Stephen Kocisko
Encyclopedia
Stephen John Kocisko was the first Metropolitan Archbishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh
, the American
branch of the Ruthenian Catholic Church
immigrant parents in Minneapolis, Minnesota
, he graduated from De La Salle Catholic High School then studied at Nazareth Preparatory Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Bishop Basil Takach
sent him to St. Josaphat's Seminary in Rome, Italy for philosophical and theological education, where he earned a Licentiate (Master's) Degree in Sacred Theology. Bishop Alexander Evreinoff, the ordaining prelate for the Byzantine Catholics in Rome, ordained him to the priesthood on March 30, 1941, just before to his return to the United States.
He first served as pastor in Detroit, Michigan
and Lyndora, Pennsylvania
. He also served as a member of the Exarchate’s Matrimonial Tribunal and as professor of Patrology at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of SS. Cyril and Methodius
. Bishop Nicholas Elko
appointed him in 1956 as the Chancellor of the Exarchate.
Bishop Elko, faced with a growing number of parishes, petitioned the Holy See
for an auxiliary bishop. On October 23, 1956, Kocisko was ordained as a bishop at the Cathedral of Saint Paul
of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
in the Oakland
district.
Bishop Kocisko began residence at Holy Ghost Parish
on the city’s North Side. For the next seven years, he served as auxiliary bishop and was appointed Rector
of the seminary and Vicar General.
On July 6, 1963 the Vatican upgraded the status of the church from Exarchate to Eparchy, or diocese
according the Latin-Rite terminology. A decree by the newly elected Pope Paul VI
divided the entire U.S. territory of the Church into two separate ecclesiastical jurisdictions. The first, the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic
, included the Eastern states and the second jurisdiction, centered in Pittsburgh, included the rest of the nation. Both jurisdictions now held the canonical status of an eparchy or a full diocese. Bishop Elko continued as the American Church's senior hierarch, but Kocisko was selected as the first bishop for Passaic and was installed on July 6, 1963.
in Rome.
Time Magazine reported on the unusual situation, noting that a "bishop is almost never separated from his see. For the past seven months, however, the Most Rev. Nicholas T. Elko, Ruthenian-rite bishop of Pittsburgh, has been in Rome, barred by his church superiors from returning to his diocese. The case of Bishop Elko, who describes his situation as 'exile', casts fascinating light on Catholicism's current internal stresses. . . ."
The Vatican next appointed Kocisko on December 22, 1967 to replace Elko as the chief hierarch. He was installed Bishop of Pittsburgh on March 3, 1968. Michael Dudick
replaced Kocisko as Bishop of Passaic.
. The Eparchy of Pittsburgh now rose to the status of an Archeparchy, or archdiocese in Latin-Rite terminology, to headed by an archbishop and to be called the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh
. The Eparchy of Passaic became a suffragan or elemental part of the Metropolia. The Pope next created a new suffragan eparchy from the western territory of the Pittsburgh Eparchy to be based in Parma, Ohio
.
On February 29, 1969 Paul VI appointed Bishop Stephen Kocisko, Bishop of Pittsburgh, to head the new Byzantine Metropolia and elevated him to the status of Archbishop. Bishop Michael Dudick, who succeeded him in Passaic in 1968, remained as the head of the Passaic Eparchy. Father Emil Mihalik
, the Chancellor of the Passaic Eparchy, became the first bishop for the new Parma Eparchy.
Archbishop Kocisko's new administration placed renewed emphasis on Eastern theological tradition and practices. He established an Office of Religious Education, a Cantor’s Institute, and directed the establishment of an Archeparchial Museum to preserve and maintain religious articles, icons, books, and paintings of historical interest.
Kocisko also sought to instill a strong historical consciousness in the minds of the faithful of the Metropolitan Province. He encouraged and oversaw numerous publications regarding the history of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in Eastern Europe. Many of these books and pamphlets were about the lives of the bishops and priests of the Eparchies of Mukachevo and Prijashiv (Preshov), who had suffered martyrdom, imprisonment and hardships during the liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine and Subcarpathian Rus by the Soviet regime.
On December 6, 1971, Kocisko, along with Bishops Dudick and Mihalik, published a pastoral letter observing the 325th anniversary of the Union of Uzhhorod
and the 200th anniversary of the canonical erection of the Eparchy of Mukacheo
as a self-governing entity. In the letter, Metropolitan Kocisko and the other bishops called to task, the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church
held in Zagorsk, USSR from May 30 through June 2 of that same year. On June 1, the Russian bishops officially declared the Union of Uzhorod (1646) to be annulled, justifying the liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine and other countries of the Soviet block. The pastoral letter uses language typical of Kocisko's approach, referring to Subcarpathian Rus as "our occupied homeland" and "our ancestral home."
To promote the role of the Byzantine Catholic Church on a national level, he erected in 1974 a Byzantine chapel in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.
