The name itself is born from 'wrzos', meaning heather in the native lingo, and as you may have guessed, there used to plenty of that around here. First written mention of the area dates to 1261 when a settlement known as Vrieszt was to be found here. In 1412 the district was awarded to Gerd von der Beke, an ally of the Teutonic Knights, before moving into the hands of the Bischof family in the second half of the 16th century. By the 17th century local tycoon Zachariasz Zappio had acquired much of the property between ul. Do Studzienki and Słowackiego, building a palace there that proved grand enough for King Jan III Sobieski to hunker down in back in 1677. It's for this reason you'll find nearby streets with regal connotations (Dolina Królewska - Royal Valley, and Królewski Potok - Royal Brook). You won't find any remains of the residence anymore, though one legacy of the past the survives to this day is the profusion of linden trees. It was the burgermeister Daniel Gralath who can claim credit for this, having commissioned the planting of four lanes of linden trees over a two kilometre stretch flanking the main high-street. The project, which was realized between 1767 and 1770, set him back 100,000 guldens, which we can only imagine to be a rather tidy pile of coins.
But the glory days were yet to come. The 18th century saw intense construction occur, predominantly two storey manor houses complete with rooftop gardens touting footbridges, ponds and exotic plants. Needless to say Wrzeszcz was becoming something of a fashionable area for those with cash to spare. In 1872 a tramline connecting the district to Gdańsk was added, while the early 20th century saw the construction of the Technische Hochschule (today Gdańsk Polytechnic) and the municipal hospital (now the medical academy). During the Free City of Danzig days Wrzeszcz's population soared to 40,000 and it continued to serve as a home to the middle-classes, as well as unit of Prussian 'Hussars of Death'. The outbreak of WWII saw the main thoroughfare, today al. Grunwaldzka, re-christened to Adolf Hitlerstrasse, and though central Gdańsk was panelled into the ground during the Red Army's surge into the west Wrzeszcz escaped lightly in comparison. However the post-war years saw Wrzeszcz gradually slip into obscurity, its once grand houses left to rot, and it's only in the last decade that signs of regeneration have become apparent.
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