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Ukrainian American Community, Northeast Minneapolis

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Lowry Avenue Bridge lit up in the colors (yellow and blue) of the Ukrainian flag

The Lowry Avenue Bridge (leading into Northeast Minneapolis) lit up in the colors of the Ukrainian flag on February 26, 2022. The gesture showed solidarity with Ukrainians affected by the Russo-Ukrainian War, which had begun two days earlier. Photo by Wikimedia Commons user August Schwerdfeger. CC BY 2.0.

Wards 1 and 3 in Northeast Minneapolis have been the center of the Twin Cities’ Ukrainian community since the late nineteenth century. Vibrant and long-lasting cultural institutions—including churches, Kramarczuk’s Sausage Company, and the Ukrainian American Community Center—have made Ukrainians in Northeast one of the city's most visible groups of European immigrants, in spite of their relatively small population.

The Ukrainian community of Minneapolis dates to the late 1870s, when Ukrainians began to leave eastern Europe to seek opportunities in the United States. Many of the Ukrainian men who arrived found jobs in the northeast part of the city, across the Mississippi River from downtown. The comparatively low cost of living in the area, also called Old St. Anthony, allowed Ukrainian mill laborers to live and start families in the same neighborhood in which they worked.

By the 1900s, Northeast Minneapolis had earned a reputation as a welcoming place for Ukrainian immigrants. Word of mouth, family connections, and rail routes all influenced their decision to stay in the city. When Marie Sokol, a young Ukrainian woman en route to Winnipeg, arrived in Minneapolis by train in the early 1910s, she discovered not only a boarding house that would take her in, but her own cousin already living there. As a result, she decided not to continue on to Canada. People like Marie who decided to stay were part of a population boom that supported the founding of Ukrainian businesses, social groups, and churches. Ukrainian Minneapolitans in Northeast established St. Constantine’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in 1913 at the corner of University and Sixth avenues, and the congregation of St. Michael’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church (formed in 1925) moved into a building at 505 Fourth Street in 1926.

When Joseph Stalin consolidated his power over the Soviet Union in the 1930s, his agricultural policies created a widespread famine called the Holodomor (death by hunger) that killed millions of Ukrainians. In response, Ukrainian Minnesotans launched cultural diplomacy efforts to organize relief, raise money, and promote awareness among non-Ukrainians. One such effort was led by the Ukrainian National Chorus of the Twin Cities, which put on benefit musical performances at St. Michael’s Church.

Nazi occupation and the Holocaust further devastated Ukraine in the 1940s. Refugees found temporary homes in displaced persons camps, but by the end of the war in 1945, many wanted to start new lives. University of Minnesota professor Alexander Granovsky visited the camps in those post-war years and recruited Ukrainians for jobs in the Twin Cities. Hundreds of people––particularly skilled workers like scientists and carpenters—accepted his offer to move to the North Star state.

Once they had settled in Northeast Minneapolis, Ukrainians found ways to recreate their cultural traditions in their new home. Marie Sokol (by now married to Anthony Procai and known as Marie Procai) used tools and dyes available in the United States to make pysanky, traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs. In 1947, she and her daughter Luba opened a gift shop in their home that featured them. In part because of their efforts, Ukrainians in Minneapolis revitalized the art of making pysanky, offering them at community bake sales and introducing their children to the practice.

At about the same time, husband and wife Wasyl and Anna Kramarczuk arrived in the city with their family from the village of Pidhajci and started a sausage company, Kramarczuk’s, that offered traditional Ukrainian piroshky, meats, and breads. Their business thrived in the 1950s and 1960s and became a mainstay of Minneapolis food culture. Dmytro Mandybur, another former resident of Pidhajci, emerged as a community leader alongside the Kramarczuks. He founded a Ukrainian Credit Union and in 1964 organized a Ukrainian American Community Center (originally called the Ukrainian-American Home) that eventually found a headquarters at 301 Main Street Northeast.

When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, political uncertainty in Ukraine prompted more immigration to Northeast Minneapolis. The trend continued into the twenty-first century, particularly after the Russian Federation invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014. In 2018, on the eighty-fifth anniversary of the Holodomor, Ukrainian Minnesotans held a commemorative event at the Ukrainian American Community Center to recognize survivors of the Soviet-era famine. The event inspired Zina Poletz Gutmanis, a second-generation Ukrainian American born in Minneapolis in 1966, to film oral history interviews that documented the memories of survivors’ relatives.

On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine, triggering another humanitarian crisis. Ukrainian Americans in Minneapolis (and St. Paul) once again responded by writing petitions and organizing relief efforts, especially through the project Stand With Ukraine MN.

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Adams, Jim. “Dmytro Mandybur Led Ukrainian Community.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 29, 2010.
https://www.startribune.com/dmytro-mandybur-led-ukrainian-community/99597249

Dyrud, Keith P. “East Slavs: Rusins, Ukranians, Russians, and Belorussians.” In The Chose Minnesota: A Survey of the State’s Ethnic Groups, edited by June Drenning Holmquist (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 2004 reprint of 1981 edition), 405–422.

