Pulaski Park Wreath Laying – October 6, 1962

Pulaski Park is one of those places in Lorain that I first encountered as a kid, roaming the city on my bike with my friends in the early 1970s. After all, when you're not old enough to drive, you have to find a way to entertain yourself, and Central Lorain – with its churches and thriving ethnic social clubs – was a fairly exotic destination.

I remember seeing the monument in Pulaski Park, and wondering why Pulaski was being honored.

A Morning Journal article written by Michael Fitzpatrick from October 19, 2021 noted, "Erected in 1938 by the Federation of Polish Societies, the park was named in honor of Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski, a Polish-American Revolutionary War hero who fought at Brandywine, Germantown, Valley Forge and Charleston before he was killed at the siege of Savanah, at the age of just 31.

"Pulaski came from his home country to join America’s fight for independence, and is credited with creating the country’s first cavalry division."

Pulaski's Wiki entry also describes him as "a Polish nobleman, soldier, and military commander who has been called, together with his counterpart Michael Kovats de Fabriczy, "the father of the American cavalry."

Anyway, the article by Fitzpatrick mentioned efforts to clean up and improve the park in 2021, as the city no longer takes care of it.

But sixty years ago, General Casimir Pulaski and his namesake park were important enough to warrant a ceremonial wreath laying. Below is a photo that ran in the Journal back on October 6, 1962.

Here's hoping that the project of improving the park, and returning it to the city's care, is moving forward.