With Our Men in Service

Volume II, Number 14. The weekly bulletin from Holy Rosary Parish was packed with information about the upcoming carnival, a Sunday ham dinner and bingo event, and notices of Men’s Sodality and Ladies Altar Society meetings. But during World War II, the news most appreciated was from those in the armed services. Tidbits were gleaned from letters home and shared among parishioners.
Members of the First German Congregational Church formed the Blue Star Letter Writing Committee to keep the congregation’s 175 service members informed about church activities, and a newsletter called “The Minister's Mailbag” to keep the men in contact with each other as well.
The students at Garden Place School collected scrap and saved their pennies for bond drives, while the young women of Holy Rosary Young Ladies’ Sodality volunteered at the Catholic USO at 16th and Logan. The Polish Harmony Club, a young-people’s group affiliated with the Polish National Alliance, entertained servicemen at Fitzsimons Army Hospital and sponsored weekly dances at the Polish Hall for military personnel.
Mary Canjar joined the Red Cross and attended classes to become an air raid warden. She was issued a uniform with a shirt, pants, helmet and armband, and made sure that windows were covered and lights turned off during blackout periods. Canjar won an award for persuading every family on Logan Street to purchase War Bonds.
Victory gardens, meatless meals, grease collection and scrap drives all supported the war effort. Women filled vacancies in factories when men left for the service. Carol Christensen worked on aircraft (including Eleanor Roosevelt’s plane) at McClellan Field near Sacramento.
On both V-E and V-J Day, church bells, factory whistles and car horns sounded. Twelve young men from Globeville lost their lives in the war; the nation and the neighborhood were forever changed by the conflict. Globeville honored its veterans from World Wars I and II with a memorial in Argo Park, dedicated August 25, 1948. Joseph Zalar, a casualty of the Korean War, would be added later.

 

The memorial in Argo Park honors veterans

from World War I, World War II and Korea.

Photo ® Mary Lou Egan

Globeville - Doors Open Denver 2015

Doors Open Denver, presented by the Denver Architectural Foundation, is the premier event showcasing Denver's unique urban fabric. 

http://doorsopendenver.com/tours

Denver Auditor and Globeville advocate, Dennis Gallagher, will be leading a tour on Sunday Sunday, April 26th, Old Slavic North Denver - the Globeville Neighborhood, which is already sold out. But you could hang around St Joseph's Polish Catholic Church at 46th and Pennsylvania about 3:00 pm and join the throng who signed up for the Gallagher tour. 

The tour begins here at St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church, which was constructed in 1902 (by many of the people who had attended Transfiguration, built in 1898, as well as by many Slovenians and Croatians). The parish struggled as Poles moved away from Globeville after the construction of I-25 and I-70, but enjoyed increase membership after the fall of Communism in 1989, and the papacy of John Paul II brought newcomers from Poland. St. Joseph's is proud of its "Polishness" with ethnic food events, lessons in the Polish language and performances by the Krakowiacy Polish dancers. The church is listed on the National Register of Historic properties (1983 - 5DV.782).

http://www.swietyjozef.org/

The oldest of Globeville's three Slavic churches is Holy Transfiguration of Christ Cathedral, founded in 1898 by immigrants from the Carpatho-Russian region of Eastern Europe. Working 12 hours a day, six days a week in Globeville's smelters, these families mortgaged their homes to purchase lots and build their temple. The church glows with icons and has a rich, complicated history, which Dennis Gallagher will enthusiastically recite. Holy Transfiguration received state historic designation in 1997 - 5DV.782, and today enjoys a diverse and active congregation.

http://www.transfigcathedral.org/

Holy Rosary Parish was built by Slovenian and Croatian immigrants, who attended St. Joseph's Church even while they were saving money to build their own parish (leading to some hard feelings when Slovenians and Croatians didn't contribute to the parish - Dennis will enlighten attendees) Ground was broken in March 1919 and the church was dedicated on July 4, 1920. Today's parish consists of the descendants of the Slavic founders, as well as a robust Hispanic congregation. Holy Rosary received state historic designation in March 1999 - 5DV.349. 