IHRC796
Alexander A. Granovsky papers, ca. 1900–2007 (bulk 1900–1976)
Immigration History Research Center Archives, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Description: Granovsky's papers include a genealogy, biographical materials, diaries, family correspondence, writings, and poetry. Also included are materials pertaining to Ukrainian American organizations including on Ukrainians in Minnesota, the Ukrainian Congress Committee (Minnesota branch), Ukrainian Folk Ballet and Chorus of the Twin Cities, St. Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Minneapolis, MN), the Minnesota Commission on Resettlement of Displaced Persons, the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee of America, Inc., and many other Ukrainian American organizations including the Organization for the Rebirth of Ukraine, Inc.
https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/6/resources/4168

Gutmanis, Zina Poletz. Oral history interview with Tracy Kurschner, August 2, 2019. Ukrainian Famine Survivors in Minnesota Oral History Project (IHRC3958). Immigration History Research Center Archives, University of Minnesota.
https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll499:2

History timeline. St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church.
https://stconstantine.org/history.html

Holodomor: The Ukrainian Genocide. Holocaust and Genocide Studies, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota.
https://cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/holodomor

Jordan, Robert Paul. “Easter Greetings from the Ukrainians.” National Geographic, April 1972, 556–563.
https://www.pysanky.info/UGS/UGS_files/NG%20full.pdf

Kaul, Greta. “How Northeast Minneapolis Came to be a Center of the Ukrainian-American Community.” MinnPost, March 2, 2022.
https://www.minnpost.com/arts-culture/2022/03/how-northeast-minneapolis-came-to-be-a-center-of-the-ukrainian-american-community

Kramarczuk’s. About.
https://kramarczuks.com/about

Noznick, Pauline. “The Story of Four Churches in Northeast Minneapolis.” Rooted in Eastern Europe, May 11, 2016.
https://eeroots.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-story-of-four-churches-in-northeast.html

Our Mission. Stand With Ukraine MN.
https://www.standwithukrainemn.com/about

St. Michael’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Minneapolis. Twin Cities Houses of Worship, 1849–1924. University of Minnesota.
https://housesofworship.umn.edu/st-michaels-ukranian

Ukrainian American Community Center. About.
https://uaccmn.org/about

Ukrainian Gift Shop.
https://www.pysanky.info/UGS/UGS.html

Related Images

Lowry Avenue Bridge lit up in the colors (yellow and blue) of the Ukrainian flag
Lowry Avenue Bridge lit up in the colors (yellow and blue) of the Ukrainian flag
Ukrainian National Chorus of the Twin Cities
Ukrainian National Chorus of the Twin Cities
Ukrainian cap
Ukrainian cap
Boots worn by Maria Scholucha
Boots worn by Maria Scholucha
Ukrainian Zaporozhs'ka Sich society
Ukrainian Zaporozhs'ka Sich society
Members of the Minneapolis–St. Paul branch of the Organization for the Rebirth of Ukraine (ODWU)
Members of the Minneapolis–St. Paul branch of the Organization for the Rebirth of Ukraine (ODWU)
Walter Gorden and Horace (Orest) Kramarczuk
Walter Gorden and Horace (Orest) Kramarczuk
Pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg)
Pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg)
Ukrainian Gift Shop
Ukrainian Gift Shop
St. Constantine's Ukrainian Catholic Church, Minneapolis
St. Constantine's Ukrainian Catholic Church, Minneapolis
St. Michael’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church
St. Michael’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Ukrainian American Community Center
Ukrainian American Community Center

Turning Point

At the end of World War II, thousands of Ukrainians leave Europe for Minnesota during the largest exodus of East Slavs in the state’s history to date.

Chronology

1878

The first Ukrainians come to Minnesota and settle in Northeast Minneapolis.

1888

Ukrainians known as Ruthenians (or Podcarpathian Rusians) establish St. Mary’s Greek Catholic Church, a Byzantine Rite congregation, and meet at Seventeenth Avenue and Fifth Street in Northeast Minneapolis.

1907

Ruthenians establish St. John the Baptist Greek Catholic Church in Minneapolis.

1913

St. Constantine's Ukrainian Catholic Parish is founded. The congregation builds a church at the corner of Sixth and University Avenues in Minneapolis.

1925

Ukrainians in Minneapolis found St. Michael’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

1930s

St. Constantine Church hosts an array of artistic and social groups, including a ballet class, a drama club, a Ukrainian chorus, and the Society of St. Mary.

1947

Marie Procai and her daughter Luba open a Ukrainian gift shop in their Northeast Minneapolis home.

1950s

The Minneapolis-based Ukrainian Folk Ballet and Chorus performs in (and beyond) the Twin Cities.

1964

Dmytro Mandybur founds the Ukrainian American Community Center in Northeast Minneapolis.

1972

National Geographic publishes a feature article on Marie Procai, her daughter Luba, and their technique of making pysanky (traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs).

1980

The Minnesota branch of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (in operation since 1949) is by this year the governing body for all Ukrainian organizations in the state.

1991

The dissolution of the Soviet Union, or USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), leads Ukrainians to immigrate to Minnesota in order to escape political instability.

2014

The Russian Federation invades Crimea, a territory in the Black Sea belonging to Ukraine. Ukrainian Crimeans immigrate to the United States.

2022

After the Russian Federation attacks Ukraine on February 24, Ukrainian Americans in Minneapolis write petitions and organize relief efforts to aid affected families.