Despite the fact that the history of Lodz dates back to the Middle Ages, the city’s greatest prosperity dates back to the period of the Kingdom of Poland. It was then, in the 20s of the 19th century, that cloth and weaving plantations were created in Lodz: first along the Piotrkowski tract (now Piotrkowska Street), where the Nowe Miasto settlement was founded, then Lodka and Nowa Lodka, as well as water-factory settlements on the river Ash. Favorable economic and housing conditions attracted foreign industrialists. The first manufactories and mechanized factories were built in the classicist style and had smooth, plastered walls. In the second half of the 19th century, hundreds of brick factories built using reinforced concrete structures appeared in Lodz, and the city received the nickname “Polish Manchester”.
