Immigrant Boarding Houses in Rochester, New York in the Early 1900s

Monroe County 1910 Census Data provides interesting insights into where and how new immigrants from Putyatyntsi, Ukraine lived as they arrived and established themselves in Rochester, New York. After a short time in the United States, the earliest industrious immigrants were able to rent homes, which they used as boarding houses for subsequent arrivals. The 1910 census confirms that Thomas Polowi and his wife Anna (Galuga), who both arrived to the United States in 1907, already had cooperatively rented and established a boarding house at 66 Henry Street with Nicholas and Sophie Kutchme, who arrived in 1904 and 1907 respectively. In the rental property, the Polowi family housed 10 boarders, while the Kutchme family housed 6 boarders.

Mr. James D. Bratush writes on page 10 of his book Historical Documentary of the Ukrainian Community of Rochester, New York that, “The married woman, in addition to her husband and children, often had anywhere from six to ten male boarders to take care of. For the sum of $1.00 each, she washed their linen, cleaned their rooms and cooked whatever meals they ordered from her.”

On pages 8 and 9, Mr. Bratush writes, “The daily meals of those hardy pioneers consisted of a loaf of bread and a pound of sausage divided into three portions for breakfast, lunch, and supper. A room with black coffee provided for breakfast, cost $1.00 a week. If a person insisted on sugar with his coffee, he was expected to provide it himself. These rooms were in boarding houses where as many as ten to twelve men lived together.” “Housing and meals constituted real problems and headaches, apart from those of customs, language, and the ever present difficulties of adjusting to a totally strange environment.”