In 1986, Archbishop Kocisko, together with the bishops of the Byzantine Ruthenian Metropolitan Province, initiated the causes for the canonizations of three bishops of Subcarpathian Rus who had been martyred or suffered as confessors of the faith under the Soviet regime. Although these processes are normally performed within the territorial jurisdiction where the person lived, the unique situation of the liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church in Eastern Europe
prompted Kocisko to act in his position of Metropolitan of the Ruthenians in the United States. Bishop Theodore Romzha
, eparch of Mukachevo, Bishop Paul Peter Gojdich
, OSBM, eparch of Prijashev
and Bishop Basil Hopko
, auxiliary bishop of Prijashev were the first to be considered. Shortly thereafter, as more information became available from behind the iron curtain
, the name of Bishop Alexander Chira, Romzha's successor as bishop of Mukachevo in the underground, catacomb church was added.
On December 17, 1994, the causes of these bishops were canonically opened in their native eparchies, continuing the work begun under Kocisko. Subsequently, on June 27, 2001, Pope John Paul II
beatified Bishop Romzha along with other Ukrainian martyrs of the communist yoke during an Divine Liturgy
in Lviv
. Bishop Gojdich was beatified by the same pontiff on November 4, 2001. September 14, 2003 saw the beatification of Bishop Hopko by John Paul during a visit to Bratislava
, Slovakia.
He died at age 79 on March 7, 1995. He is buried in the cemetery of Mount Saint Macrina Monastery
in Uniontown, Pennsylvania
.
Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh
The Byzantine Catholic Metropolia of Pittsburgh is an autonomous Byzantine Rite particular church of the Catholic Church, originally serving members of the Ruthenian Catholic Church and their descendants in the United States...
, the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
branch of the Ruthenian Catholic Church
Ruthenian Catholic Church
The Ruthenian Catholic Church is a sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church , which uses the Divine Liturgy of the Constantinopolitan Byzantine Eastern Rite. Its roots are among the Rusyns who lived in the region called Carpathian Ruthenia, in and around the Carpathian Mountains...
Early life
Born June 11, 1915 to RusynRusyns
Carpatho-Rusyns are a primarily diasporic ethnic group who speak an Eastern Slavic language, or Ukrainian dialect, known as Rusyn. Carpatho-Rusyns descend from a minority of Ruthenians who did not adopt the use of the ethnonym "Ukrainian" in the early twentieth century...
immigrant parents in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, he graduated from De La Salle Catholic High School then studied at Nazareth Preparatory Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Bishop Basil Takach
Basil Takach
Basil Takach was the first bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, the American branch of the Ruthenian Catholic Church.-Early life:...
sent him to St. Josaphat's Seminary in Rome, Italy for philosophical and theological education, where he earned a Licentiate (Master's) Degree in Sacred Theology. Bishop Alexander Evreinoff, the ordaining prelate for the Byzantine Catholics in Rome, ordained him to the priesthood on March 30, 1941, just before to his return to the United States.
He first served as pastor in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
and Lyndora, Pennsylvania
Homeacre-Lyndora, Pennsylvania
Homeacre-Lyndora is a census-designated place in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,685 at the 2000 census.-History:...
. He also served as a member of the Exarchate’s Matrimonial Tribunal and as professor of Patrology at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of SS. Cyril and Methodius
Byzantine Catholic Seminary of SS. Cyril and Methodius
The Byzantine Catholic Seminary of SS. Cyril and Methodius is a degree-granting school of theology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States which prepares candidates for priestly ministry to the Byzantine Catholic churches of North America....
. Bishop Nicholas Elko
Nicholas Elko
Nicholas Thomas Elko was the third bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, the American branch of the Ruthenian Catholic Church. At the age of 46 he became the first American-born Bishop of the Greek Catholic Church...
appointed him in 1956 as the Chancellor of the Exarchate.
Bishop Elko, faced with a growing number of parishes, petitioned the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
for an auxiliary bishop. On October 23, 1956, Kocisko was ordained as a bishop at the Cathedral of Saint Paul
Cathedral of Saint Paul in Pittsburgh
The Cathedral of Saint Paul is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...
of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh is a Roman Catholic diocese. It was established in Western Pennsylvania on August 11, 1843. The diocese includes 211 parishes in the counties of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence, and Washington, an area of with a Catholic population of 719,801...
in the Oakland
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
district.
Bishop Kocisko began residence at Holy Ghost Parish
Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church (Pittsburgh)
Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the city's North Side neighborhood at 1437 Superior Avenue...
on the city’s North Side. For the next seven years, he served as auxiliary bishop and was appointed Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of the seminary and Vicar General.
