Kobiór (one-village municipality)
Area: 49,5 km2
Population: 4 400
No. of business enterprises: 300
Chairman of the Municipality Council: Joachim Ryguła
Wójt (Provost): Stefan Ryt
Municipal Council's address:
43-210 Kobiór, ul. Kobiórska 5
Phone/fax (032) 218-81-82, 218-82-88

gminakobior@kobior.com.pl

The village of Kobiór was founded in the clearing in the middle of Pszczyna's forests in the 15th century. Kobiór grew in importance after the construction of the railway station on the route joining Katowice with Bielsko and Wisła Zdrój, as well as with Zebrzydowice on the Czech border, and when a macadam road (now a highway) was built in the 19th c. Owing to its favourable forest microclimate it is a place willingly chosen for settlement, especially by those living in the overpopulated Industrial District of Upper Silesia.
In the 19th century the Duke of Pszczyna had a sawmill built where the production facilities used to work by steam engines. Today the tradition of wood industry is maintained by Wood Factory (Zakłady Drzewne s.c. Tartak i Stolarnia). Nearby the factory, the Forest Inspectorate offices are situated. Here, on 1 September 1939, the foresters fired at a squad of German cavalry making them to withdraw. Having been alerted, the Polish soldiers defended the village till the evening of 2 September, when the German Army entered and executed several villagers. Then, on 29 January 1945 in Promnicka Street, the Soviet NKVD shot down a few Silesians, soldiers, who having deserted the German Division awaited liberation by the Red Army.

In the western boundaries of the village, water reservoirs over the River Korzeniec are now being built with a recreation area to be set up on the banks. Further west, there is a colony of beavers.
The parish of Kobiór was founded in 1919, the Assumption of Our Lady Church, whose benediction took place in 1912, was finished shortly before the outbreak of the World War I.

Kobiór's educational institutions, a primary school and a junior high school, are located in a building erected in 1966.
Should you be interested in the history of the forest village of Kobiór, a monograph entitled Nad Korzeńcem. Szkice z dziejów Kobióra [Upon The River Korzeniec. Accounts of Kobiór's History] by Zygmunt J. Orlik, published in Kobiór in 1996, is a good source of information.