Around 1889, Polish immigrants from the west central region of Poznan settled the area east of Thorp as Polish land agents sought to attract immigrant farmers to the cutover area's fertile farmland after the lumber industry waned in the late 1880s. The community built Poznan School, a two-room public school. In 1891, a wooden church named St. Hedwig's for a queen of Poland was built, and in 1904 the present-day structure was erected to accommodate the growing congregation with seating for 700 people. Members of the congregation provided labor and artistic talent, and some families took out second mortgages on their farms to help pay for the new building.