Bialystok, the largest city in northern Poland, has been a source of immigration to New York since the late 19th century. Tens of thousands of Yiddish-speaking Jews from Bialystok came to the Lower East Side and established a number of long-enduring institutions, including a synagogue and an old age home. In the second half of the 20th century, significant numbers of native Polish speakers from Bialystok also arrived in Manhattan, with many later moving to developing Polish areas of Brooklyn and Queens.
Bialystok, Poland