A telling skyline

As I chugged along the MyPulaskiK9 FundRun route Sunday morning, I thought about how skylines define a town.

They give us insight into the values and industry upon which people build a community. Some skylines, like Chicago, New York and Singapore, offer the gorgeous glow of innovation as they rise in mighty triumph over cities that hum with business and noise.

Others, like Pulaski, send deep roots into fertile soil and stretch more solidly through spheres of faith and honest labor.

For instance, in Pulaski, gold-capped pinnacles from the impressive Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church provide a focal point for residents, visitors and passers-through. Constructed in 1892, six years after a devastating fire destroyed most of the town and all the lumber the young town had saved to build it, the church is said to be the largest rural Catholic church in the United States.

Granaries, feed mills and seed warehouses both compliment and offset the steeples’ grandeur in practical and Biblical ways. Steel beams stretch skyward as sturdy reminders of the area’s agricultural history. This is a proud farming community that relies on its deep faith, rich earth and generational expertise.

John J. Hoff founded Pulaski intentionally on the cusp of three counties in 1883 and the town still straddles Brown, Oconto and Shawano counties. That kind of foresight remains in residents that share a cheerful work-hard-play-hard exuberance. The town of just under 3,500 boasts its own newspaper, police department, fire department, public school system and the best Polish bakery this side of Warsaw.

I’ve always known Pulaski for it polkas and pierogies, but on my chilly morning charity run, I enjoyed thinking about its deep roots and telling skyline.