calendar 29 March 2024

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History

The history of Nowe Skalmierzyce began at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. It is not a very distant date especially if we take into consideration medieval foundations of other urban centres. Writing about its past we need to remark the existance of a neighbouring village called Skalmierzyce, which combines with our history and culture. There aren’t many documents related to the origins of the locality. The oldest source comes from 1337- the reign of Kazimierz the Great. Between the 14th and the 17th century Skalmierzyce was a village subsidized by Gniezno rectors. Following the description from 1579, we learn that the settlement consisted of only several homesteads, an inn, a craftsman and a wooden church. The history of Skalmierzyce was various at the time of annexation. The locality belonged to Prussia in 1793-1806 and to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw in 1806-1813. Finally, as a result of resolutions of the Vienna Congress the village again found itself in the Great Duchy of Poznań, within the territory of Prussia. An act of Prussian Parliament from April 1818 included the decision concerning the creation of nine borderland customs offices, one of them was located in Skalmierzyce. Development of the trade with Russia, thanks to its resonable prices, promoted the new settlement expansion. At this time the history of Nowe Skalmierzyce began. Originally, it was an ordinary customs house, but soon it transformed into a regular town. In 1896 the railway started and it supported the development of economy. In those days a railway station, located in today’s Wolności Square, was constructed. In 1908 the Germans separated administratively a new locality and called it Neu Skalmierschutz. It was supposed to be a German local centre of germanization dwelled by settlers from the Reich. It is worth noticing that at the same time the neighbouring village Skalmierzyce was totally the opposite of its German equivalent as it was Polish all through.

It had many- year- old history and was inhabited mostly by the catholics. What is the life of borderland town like at the beginning of the 20th century?  There was a Josef Seidl’s inn by the roadside, often visited by frontier dwellers. There were prosperous hotels like the Mamelok and the Imbach. New shops and restaurants were built along Celna Street (Zollsatrasse). It was the time of economic heyday and remarkable investment impetus. The enormous railway station, a complex of railway houses and evangelical temple were built then. Further plans of the Germans were stopped by the outbreak of World War I. In autumn of 1918, when some Polish lands regained its independence, Prussian annexion still belonged to the foreign country. The dwellers of Skalmierzyce started preparations for participation in the Great Poland uprising. The night of December 29th and 30th was the most important part of their activity. The insurgents set off from the Catholic House in Skalmierzyce towards the station. Meanwhile the compain from Szczypiorno captured a guardhouse. A troop was sent to the town where they disarmed the German mayor of the town, the district commissioner and military policemen, who were spending their time in a restaurant. Such an effective action was possible due to heroic and self-sacrificing attitude of the soldiers. Many of them took part in the uprising fights in other villages and towns of Great Poland. The era of German dominance in Neu Skalmierschutz ended. After regaining its independence the wording of the town changed into Skalmierzyce Nowe. The site became Polish all through. 

Polish institutions were created, the first catholic church was built and there was culture development.The border life faded, which caused  short economic stagnation. It was stopped  in the early years of  Poland’s twenty years of independence after World War I. Investments in the industry connected with  infrastructure turned out to be a great chance. In 1926 a mechanical workshop started its production. It created jobs for many generations of the inhabitants. A local dairy played an important part in the history of Skalmierzyce Nowe.  It was established in 1929 by Wincenty Mroczkowski and was soon transformed into a Dairy Cooperative-today’s Lazur. After the breakout of World War II,  many participants of the Great Poland uprising were taken away to concentration camps. A local school, today’s  Polish Nobel Prize Winners’ Junior High School, was turned into a provisional camp. As much as 800 people were taken away to entrenchment works, which accounted for 30% of inhabitants in 1940. The night of September 14th and 15th went down in history as “a black night” for the 138th Squadron of Special Purpose. In Kaliska Street a tragic catastrophe of Halifax JD 154 occurred which was about to take part in an airdrop action in Ołobok. The seven-man crew died as well as three inhabitants of a house in Kaliska Street. This event was described in a book entitled “[BSP 26] Halifax JD 154 never came back”.

At the end of January of 1945 the locality was liberated. After the end of German occupation of the town a police station was organized and a village mayor with management was elected by representatives of left-wing parties. Military power, on behalf of the Red Army, was shortly held by the seniors, quatered at 42 Kaliska Street . There was a camp for German civils in the primary school of that time in Kaliska Street. The production was recommenced, and the cleanup of workshop area started. The unit of Basic Surface Materials was created, later it became the Railroad Surface Plant. The Dairy Plant, which changed its name into “Public Cooperative Dairy with shares in Skalmierzyce Nowe”, was reopened. The cooperative used even 40 litres daily for butter and casein production. It’s worth mentioning that there was also a tinned food production plant, the Communal Cooperative “Farmers Self-help” as well as a trade network. In 1958 local newspapers said“Skalmierzyce Nowe is not a village nor a housing estate. Taking into consideration its old buildings together with a quarter of detached housing estate one could name it a small town. Almost three and a half thousand of inhabitants, its housing and the fact that most of its dwellers don’t earn their livings in agriculture make it a town”. Its development was awarded and it obtained civil rights on July 18, 1962. Five months later a new primary school was opened. In the following years heavy and food industry developed, a multi-family housing estates were built and road infrastructure expanded.

In May of 1990, first democratic elections after the war took place and a new Council of Municipality and town of Nowe Skalmierzyce was elected. Soon investment lands were determined and new plans of site development were created. Ecological issues became important and as a result a sewage system was set up and a waste dump was built. The image of the town also improved. In 2005, the Rzeczpospolita daily, published a rating of best administrated units of local governments in Poland, and the Municipality and Town of Nowe Skalmierzyce came third. In 2009, a ring road was opened, which caused a decrease in the intensity of traffic and created new opportunities for investors.