Do you know that one of the first Ukrainians to arrive in New Jersey was a Lemko who was a cartwright (wheelmaker) by occupation? Paul (Pawlo) Filak was born in 1845 in Luhiv (now Ług, Poland, province of Horlytsi/Gorlice in Galicia) and went to Jersey City in 1880 after his arrival in the U.S. at the Port of New York.
Other Lemkos soon followed him and by 1887 there were 17 Ukrainian families in Jersey City. This number grew to 150 by 1899. This was the modest beginning of a vibrant Ukrainian diaspora community that has left its indelible mark on the civic and cultural life of the state of New Jersey since the end of the 19th century.
For several years, the Ukrainian History and Education Center (UHEC)https://ukrhec.org/located in Somerset, N.J., has been a recipient of the Somerset County History Partnership Program (CHPP). The program enables the New Jersey Historical Commission (NJHC) to support existing and emerging local history organizations and other eligible non-profit organizations which offer New Jersey history projects, programs, and services to benefit diverse public audiences. Part of the 2024 CHPP grant to the UHEC was made to do original research on the history of Ukrainians in New Jersey.
With this in mind, Mike Buryk, a writer lecturer and researcher on Ukrainian history, and Michael Andrec, the archivist at the UHEC, decided to shed new light on how the Ukrainian community started and grew in New Jersey from the 1880’s to the 1940’s. This is Part I of a two-part series that will continue in 2025 with a focus on the period from the 1940’s to the present.
A concerted effort was made to find little-known or forgotten aspects of the local Ukrainian community. For example, did you know that there was a Ukrainian real estate development called “Nova Ukraina” launched in New Market (Piscataway, Middlesex County) in 1927?
Among its founders was Kalenyk Lissiuk (born Hryhorii Lepikash), a Ukrainian entrepreneur who fought in the Army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in Ukraine’s war of independence (1917-1921) and was one of the organizers of the Free Cossack movement. Another active participant was Myron Surmach, the well-known founder of the Surma Book & Music Co. Inc. on East 7th St. in New York City.
Ukrainians had a strong presence in urban centers like Jersey City, Newark, Perth Amboy and Passaic during this period. But, lesser-known rural farming communities also thrived in places like Great Meadows and Millville.
Profiles of all these places and their contributions to New Jersey civic and cultural life are included.
There is an extensive visual list of the sources used for this project and also a bibliography for those who might want to do more reading on this subject. Also, you can review sources through a timeline to put them in a temporal perspective (https://www.ukrhec.org/ukrainians-in-nj/timeline.html).
A map of the local Ukrainian American communities covered in this project is also included (https://www.ukrhec.org/ukrainians-in-nj/map.html).
You can access this new UHEC release online at: https://www.ukrhec.org/ukrainians-in-nj/.Please send your feedback on this project to:
📧 Michael Buryk, Michael.buryk@verizon.net
📧 Michael Andrec, m.andrec@ukrhec.org
By Michael Buryk and Michael Andrec