Chodzież

Chodzież grew beside Lake Miejskie in northern Greater Poland. First recorded in 1403, it received town rights from Władysław Jagiełło in 1434 and remained a private noble town for centuries. Around 1656 German clothmakers displaced from fire-damaged Leszno settled here and encouraged the local textile trade. In the mid-eighteenth century a new quarter for weavers and clothmakers was laid out beside the older town, with narrow plots and sheds for wool and cloth. Prussia annexed Chodzież in 1772.