John J. Polakowski (born July 7, 1896) was a retail clerk, dispatcher and

real estate broker A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and agen ...

from Milwaukee who served one term (1923–1924) as a Socialist member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 8th

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous coun ...

district (8th and 14th wards of the City of Milwaukee). He was the brother of

Walter Polakowski Walter Polakowski (January 18, 1888 – November 13, 1966) was an American upholsterer, trade union activist, and small business owner from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who served as a Socialist member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and Wisconsin S ...

Background

Polakowski was born in Buffalo, New York, on July 7, 1896, to a family of Polish descent. He came to Milwaukee with his parents about 1900. He was educated in

parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...

s, night and high schools and was described as "a graduate of the American School of Practipadicts." He was working as a salesman at Schuster's department store when elected.

Assembly service

He had never held public office before, when elected to the Assembly in the November, 1922, election; he received 2,191 votes to 1,471 for Republican Louis Polewczwnski and 856 for Democrat Frank Kubatzki (whom his brother Walter had unseated in 1920). Part of the newly- redistricted district had been represented by Walter, the rest by fellow Socialist

Stephen Stolowski Stephen S. Stolowski (August 17, 1893 – ?) was a printer from Milwaukee who served one term as a Socialist member of the Wisconsin State Assembly for the 14th Milwaukee County district (14th and 24th wards of the City of Milwaukee). Backgr ...

. In that same election Walter advanced from the Assembly to the Wisconsin State Senate. John did not run for re-election in 1924, and was succeeded by fellow Socialist Frank Cieszynski.

After the assembly

In 1925, Polakowski was appointed as a fire alarm

operator Operator may refer to: Mathematics * A symbol indicating a mathematical operation * Logical operator or logical connective in mathematical logic * Operator (mathematics), mapping that acts on elements of a space to produce elements of another ...

for the City of Milwaukee

fire department A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

, and was on that job as of the Milwaukee City Hall fire on the evening of October 9, 1929, during which he and two colleagues remained at their posts on the sixth floor of City Hall while

firefighters A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

struggled to control the blaze. He was working as a

when his wife Anna died December 26, 1959, at the age of 65, at which time they had eight children: Grace, Audrey, Arline, Ellen, Jean, George, Daniel and John Jr. Daniel's full name was Daniel Webster Hoan Polakowski; he had been named after Socialist Milwaukee mayor

Dan Hoan Daniel Webster Hoan (March 12, 1881 – June 11, 1961) was an American politician who served as the 32nd Mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1916 to 1940. A lawyer who had served as Milwaukee City Attorney from 1910 to 1916, Hoan was a promi ...

. In 1965-1970 Polakowski was an organizer of the Allied Council of Senior Citizens, a senior citizens' rights organization in Milwaukee; at one point he was their president. As of 1969, he was supervisor of Project Involve, an

anti-poverty program Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics cl ...

aimed at helping the elderly."Crime War Help Asked by Jendusa" ''Milwaukee Journal'' January 24, 1969; pt. 2, p. 9, col. 2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polakowski, John 1896 births Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Politicians from Buffalo, New York Politicians from Milwaukee Socialist Party of America politicians from Wisconsin Year of death missing American politicians of Polish descent