Rome upgrades the American Church's status
Since its inception in 1924 as the "Apostolic Exarchate of United States of America, Faithful of the Oriental Rite (Ruthenian)", the organizational status of the Church was merely that of a missionary territory with limited self-governing authority, the homeland being Europe—albeit under Communist persecution since 1946.On July 6, 1963 the Vatican upgraded the status of the church from Exarchate to Eparchy, or diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
according the Latin-Rite terminology. A decree by the newly elected Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
divided the entire U.S. territory of the Church into two separate ecclesiastical jurisdictions. The first, the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic
Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic
The Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic is the Catholic eparchy governing most Byzantine Catholics in the eastern United States. Its headquarters are at 445 Lackawanna Avenue, Woodland Park . The current bishop is the Most Reverend William C. Skurla.The Eparchy was erected July 6, 1963 and its...
, included the Eastern states and the second jurisdiction, centered in Pittsburgh, included the rest of the nation. Both jurisdictions now held the canonical status of an eparchy or a full diocese. Bishop Elko continued as the American Church's senior hierarch, but Kocisko was selected as the first bishop for Passaic and was installed on July 6, 1963.
Episcopate of Bishop Kocisko
In 1963 Kocisko moved from Pittsburgh and began building an eparchy in Passaic from the ground up: constructing a residence, chancery, and setting up an administration. He launched a new weekly newspaper to serve the Passaic Eparchy, The Eastern Catholic Life. He also found time to simultaneously participate in Second Vatican CouncilSecond Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
in Rome.
Controversy in Pittsburgh
By 1967, Bishop Elko's popularity within his own Church waned, and his authoritative management style agitated many priests and laity. The Vatican transferred Elko to Rome, where he was elevated to the dignity of an Archbishop and appointed as the ordaining prelate for the Byzantine Catholics in Rome and head of the Ecumenical Commission on the Liturgy. This prompted his resignation as Byzantine Catholic Bishop of Pittsburgh, and Monsignor Edward V. Rosack, the Chancellor of the Eparchy, was named as the temporary apostolic administrator.Time Magazine reported on the unusual situation, noting that a "bishop is almost never separated from his see. For the past seven months, however, the Most Rev. Nicholas T. Elko, Ruthenian-rite bishop of Pittsburgh, has been in Rome, barred by his church superiors from returning to his diocese. The case of Bishop Elko, who describes his situation as 'exile', casts fascinating light on Catholicism's current internal stresses. . . ."
The Vatican next appointed Kocisko on December 22, 1967 to replace Elko as the chief hierarch. He was installed Bishop of Pittsburgh on March 3, 1968. Michael Dudick
Michael Dudick
Michael Joseph Dudick was an American priest and bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh, the U.S. branch of the Ruthenian Catholic Church....
replaced Kocisko as Bishop of Passaic.
Again Rome upgrades the American Church's status
Pope Paul VI on February 21, 1969 published a decree entitled Quandoquidem Christus, which elevated the status of the Byzantine Catholic Church in America from two separate eparchies to a metropoliaMetropolia
Metropolia may mean:* Metropolia is the pre-1970 general term for the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America, now known as the Orthodox Church in America .* Metropolia is a Polish Business Magazine published in the UK since 2007....
. The Eparchy of Pittsburgh now rose to the status of an Archeparchy, or archdiocese in Latin-Rite terminology, to headed by an archbishop and to be called the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh
Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh
The Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh is the Catholic archeparchy governing all of the Byzantine Catholic Church in the Western portion of Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and in the states of Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia...
. The Eparchy of Passaic became a suffragan or elemental part of the Metropolia. The Pope next created a new suffragan eparchy from the western territory of the Pittsburgh Eparchy to be based in Parma, Ohio
Parma, Ohio
Parma is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is the largest suburb of Cleveland and the seventh largest city in the state of Ohio...
.
On February 29, 1969 Paul VI appointed Bishop Stephen Kocisko, Bishop of Pittsburgh, to head the new Byzantine Metropolia and elevated him to the status of Archbishop. Bishop Michael Dudick, who succeeded him in Passaic in 1968, remained as the head of the Passaic Eparchy. Father Emil Mihalik
Emil John Mihalik
Emil John Mihalik was the first Eparch of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma, Ohio. His appointment occurred simultaneously with the erection of the see...
, the Chancellor of the Passaic Eparchy, became the first bishop for the new Parma Eparchy.
The First Rusyn Metropolitan
Kocisko was installed as the first Metropolitan in the history of the Rusyn people by the Apostolic Delegate to the United States, Most Reverend Luigi Raimondi. The ceremony took place June 11, 1969 in Holy Spirit Byzantine Catholic Church in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh.Archbishop Kocisko's new administration placed renewed emphasis on Eastern theological tradition and practices. He established an Office of Religious Education, a Cantor’s Institute, and directed the establishment of an Archeparchial Museum to preserve and maintain religious articles, icons, books, and paintings of historical interest.
