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Konstantynów - this was the name of the settlement established in the mid-19th century between Środula and Sielec. It was inhabited by workers employed in nearby industrial plants. The most important of them were: "Katarzyna"steelworks and W. Fitzner and K. Gamper Steam Boiler Factory. The "Katarzyna" steelworks was built in the years 1881-1883 by an Upper Silesian concern named United Steelworks Królewska and Laura. It was the largest ironworks plant in Sosnowiec. It functioned until recently - recently as the steelworks "Buczek" S.A. (with the former Huldczyński's pipeline, it formed one enterprise) The above-mentioned boiler factory, founded by Wilhelm Fitzner, a manufacturer from Siemianowice, in 1880, became the main plant of the metal industry in Sosnowiec. Nationalized after World War II, it wore, inter alia, the name "FAKOP". The modernized plant currently creates a limited liability company with foreign capital under the name "Foster Wheeler Energy Fakop" and produces fluidized bed boilers.
At the end of the 19th century, over 3,000 people lived in Konstantynów. Jews constituted a tenth of the settlement. Stormy events took place here. During the January Uprising in 1863, one of Langiewicz's units, retreating towards the Prussian-Austrian border, fought a battle in Konstantynów with a group of Russian soldiers. Thirty fallen insurgents were buried by the mayor of Sielec in a mass grave. The place of the skirmish is commemorated by a roadside chapel funded by Zofia von Thomas-Rudzka - the mother of the insurgent who died at that time.
The "Katarzyna" steelworks was a witness to the tragic events. During the revolution of 1905, on February 9, the tsarist army was bloodily defeated by demonstrating workers outside the factory. 48 people were killed and around 150 were injured. Currently, Konstantynów belongs to the Sielec district.
Source:
1. Jan Przemsza-Zieliński "Known and ... unknown Sosnowiec" (1992), Sowa-Press, Ekspres Zagłębiowski
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