Aleksandrowska Street is a street located in the southwestern part of the district in Łódź, stretching approximately 5.2 km in length. It begins on a viaduct above the Łódź–Bednary railway as an extension of . Running almost parallel with a slight northern deviation, it ends at the city boundary, transitioning into Wojska Polskiego Street in Aleksandrów Łódzki. Until 1946, the entire street was outside the administrative borders of Łódź.
The street demarcates the boundary between the districts of and , as well as and .
Aleksandrowska Street is part of the national road no. 72 and serves as an exit route towards Konin. It accommodates two-way traffic throughout its entire length. From the viaduct above the Łódź–Bednary railway to house number 127 beyond the intersection with , it is a dual road. Along its southern side, up to Chochoła Street, runs a tramway track that terminates in a loop.
The section of Aleksandrowska Street closest to the city center (houses numbered from 10 to 30) falls under the pastoral care of the . The middle section (houses numbered from 50 to 130) is served by the , while the farthest section (houses numbered from 117 to 203 and from 162 to 246) belongs to the .
History
Until 1918 Measuring approximately 5.2 km in length, Aleksandrowska Street was originally part of a new route established between 1858 and 1860 to connect the newly founded city of Aleksandrów with the settlement on the outskirts of Łódź and with Łódź itself. This route was called the Road to Aleksandrów or the Aleksandrowska Road. It began in Aleksandrów and ended at the newly established . Thus, it also included today's Wojska Polskiego Street in Aleksandrów Łódzki and Bolesław Limanowski Street in Łódź, but was entirely outside the administrative boundaries of Łódź. For over a quarter of a century, it was a dirt road that was difficult to travel on in summer due to sands, and in spring and autumn due to mud. It was not until 1886–1887 that work was carried out to harden it.
On 17 September 1902, a Hospital for the Mentally and Nervously Ill Kochanówka (now the Specialist Psychiatric Health Care Facility in Łódź – ) was opened on the Aleksandrowska Road, far from the city, in a wooded area. The owner of the estate where the hospital was built was named Kochański – both the estate and the hospital took their names from him. The institution owes its creation to the initiative of the and the Łódź doctor, Dr. , and upon its opening became one of the most important psychiatric centers in the Congress Poland at the time. The hospital's construction was mainly funded by public donations, with the city council allocating 5,000 rubles for this purpose. During the revolution in the Kingdom of Poland, the hospital – thanks to the stance of its director, Dr. – became a refuge for many revolutionaries (including Tytus Filipowicz) from arrest by the Okhrana.
From 1900 to 1902, a broad-gauge (1,524 mm) line of the Warsaw–Kalisz Railway was built. It intersected the Aleksandrowska Road, creating a level crossing. The line on this section was then single-track and opened on 15 November 1902. On 18 October 1906, Łódź annexed, among other places, the colony, resulting in a short, 440-meter section of the Aleksandrowska Road – from the intersection with Graniczna Street (now Sprawiedliwa Street) to the vicinity of the intersection with what was later named Mokra Street – becoming part of the city's boundaries (now this section is part of Bolesław Limanowski Street).
On 9 February 1910, the Łódź Narrow-Gauge Electric Suburban Railways Society inaugurated an 11.13 km long electric suburban tram route, running from on the Warsaw–Kalisz Railway line to the Market (now Tadeusz Kościuszko Square) in Aleksandrów, which at that time – after losing its town rights in 1869 – was a settlement in the commune. From February 25 of that same year, trams started from a passing loop on Zgierska Street between and Bałuty Market, and the route to Aleksandrów had a single track (with passing loops), intersecting with the Warsaw–Kalisz Railway line. Instead of a line number, the trams had a direction board. The route was divided into three fare zones: I – to the Warsaw–Kalisz Railway line, II – to , and III – to Aleksandrów. During the construction of the line in 1898, two traction substation buildings were erected on Aleksandrowska Road, in the area of today's intersection with Bielicowa Street. They were located by the track, about 20 m north of the present blocks at 14 Aleksandrowska Street (block 9) and 16 Aleksandrowska Street (block 8), and were demolished during the preparations for the construction of the residential estate in the early 1960s. The opening of the Aleksandrów line stimulated building activity, especially around Kochanówka, as noted in the spring of 1911. However, the shortage of bricks led to the construction of mainly wooden houses.
At the beginning of the second decade of the 20th century, the Łódź Children's Care Society Gniazdo Łódzkie purchased a plot in the village of on Aleksandrowska Road for the construction of an orphanage. Work began in early spring 1913 and was completed in 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I. Due to military actions, the building was burned down in November.
