Truckin' on the Western Branch

Young girls in traditional Polish dresses at St. Mary’s Polish Mass. Image by Sheally

The Polish Community Early 20th-century Polish immigrants in search of a life beyond the mines and factories in the North came south to Sunray, a section of Bowers Hill. Gary Szymanski said his grandfather bought 40 acres and settled the family in Sunray, a neighborhood that remains small and family based.

The name Sunray came from the Virginia Railway station built there in 1910. The railroad brought settlers to the community, but decades later it seemed more threatening. Two young men, Reggie Jordan and Phil Bryant, lost their lives at the same crossing where Szymanski narrowly escaped death when a train hit his car.

Szymanski graduated from Western Branch High in 1977 and has worked with the Corps of Engineers for more than 30 years. He is the current president of the Sunray Farmers Association and advocates for the preservation of the area’s history and heritage.

Previous page: Jan Zawada, grandfather of John Skrobiszewski, and his family settled in Sunray about 1910. Image by Sheally

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