Ostrów

Ostrów lies in the Kalisz region of Greater Poland. First mentioned in 1293, it received town rights in 1404. Fires, warfare and economic stagnation weakened the settlement, and its officials relinquished town status in 1711. In 1714 the nobleman Jan Jerzy Przebendowski sought its restoration at the royal court. Privileges and exemptions for new settlers helped encourage renewed growth, and the Radziwiłł family later patronised the town. Prussia annexed Ostrów in the second partition of Poland in 1793; it briefly formed part of the Duchy of Warsaw before returning to Prussian rule in 1815. Clothmaking prospered until Russian tariffs in 1825 encouraged many manufacturers to move east.