St. Hyacinth Roman Catholic Church

St. Hyacinth was founded as Milwaukee’s third Polish Roman Catholic Church in 1883 after St. Stanislaus (1866) and St. Hedwig (1871). Overcrowding at St. Stanislaus led its pastor, Monsignor Jacek “Hyacinth” Gulski, to divide the parish to form what became St. Hyacinth. Gulski ended up taking charge of the new parish. He had come to Milwaukee as a refugee from German persecution during the Kulturkampf (“culture struggle”), when the German Empire persecuted Catholics and non-Germans, including in the German-conquered area of Poland. He was an important leader among the immigrant generation of Poles in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

Named for Saint Hyacinth of Poland, the church was designed by Swiss-born Milwaukee architect Henry Messmer in the Renaissance Style incorporating some Polish and Gothic features. It is constructed of Cream City Brick with sandstone trim on a limestone base. The church features ceiling murals from 1889 painted by Swiss artist L. Rusca. The nave’s walls also bear eight murals painted in 1899 by Italian-born Joseph Vittur.

The building epitomizes a Polish ethnic church. All of the saints on the High Altar are Polish. The Stations of the Cross and writing on the stained-glass windows, which date to 1917, are in Polish. This was a church where Polish immigrants could celebrate their Polish culture and the Polish expression of Catholicism. It now serves a similar role for immigrant Latinos.

The Milwaukee County Historical Society designated St. Hyacinth as a County Landmark in 2022. The parish is working toward listing on the National Register of Historic Places.