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The centre around which the Kochłowice hamlet grew was a fortified settlement, set up on the Kochłówka river, probably in the second half of the 13th century. The area around Bytom, where Kochłowice is located, was the property of Jan Dobry, the Duke of Opole, since 1498. After his death, the Duchy of Bytom together with Kochłowice was taken over by Graf Jerzy Hohenzollern, and in 1629 it became the property of Łazarz Henkel von Donnersmarck. The Donnersmarck family would remain the proprietor of the area until the end of World War II.

The first colliery in Kochłowice, named Hugo, was established in 1824, the second – named Zwang – in 1828. In 1849, they were joined into one colliery under the name Hugo-Zwang. In 1928, when the mine ceased to be the property of the Henckel von Donnersmarck family and became the property of the joint-stock company Wirek Kopalnie S.A., it was renamed Wirek. The mine was stopped five years later, in 1933. It was opened again in 1939 by the German authorities, and in 1954 it was united with the newly established Nowy Wirek colliery, later known as Halemba-Wirek.

Kochłowice started to flourish towards the end of the 19th century. It was then that a post office and a central water supply system were installed in the district, while at the beginning of the 20th century the place was connected to the railway network. A train station was built and gas network was connected. During the 1921 plebiscite, most of Kochłowice’s inhabitants voted in favour of the incorporation into Poland, as a consequence of which the town was solemnly taken over by the Polish administration in 1922. In 1951, Kochłowice lost its independence and became a district of Nowy Bytom, to be incorporated into Ruda Śląska in 1959.
 

THE TOURIST ROUTE

HISTORIC BUILDINGS IN THE DISTRICT*