These first immigrants found not only an abundance of affordable housing but also opportunities for work.  There was a need for unskilled workers in port related activities, such as stevedores and carters as well as new industries as canning, slaughterhouses and fertilizer plants.  Once established, these immigrants wrote those they left behind to emigrate to this land of opportunity.

The parish church in America often served as a community center because municipal governments were often unresponsive to immigrant needs.  Following the parish, other associations soon appeared to provide its members or their families with needed monetary benefits in times of unemployment, sickness or death.  Many or these organizations continue to this day in Baltimore's Polish community.

By the turn of the century, there were approximately 30,000 Poles dispersed throughout Fell's Point, Canton, Highlandtown as well as across the harbor in Curtis Bay and Wagner's Point.

The outbreak of war in Europe during the summer of 1914 resulted in three significant actions: immigration from Poland was minimized; Hallers Blue Army fought with allied armies for Poland's freedom, and; the creation of a united, independent and autonomous Poland.  Baltimore contributed 203 men to the cause, of which seventy returned to Baltimore, seventy-three were killed, and the remainder stayed in Poland at wars end.