History
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The history of Makoszowy
The first bit of written information about Makoszowy appeared most probably about 1498 earliest Uppersilesian cadastral book. At that time Makoszowy was a little settlement located in the valley of Klodnica river, with numerous forests and rich meadows around, consisting of merely seven households and one mill. One of the owners of Makoszowy we know was Andrzej Przyszowski, squire of Przyszowice. When he died in 1538, the estate was divided between his sons, namely Melchior, Krzysztof and Waclaw. Waclaw was the oldest of them, and he received a part of Przyszowice including Makoszowy. As he had no money, he borrowed 300 guldens from Zajfryd Ribish the priest and gave him his share of Przyszowice together with Makoszowy by way of a pledge. Up till 1620 Makoszowy was owned solely by the family of Przyszowski. In 1620 Makoszowy was bigger than before and belonged to Piotr Przyszowski and a Hr. Holly whose wife was Anna, daughter of Waclaw Przyszowski.
About half a century later, i.e. between 1668 and 1685, the owner of Makoszowy was Krzysztof from Kwiatkowice called Kwiatkowski. While Kwiatkowski stayed abroad for quite a long time, Makoszowy was managed by Pendzich, the parish-priest of Przyszowice, who received a gift in the form of a meadow called " under a stork`s nest ". As shown by available documents, in the 18th century Makoszowy went over to the family of Ziemiecki. Another figure taking part in the history of Makoszowy was baron Jan Welczek, squire of Labendy, who obtained Makoszowy in 1779 upon the death of Fryderyka Luiza nee Ziemiecka. Holding the office of a domestic starost, Welczek owned a number of estates in Upper Silesia, including such as Zabrze, Zaborze, Bielszowice, Chudow, Paniowki, Konczyce, Pawlow etc. Welczek was born on 2 May 1749 and died on 2 January 1811. In spite of possessing great riches, he was a quiet and modest man. Accordingly, his last will was to bury him in strict privacy with no funeral oration. In 1790 Solomon Izaack discovered coal beds around the places. Zabrze and its vicinity changed violently from rural into industrial, chiefly connected with mining. Beginning with 1826 for more than 100 years the properties of Makoszowy were in possession of counts Henckel von Donnersmarck who became owners of Zabrze as well on 2 February 1826. In 1826 count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck obtained ownership of Makoszowy, Zabrze and " Donnersmarckhütte " ( now steelworks " Zabrze " ). At that time Makoszowy was divided into two areas: the first was monorial estate covering 1241 morgs ( 1 morg = 5600 square m. ), with two farms, merely 8 horses and 25 cows. The second was commune i. e. villagers` land. This area had only 720 morgs but there were 23 horses and 150 cows. Forests in Makoszowy covered about 600 morgs. One of the foresters was Jozef Godula who took Makoszowy on lease in 1790. His son was Karol Godula, famous industrialist, born in Makoszowy on 8 November 1781.
During the last centuries there were two mills in Makoszowy: Szombora`s mill and Widera`s mill. Szombora`s mill was built in the 16th century, at the very outset of the village, and its last owners were the family of Naczynski who founded a stone cross for the Makoszowy cemetery in 1920. Widera`s mill was built much later. However, it can already be seen in Homan`s map coming from 1736. The village had also one blacksmith, one butcher, one brickyard and of course an inn ! The latter was a place of greatest importance - for weddings, for cart-drivers who liked to make a stop there, for community meetings
The first school in Makoszowy was built as late as in 1873. Both the site and materials were a gift from count Donnersmarck. The parish of Makoszowy came into being still later. In 1910 the number of catholic souls was over 2,000 - high time to built a church of their own ! " Church Committee " prepared plans for a gorgeous sanctuary to be located in " Church Garden ". Unfortunately the plans were frustrated by the outbreak of the First World War. Therefore it was decided to reconstruct the school ( built in 1873 ) into a parish church which was consecrated on 28 November 1919 and given the invocation of St. John and Paul. The first priest for the new parish was Henryk Rduch, replaced in 1923 by Jakub Manda. In 1900 two mine-shafts called " Zoro Shafts " were started near Makoszowy. In April 1906 coal production began. This new coal mine, called " Delbrückschachte ", developed very fast, giving in 1912 1,367,705 tons of coal together with the mines " Guido " and " Rheinbaben`s Shafts ". A total of 4,771 miners and office-clerks earned 4,940,000 marks per year. A railway line Katowice - Ligota - Gliwice was built at the same time, and the first railway station in Makoszowy was completed in 1904. Makoszowy was changing rapidly as the mine " Delbrück " ( now " Makoszowy " ) started to work and nearby Zabrze became industrialized. More and more people came to be involved in industry, chiefly mining, rather than in farming. About 90% of them were miners before the First World War. Silesian insurrection did not avoid Makoszowy and surrounding places. In 1922 Makoszowy was incorporated into Poland in result of both the plebiscite and respective decision taken by Ambassadors` Council. The mine " Delbrück " remained in Germany. However, all boundary stones in Makoszowy and the rest of Upper Silesia were cancelled on the outbreak of Second World War in 1939. No other changes were introduced, but the end of the War in 1945 meant the beginning of new times.
