Lublin, Wisconsin

One of the biggest colonization projects of Taylor county, almost rivalling that of Jos. Brucker of the early eighties, was that of Marion Dursky, which actually settled the entire town of Roosevelt and parts of the other neighboring towns with Polish people mostly from Chicago, and within a generation they have made this poorest part of Taylor county "blossom like the rose."

The village of Lublin was started in 1906 with a large park as center. A large eight room school house was built. Miss Rose Stanek was the first teacher of the one room school. M. Zagorske started the first store. M. Dursky, Mike Skrzypczak, MikeOrzechowsky, Walter Tyter, A.J. Ogurek, Adaam Pacewicz and Frank Kulwiec were among early settlers, most of them taking land near the village. Soon the Roman, the Greek and the National Polish Catholic congregations built three fine new churches in the new village.

These new settlers soon showed their interest in education. Not only did they build a school much larger than their present needs, but really larger than the district could legally raise funds for at that time, and because of their interest and public spirit several local citizens offered to sign their personal notes to raise the lacking money, and they did.

One of the first teachers in the Ogurek district was Miss Margaret Hopka, of Neshkora, Wisconsin. She understood Polish, and it was fortunate that she did, as not one of her pupils could speak English when she started school in September. What a change she made in a few months! They were eager not only to learn to speak English, and, in a little while. I was told that when the parents would, of course, have to talk to them in their native tongue, they would often answer in English.
Another thing that showed their interest in schools, a little later when we had district contests in singing to select the winners to go to the county contest, as many as two hundred or more would come to the Lublin contest, more than to any other in the county. When the county contest was held at the graduation in June at Medford, one could be sure that several hundred interested parents would be present from Roosevelt, and that a goodly number of their children would win places.

When these people began to settle here about 1906, they were nearly all poor, had to go slow, and sometimes the barn was attached to the farther end of the house. The whole family worked, mother and children, too, but they got ahead even on poor land. Finally, they would save enough to build a good barn, and then after a few years a new house would take the place of the old one.

The first postmaster of Lublin was Stanley Lesoiski. The village was incorporated in 1915. The bank was started in 1919, G.E. Anderson, president and Frank Kulwiec, cashier.