During World War I, in December 1914, the Warsaw–Kalisz Railway line was converted to standard gauge (1,435 mm). The German occupation authorities, by order of the Imperial German President of the Police Mateusz von Oppen on 18 August 1915, annexed to Łódź, among others, Bałuty and Żabieniec – the northwestern boundary of the city was then drawn along the Warsaw–Kalisz Railway line. The Germans also introduced German-language street names – from 1915, the part of Aleksandrowska Road that was within Łódź was named Alexandrower Straße (now Bolesław Limanowski Street), and the part outside the city, beyond the railway crossing, was called Alexandrower Land Straße. During the war, Łódź residents suffered from, among other things, a lack of fuel. As a result, in 1915, abandoned wooden summer villas in the village of Kały, through which Alexandrower Land Straße ran, were completely dismantled for fuel.
1918–1945 After Poland regained independence, the name of the road to Aleksandrów was restored to Aleksandrowska Road in 1918 (the section within the city limits was named Aleksandrowska Street, now Bolesław Limanowski Street).
In 1924, a fundraising campaign was initiated to rebuild the orphanage building in the village of Kały, which had burned down during the war. Three years later, the facility was put into use, and in 1933, it was connected to the electric grid.
On 15 September 1928, Aleksandrowska Road and Aleksandrowska Street (now Bolesław Limanowski Street) to Piwna Street were part of the 211-kilometer seventh stage of the 1st Tour of Poland cycling race organized by Przegląd Sportowy and W.T.C. from Poznań to Łódź. In 1928, the second tram track on Aleksandrowska Street (now Bolesław Limanowski Street) was opened from to the Warsaw–Kalisz Railway line and further along Aleksandrowska Road to Kochanówka. On 14 December 1928, a decision was made to rename Aleksandrowska Street (from Bałuty Market to the city boundary at the Warsaw–Kalisz Railway line) to Bolesław Limanowski Street, which was probably implemented at the beginning of 1929. In 1929, the ŁEWKD Society decided to liquidate the traction substation on Aleksandrowska Road and to provide an overhead power line for the tram traction on the Aleksandrów line from Helenówek, which met with opposition from the Łódź city council. The matter was investigated on-site by a commission including representatives from the Ministry of Communications.
Probably in 1934, the section of Aleksandrowska Road from the railway line intersection westward (still outside the administrative boundaries of Łódź) was named Bronisław Pieracki Street – in honor of a legionnaire, a member of the Sejm of the 2nd and 3rd terms of the Second Polish Republic from the Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government, and Minister of the Interior, who died on 15 June 1934 from injuries sustained in an assassination attempt.
During World War II, from 1940 to 1945, the German occupiers introduced the German name Alexanderhofstraße, which covered the entire route to Aleksandrów, starting from Bałuty Market, including the former Bolesław Limanowski Street (within the administrative boundaries of Łódź), Bronisław Pieracki Street, and Aleksandrowska Road (outside the boundaries of Łódź). In 1941, the Germans closed the orphanage in the village of Kały and converted its building into barracks for members of the Hitler Youth, which remained in place until the end of the war.
1945–1989 After the German occupation of Łódź ended, the city's new authorities temporarily reinstated the pre-war name of Bronisław Pieracki Street for the section extending westward from the railway crossing (still outside the boundaries of Łódź). From 17 October 1945 – the day of the official incorporation of the city of into Łódź – another street named Aleksandrowska appeared within Łódź's boundaries. This street, depicted in the 1939 German Verkehrsplan Łódź, was a short connection between the equally short Olszowa and Wodna streets. On 14 November 1946, it was renamed Kwietniowa Street (by resolution no. 190 of the City National Council of Łódź on 27 May 1946). On 13 February 1946, a government decree from 20 December 1945 regarding the expansion of Łódź's city limits took effect. As a result, the entirety of Bronisław Pieracki Street fell within the city's boundaries and was renamed Aleksandrowska Street on 14 November 1946 by the same resolution of the City National Council. The street began at the railway crossing and ended at the western boundary of Łódź, which at that time intersected the street near the yet-to-be-built Zimna Woda Street.
In 1945, the building of the pre-war orphanage run by the Children's Care Society Gniazdo Łódzkie was taken over by the Social Welfare Department, which entrusted the facility – the State Orphanage Gniazdo – to the care of nuns. Following the incorporation of the village of Kały into Łódź in 1946, the building received the address 123 Aleksandrowska Street. In May 1951, the State Treasury took over the assets of the society, and on 5 January 1952, the facility was renamed Janek Krasicki State Orphanage.
In 1954, the construction of a second track began on Łódź–Bednary railway near Łódź Żabieniec railway station. This led to the revocation of the permit for trams to pass through the railway crossing on their way to Aleksandrów Łódzki. As a result, two tram loops were built at the station (a western loop on Aleksandrowska Street and an eastern loop on Bolesław Limanowski Street), and on June 1, the line was divided into two sections: a Łódź section from the suburban tram loop on to the eastern loop and an Aleksandrów section from the western loop to Aleksandrów. Passengers transferred between the two loops by crossing the railway.