History of Suwalki

luding Piotr Aigner, Antonio Corazzi and Enrico Marconi. To change the town's architecture and break with its rural past, the town council passed a decree banning the construction of new wooden houses in 1847.

The town's population continued to grow rapidly. In 1857 it had 11,273 inhabitants and in 1872 almost 20,000. Newly built factories needed workers and these were brought from all over the world. Because of that, the mixed Lithuania-Polish-Jewish population was soon joined by people of almost all denominations that worshiped in the Russian Empire. Soon Suwałki became the fourth most populous town in the Kingdom of Poland. After the January Uprising of 1863, the new administrational reform was passed to unify the Polish lands with Russia completely. In 1866 the gubernia of Augustów was finally renamed to Suwałki Gubernia. However, the newly built Warsaw-Petersburg railway passed by Suwałki and the town's prosperity diminished. It was not until the early 20th century that the arrival of a new Russian army garrison brought the economy back to life. Also a railway line linking Suwałki with Grodno was finally completed.

20th Century

After the spring of 1905, when the Russians were forced to accept a limited liberalization, the period of Polish cultural revival started. Although the Polish language was still banned from official use, new Polish schools were opened, as well as a Polish-language Tygodnik Suwalski weekly and a library. After the Great War broke out, heavy fights for the area erupted. Finally in 1915, the Germans broke the Russian front and Suwałki was put under German occupation. The town and surrounding areas were detached from the rest of the Polish lands and were directly administered by the German military commander of the Ober-Ost Army. Severe laws imposed by the German military command and the tragic