page_title: History of Poles in the United States
section_title: Entrepreneurial
hierarchical_section_title: History of Poles in the United States / 1870–1914 / Wave of Polish immigration / Fields of work / Entrepreneurial
caption_attribution_description: English: Erazm Józef Dołęga Jerzmanowski - polish, engineer, innovator, businessman. Polski: Erazm Józef Dołęga Jerzmanowski (1844-1909) - powstaniec styczniowy, żołnierz, przemysłowiec, mecenas, działacz społeczny i filantrop zwany "polskim Noblem".
context_page_description: The history of Poles in the United States dates to the American Colonial era. Poles have lived in present-day United States territories for over 400 years—since 1608. There are 10 million Americans of Polish descent in the U.S. today, making it the largest diaspora of Poles in the world. Polish Americans have always been the largest group of Slavic origin in the United States.
  Historians divide Polish American immigration into three "waves", the largest from 1870 to 1914, a second after World War II, and a third after Poland's independence in 1989. Most Polish Americans are descended from the first wave, when millions of Poles fled Polish districts of Germany, Russia, and Austria. This group is often called the za chlebem immigrants because most were peasants in Poland who did not own land and lacked basic subsistence. Austrian Poles were from Galicia, unarguably the most destitute region in Europe at the time. Up to a third of Poles living in the United States returned to Poland after a few years, but the majority stayed.
context_section_description: Very few Poles opened shops, restaurants, stores, or other entrepreneurial ventures. Galician and Russian Poles entered the United States with the least resources and education and performed hard labor throughout their entire careers. Historian John J. Bukowczyk found that German Poles, who entered with "significant resources and advantages" still were tepid in their entrepreneurial risk-taking. For first- and second-generation Poles who entered business, supermarkets and saloons were most popular.
  Bukowczyk points to Poles' contentment with steady paychecks as a detriment to their families and future generations. As other immigrant groups, including the Jews, Italians, Greeks, etc. were slowly rising the "ladders of success" through small businesses, Poles were locked in economically by less aggressive, less challenging careers.
caption: Erazm Jerzmanowski, a Polish-born industrialist who founded lighting-gas companies in Chicago, Baltimore and Indianapolis. He was the richest Pole in the United States in the 19th Century
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