http://holyrosarydenver.com

Info: Dennis Gallagher, 303-477-7089or dgallagh@regis.edu

Globeville and The Great War

“Globeville Smiles Despite War That Rages in Europe” proclaimed the August 2, 1914 headline in the Denver Post. The Post continued, “There are 600 foreigners working side by side at the Globe Smelter. Austrians, Servians, Prussians, Bohemians, Greeks, Italians, Germans, Montenegrans, almost every nation of Europe is represented. Officials at the Globe Smelter felt no little anxiety when hostilities broke out between Austria and Servia[sic]." There was an expectation that old national loyalties would lead to confrontations and violence in the community.
But Globeville's immigrants felt no loyalty to Germany, Austria-Hungary, or Russia, the empires that had annexed and suppressed their native countries. Many had come to America to avoid the constant wars of Europe, and to avoid mandatory service in the army of their oppressors. The Post elaborated, “John Domitsky, an intelligent Austrian, declared, ‘The foreigners in this community came here to stay . . . these fellows are much more interested in earning their bread and butter here in Globeville than they are in fighting over the murder of a crown prince and a princess in Austria or Servia’.” 1
There were unavoidable repercussions of the war, however, as travel and communication between the Old Country stopped. In February, 1914, five year old John Werner, his sisters and his mother arrived from Sussanental, Russia and joined his father in Longmont with the hope that their grandparents and uncles would join them in September. They never saw rest of the family again.
As the war continued, there were other consequences. Reports of German atrocities were circulated and anti-German feeling reached a fever pitch in the nation. People of German heritage were suspected of being disloyal or subversive and many people were harassed. “English only” legislation was enacted in Denver, German books were burned, and classes in the German language were no longer taught in the Denver public schools. By the time the United States entered the war in April 1917, the suspicion of all things German had reached Globeville.
The fact that worship services in the three Volga-German churches in the community were conducted in the German language had never been an issue before, but war hysteria called attention to the situation. When the patriotism of the congregation was questioned, minister John Strohecker and Matthew Eagleton, the principal of Garden Place School, invited Mayor Speer of Denver and other city officials to attend a Sunday service at the First German Congregational Church. Two hours of preaching and singing must have convinced the dignitaries that there was no disloyalty in Globeville. Perhaps Matthew Eagleton pointed out that George Lauck, Henry Kilthau Jr., and John Reisbeck had enlisted in the armed forces of their adopted country, or called attention to other contributions to the war effort by the citizens of Globeville. Services continued to be held in German. 2.
The abdication of Russia's Czar Nicholas II March 2, 1917, took Russia out of the conflict and aided the Axis powers. and cut support for Globeville's Transfiguration Orthodox Church, which was funded by Czar Nicholas himself (the bells in the cathedral were a personal gift of the Czar). As the Bolsheviks gained power, Globeville's Carpatho-Russians also came under suspicion and many changed their names to sound more American. Photos of church or lodge events included large American flags as a backdrop.

Two men, Martin Clements and John Wysowatcky, would sacrifice their lives for their country as Globeville and the rest of the nation would be forever changed by the Great War.
1. “Globeville Smiles Despite War That Rages in Europe,” Denver Post, August 2, 1914

2. First German Congregational Church, Diamond Jubilee. 1894-1969. by Chester G. Krieger, Schwartz Printing Company, Denver, Colorado pg 26 

Western Slavonic members proudly display their American flag

Joe and Leah Tekavec

Joe and Leah Tekavec's roots in Globeville ran deep. Joe Tekavec was born in 1906 to parents who emigrated from Slovenia, then part of Austria-Hungary. The family lived on Elgin Place in a Slovenian enclave on Globeville’s north side, attending Holy Rosary Church and events at the Western Slavonic Association [WSA]. 
Leah Jacoby was born in 1913 in the house her grandfather built on Lincoln Street on the south end of Globeville. The Jacobys were Volga Germans from Norka, Russia and attended the First German Congregational Church. The culture of those times dictated that Joe and Leah would spend most of their time with people from the same ethnic background, but somehow they met, fell in love and were married. Daughter Janet Tekavec Wagner mused, ”People didn’t attend each other’s church services in those days, so I guess I’ll never know how they met.”
The Tekavecs enjoyed a conventional lifestyle with Joe working as an auto mechanic and Leah as a homemaker, and straddled the ethnic cultural divide by attending religious services at the First German Congregational Church and participating in the social activities of the WSA. Joe served as the supervisor of the WSA’s young people's group for many years where son Jim and daughter Janet were enrolled.
When Interstates 25 and 70 carved up the neighborhood they loved, Joe and Leah decided to stay rather than move and joined the Globeville Civic Association to fight for the survival of their community. Leah became treasurer of the organization in 1961, a post she would hold for 17 years, and Joe served as president from 1970 to 1978, a time when Globeville was under attack by the city. 
Tekavecs arranged countless meetings in churches, lodges, and associations to organize neighbors in opposition to Denver's plan to turn Globeville into an industrial area. Tekavecs and the Civic Association then fought to get the neighborhood its fair share of city services, helped neighbors obtain funds to improve their homes and successfully fought the construction of rendering plants that would produce sickening smells in the area. The Tekavecs became familiar to city officials at public meetings. “They know me when they see me,” Joe said.* 
The Civic Association was also active in improving the quality of life for Globeville's seniors, creating a health clinic, community luncheons and activities in the former First German Congregational Church. Daughter Janet continued, “The Civic Association also sponsored kids’ softball teams and held lots of pancake breakfasts to pay for the uniforms.”
When Joe and Leah stepped down in 1978, the city had dropped its plans to industrialize the area, and the neighborhood had begun to recover and improve. Tekavecs would live to see the neighborhood they loved celebrate its centennial in 1988. Joe passed away in 1989 and Leah in 1991.

*Globeville Community Spirit Renewed to Combat Blight, Denver Post, July 29, 1978, pg 21

Leah and Joe Tekavec

House on Lincoln Street built by Leah's Grandfather

Joe, far left, with WSA's young people's group