Poland was first known as Fowler's Place after Jonathan Fowler and his family who were the first permanent settlers on the banks of Yellow Creek. For years after the Revolutionary War, all over the new United States, there was a feeling of gratitude and respect for those who had come from other countries to assist in the cause of freedom. This respect was quite often expressed by naming towns in honor of the heroes of that war. Peterson Park statue, "American Freedom Fighters" by Tom Antonishak, honors General Thaddeus Kosciuszko, the brilliant engineer who fortified Bemis Heights during the battle of Saratoga in 1777 and was responsible for saving West Point during the war. He is shown as a Colonel standing over a broken chain, which represents freedom from British rule. His passion for Polish independence burned so greatly that he felt he must be a part of this quest for independence by the fledgling nation called the United States of America. At his side kneeling is Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski, a cavalry officer who is known as "the father of America's cavalry." He was killed in the Battle of Savannah in 1779 and is buried there. A letter to George Washington from General Pulaski stated "I came here, where freedom is being defended, to serve it, and to live or die for it."
The people of Fowler's Place had the desire to honor these two foreign heroes and not to slight either man decided to name our community Poland after their country of birth.
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