arrived in 1803. The town's website does not explain the origin of the name. Town of Warsaw, New York. Warsaw in Illinois is located on the Mississippi River near the former Fort Edwards. The post office opened there in 1834, and the city was incorporated in 1839. The place appears in the history of Abraham Lincoln, but the origin of its name is also unknown. The Papers of Abraham Lincoln.

Panna Maria, the Oldest Permanent Polish Settlement in America

In September 1854, a group of settlers from Upper Silesia, which was then under Prussian rule, arrived in Texas. They were led by Franciscan Father Leopold Moczygemba. They reached the site on Christmas and held the first midnight mass under an oak tree. Estimates of the number of settlers range from 150 to 800 people. The Texas Encyclopedia calls Panna Maria the oldest permanent Polish settlement in America, with the oldest Polish church and the oldest Polish school in the USA. St. Joseph's School began operating in a barn, and the church was consecrated on September 29, 1856. Handbook of Texas (TSHA), Panna Maria.

In 1974, Father Moczygemba was reburied under the same oak tree, and a monument calls him the "patriarch of American Polonia". About 10,000 people came to the village for the celebrations of the Millennium of Poland's Baptism in 1966, and President Lyndon B. Johnson gifted the parish a mosaic of Our Lady of Częstochowa made of 12,000 pieces. There.

This history also has a lesser-known chapter. In 1977, right next to the village, Chevron opened a uranium extraction facility, and in the 1980s, residents raised alarms about health hazards. The population shows how the village has changed: in 1858 there were about 120 families, by the end of the 20th century about 96 people, and in 2014 only 45. There. A historical marker from 1936 calls Panna Maria the oldest Polish settlement in Texas and states that most of the first families dispersed throughout the state within a few months. Texas Historical Commission, historical marker.

Polonia in Wisconsin and the First Polish Nuns in the USA

Polish settlers at an unnamed intersection in Portage County were referred to by neighbors as "Poland Corners". In 1867, the settlement was officially named Ellis, after the name of the mayor of nearby Stevens Point. The name Polonia was given to the hill where the church was moved by Father Józef Dąbrowski, who arrived in late 1871. In November 1874, five Felician Sisters arrived from Krakow. They were the first Polish nuns in the United States. Portage County Historical Society, Polonia.

Seven Counties and Eighteen Places Named Pulaski

Kazimierz Pułaski, a hero of the American War of Independence, is exceptionally present on the map of the USA. In the GNIS database, the name Pulaski appears in 65 locations, and the name Kościuszko in 7. A marker from the Kentucky Historical Society in Somerset states that Pulaski County in Kentucky was established in 1799 as the 27th county in the state, and counties named after him exist in seven states. Kentucky Historical Society, marker “Town Spring”. These seven states are Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia. Additionally, there are 18 places named Pulaski, as well as Mount Pulaski in Illinois and Pulaskiville in Ohio. USGS GNIS.

In New Jersey, the name Pulaski is associated with the Pulaski Skyway, a viaduct approximately 3.5 miles long between Newark and Jersey City. About 74,000 vehicles pass over it daily, and the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by Sigvald Johannesson. The two main spans over the rivers are each 550 feet long, and 135 feet of clearance is left under the viaduct for ships. Pedestrian traffic is prohibited. According to the state Department of Transportation, the name was given on the anniversary of Pułaski's death. New Jersey Department of Transportation, Pulaski Skyway. You can read more about Pułaski in our guide on Kazimierz Pułaski.

Kosciusko without “z” and the Smallest National Park Unit

The city of Kosciusko in Mississippi, formerly Red Bud Springs, was incorporated in 1836 and has the nickname “Beehive on the Hills”. The local newspaper states that residents pronounce the name approximately as “Ka-zi-ES-ko”, while visitors, even on national television, often mispronounce it. “Star-Herald”, Kosciusko. The only county named after Kościuszko is in Indiana, with Warsaw as its county seat.

In Philadelphia, at the house where Kościuszko lived from 1797 to 1798, there is the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial. This is the only national memorial in the USA dedicated to Kościuszko, established by Congress in 1972. The National Park Service calls it the smallest unit of the national park system, covering only 0.02 acres. National Park Service. The NPCA points out that this is about 80 m² and that some parts of other parks are physically smaller but are counted together with larger areas. Vice President Thomas Jefferson visited Kościuszko here. In his will, Kościuszko designated his American estate for the liberation and education of slaves, but his wishes were not fulfilled. NPCA, 2025.

In American stores, you can also buy Kosciusko mustard, which has been sold by Plochman’s from Illinois since the second half of the 1980s. The company does not explain the origin of the name. Plochman’s, company history.

Poland in Ohio and the Dispute Over the Name's Origin

According to the local newspaper “The Vindicator”, the name Poland in Ohio commemorates two Polish heroes of the American War of Independence, Pułaski and Kościuszko, whose statues stand in the local park. The township was established in 1796 as the first in the so-called Connecticut Western Reserve, and the village has had rights since 1866. “The Vindicator”, 2016. However, there is a competing version: Henry Gannett's 1905 dictionary of geographic names derives the name from the original landowner, George Poland. It is impossible to determine today which version is true.

Bonus for the Polish Community in Australia: Mount Kosciuszko

The highest peak in Australia is named Mount Kosciuszko. In March 1840, it was named by Polish explorer Paweł Edmund Strzelecki in honor of Kościuszko as a hero of the fight against Russia. The Conversation. It can be read online that Strzelecki compared the landscape to Kościelec, “the highest mountain in Poland.” This is a mistake: Kościelec is not the highest peak in Poland.

How to Check the History of Your Place Name

If you live in a place with a Polish-sounding name or nearby, you can search for its history yourself. Here are several verified methods:

• USGS GNIS Database: the official American geographic names database shows which county the place is in and what its official name is. USGS GNIS.
• City or Township Website: many places have a “History” section. It is worth reading it critically, as it sometimes repeats local legends, and sometimes, as in Missouri, honestly admits that the history of the name is unknown.
• Local Historical Society: counties usually have their own “historical society” that preserves old newspapers and documents. This is how the history of Polonia in Wisconsin was documented.
• Historical Markers: state markers along the roads often provide the date and reason for the name, although it happens that different markers say different things.
• Parish: in settlements founded by Polish immigrants, parishes and their archives often have the most knowledge.

Myths and Traps

What Could Not Be Confirmed

The following stories are interesting and often repeated, but we found them only on Wikipedia or in search results, without access to primary sources. Therefore, we do not present them as facts.

• Poland in Maine: the name is said to come not from the country but from an old melody of that title. The same place gave its name to the water Poland Spring.
• Hamtramck in Michigan: the city associated with Polonia bears the name of a Franco-Canadian soldier, and today Poles make up only a small part of the population.
• Pulaski in New York: residents traditionally pronounce the name “Pu-LAS-kaj”.
• Kosciuszko Bridge in New York: the bridge was opened in 1939 under a different name and was renamed in 1940 after the German invasion of Poland.
• Radom in Illinois: the settlement was supposedly founded by a former colonel of the tsarist army who fought on the Union side in the Civil War.
• Krakow in Missouri: from 1870 to 1872, a Polish newspaper “Orzeł Polski” was said to have been published here.
• The origin of the names Torun, Opole, Poznan, Posen, Sobieski, and Danzig. We did not check their histories.