Wikipedia
Połaniec is a town in Staszów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland, with 8,406 inhabitants (2012). The town belongs to Lesser Poland, and its history dates back to early days of Polish statehood. It lies in western part of Sandomierz Basin, a few kilometers north of the Vistula, along the National Road Nr. 79, which goes from Warsaw to Bytom. The town has a rail station on a secondary-importance line nr. 75 from Rytwiany to Połaniec. The Połaniec power plant, one of the largest (1800 MW) coal-fired power plants in Poland, is located in the vicinity of the town, in Zawada village.
The history of Połaniec dates back to the 11th century, when a gord was built near the spot where the Czarna flows into the Vistula. In the vicinity of the gord a settlement emerged in the 11th - 12th centuries, with St. Catherine church. In 1241 Połaniec was completely destroyed in the Mongol invasion of Poland, and near the local village of Tursko, there was a battle with the invaders. Połaniec recovered, gaining town rights before 1264, and by 1340, it had some 400 residents. Ten years later, in 1350, King Kazimierz Wielki ordered the town to move from the location on the Winna Góra hill to its present location. In the late Middle Ages, Połaniec was an important trade center, located along a merchant route from Kraków to Sandomierz, and near a very important waterway of the Vistula. The town until 1795 belonged to Lesser Poland’s Sandomierz Voivodeship.
At the beginning of the 16th century Połaniec was burned by the Crimean Tatars, to such a degree that King Zygmunt Stary lowered tax rates of the residents. In 1526 the town burned once again in a large fire. In the mid-16th century Połaniec received a town hall, funded by hetman Jan Tarnowski. At the beginning of the 17th century, a hospital was built. In 1772 (see Partitions of Poland), Połaniec suddenly became a border town, when Austrian province of Galicia was created. Establishment of the border along the Vistula slowed economic development of Połaniec. In 1794 the town was one of centers of the Kościuszko Uprising, here the Proclamation of Połaniec was issued on May 7, 1794. In 1795 the town was annnexed by the Austrian Empire, and in 1815 it became part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland.On June 1, 1869, as a punishment for January Uprising, it lost its town privileges. At that time, its population was around 2,000. In 1934, when Połaniec belonged to Kielce Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic, it suffered in a large flood. Połaniec had a large Jewish population, which was exterminated in the Holocaust. In the 1970s, the Tadeusz Kościuszko Power Plant was built, and in 1980, Połaniec again received town rights.