Brzozów Commune

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Brzozów is a town in southeastern Poland founded in 1359, 30 miles south of the city of Rzeszów. Brzozów took on the name of an earlier, adjacent settlement of the 14th century, which gradually over time came to be known as Stara Wieś (Old Village). A large Jesuit Basilica and Monastery, built in 1760, is found in Stara Wieś. Queen Mary donated Brzozów and four other villages to the Bishops of Przemysl in 1384. From the middle 14th to the early 19th centuries, the Bishops of Przemysl resided principally at Brzozów.

In 1550-1650, nineteen trades were practiced here including cloth-making, food processing, and leather-making as well as wood, metal, and ceramic trades. The first hospital of record is mentioned in 1518. A parish school was in existence in the early 1500s, and annual elections of mayors and judges, subject to approval of the bishop, commenced in 1410. Tatar attacks took place in 1525, 1623-25, 1629 and with heavy losses in 1674. Afterward, Brzozów declined commercially until the 19th century. The town for hundreds of years had been known for the manufacture of combs, but the industry disappeared by the 1960s. Manufacture of oils was another industry in Brzozów; walnut oil was a famous product reportedly supplied to the royal table in Kraków in the 16th century. Oils were also produced from plum core.