The Franciscan Publishers Building at 125 East Pulaski Street in Pulaski was designed by Green Bay architect Levi Alphonse Geniesse to house the printery operations of the Franciscan Order. The Franciscan Order came to Pulaski in 1887 and was established along with the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic parish in order to encourage the growth of the settlement, which was largely comprised of Polish immigrants. The Franciscan Order established a printery in their monastery in 1907. The Franciscan Publishers Building was purpose-built in 1940-1941 for the printery. The three-story building was designed with Streamline Moderne ornamentation that includes a cut stone entrance surround with curved corners, tall vertical glass block windows above the entrance, and decorative brick stringcourses. The interior of the building retains its historic layout which includes a large printing room, offices, and dormitory rooms.

The Franciscans established the printery in 1907 after they observed that Wisconsin’s Polish community lacked religious materials printed in their native language. That year, the Franciscans began publishing, printing, and distributing the Polish-language magazine Miesiecznik Franciszkanski (translated as The Franciscan Monthly), which was the printery’s most popular publication throughout the twentieth century, reaching up to 32,000 worldwide subscribers at its peak. The Franciscan printery operation also handled local, secular printing projects as well as Polish and English language prayer booklets and Bibles, jubilees, and parish reports. By 1960, the Franciscan Printery was recognized as the largest of its kind in the United States and continued to provide Polish-language publications. In 1962, an addition to the building was constructed to expand the capacity of the organization; the addition was designed by the Green Bay firm of Foeller, Schober, Berners, Safford, and Jahn.

Beginning in the 1970s, demand for Polish-language publications declined and fewer people were entering the Franciscan Order. The Franciscans’ printery business was shuttered in 2001 after 94 years in operation. The Franciscan Publishers Building remained vacant until being sold in 2019 for redevelopment.