Kocisko also sought to instill a strong historical consciousness in the minds of the faithful of the Metropolitan Province. He encouraged and oversaw numerous publications regarding the history of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in Eastern Europe. Many of these books and pamphlets were about the lives of the bishops and priests of the Eparchies of Mukachevo and Prijashiv (Preshov), who had suffered martyrdom, imprisonment and hardships during the liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine and Subcarpathian Rus by the Soviet regime.
On December 6, 1971, Kocisko, along with Bishops Dudick and Mihalik, published a pastoral letter observing the 325th anniversary of the Union of Uzhhorod
Union of Uzhhorod
The Union of Uzhhorod, also referred to as Union of Ungvár, was the 1646 decision of 63 Ruthenian Orthodox priests from the south slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, then within the Kingdom of Hungary, to join the Catholic Church on terms similar to the Union of Brest from 1596 in the lands of the...
and the 200th anniversary of the canonical erection of the Eparchy of Mukacheo
Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Mukacheve
The Eparchy of Mukacheve is an eparchy of the Ruthenian Catholic Church, with territory located in the west of Ukraine.The eparchy, like the entire Ruthenian Catholic Church, is in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church...
as a self-governing entity. In the letter, Metropolitan Kocisko and the other bishops called to task, the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
held in Zagorsk, USSR from May 30 through June 2 of that same year. On June 1, the Russian bishops officially declared the Union of Uzhorod (1646) to be annulled, justifying the liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine and other countries of the Soviet block. The pastoral letter uses language typical of Kocisko's approach, referring to Subcarpathian Rus as "our occupied homeland" and "our ancestral home."
To promote the role of the Byzantine Catholic Church on a national level, he erected in 1974 a Byzantine chapel in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.
In 1986, Archbishop Kocisko, together with the bishops of the Byzantine Ruthenian Metropolitan Province, initiated the causes for the canonizations of three bishops of Subcarpathian Rus who had been martyred or suffered as confessors of the faith under the Soviet regime. Although these processes are normally performed within the territorial jurisdiction where the person lived, the unique situation of the liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
prompted Kocisko to act in his position of Metropolitan of the Ruthenians in the United States. Bishop Theodore Romzha
Theodore Romzha
Blessed Theodore Romzha was bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Eparchy of Mukacheve from 1944 to 1947. Assassinated by Stalin's NKVD, he was beatified as a martyr by Pope John Paul II on June 27, 2001.-Early life:...
, eparch of Mukachevo, Bishop Paul Peter Gojdich
Pavol Peter Gojdic
Pavol Gojdič, also known as Pavel Peter Gojdič or Peter Gojdič , was a Basilian monk and the bishop of the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Prešov martyred by the communist regime in Czechoslovakia....
, OSBM, eparch of Prijashev
Archeparchy of Prešov
The Archeparchy of Prešov is an archeparchy of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church which covers the territory of the Prešov Region. It has the suffragans of: Eparchy of Košice and Eparchy of Bratislava. As of 2004 it had 136,593 Greek Catholic faithful. and its seat is in Prešov.-History:The eparchy...
and Bishop Basil Hopko
Basil Hopko
Basil or Vasiľ Hopko was a priest and bishop of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II for his martyrdom under Communist occupation.-Life:...
, auxiliary bishop of Prijashev were the first to be considered. Shortly thereafter, as more information became available from behind the iron curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
, the name of Bishop Alexander Chira, Romzha's successor as bishop of Mukachevo in the underground, catacomb church was added.
On December 17, 1994, the causes of these bishops were canonically opened in their native eparchies, continuing the work begun under Kocisko. Subsequently, on June 27, 2001, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
beatified Bishop Romzha along with other Ukrainian martyrs of the communist yoke during an Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, use the same term...
in Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
. Bishop Gojdich was beatified by the same pontiff on November 4, 2001. September 14, 2003 saw the beatification of Bishop Hopko by John Paul during a visit to Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, Slovakia.
Communism ends in Europe
In February 1990, as Communist rule ended in Eastern Europe, Archbishop Kocisko led a delegation of American Byzantine Catholic hierarchs to the Eparchies of Prešov and Mukacevo to show solidarity with them after 40 years of separation and persecution.Final years
Archbishop Kocisko resigned as Metropolitan Archbishop of Pittsburgh on June 11, 1990, his seventy-fifth birthday.He died at age 79 on March 7, 1995. He is buried in the cemetery of Mount Saint Macrina Monastery
Mount Saint Macrina
Mount Saint Macrina is the site of the largest pilgrimage among Ruthenian Byzantine Catholics in North America. It is also home to the monastery of Byzantine Catholic Order of Sisters of St...
in Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Uniontown is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh and part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. Population in 1900, 7,344; in 1910, 13,344; in 1920, 15,692; and in 1940, 21,819. The population was 10,372 at the 2010 census...
.