For the residents of Nowy Dwor Gdanski, the names "Zbozowiec" and "Starowka" are associated with a department store and a former restaurant, which used to operate in the city. However, their history is definitely older and is connected with a certain Mennonite family.
Peter Stobbe - the progenitor
In 1776, Peter Stobbe arrived in the then called Tiegenhof (Nowy Dwór Gdański today) and purchased a small distillery located in the city. There, he began producing a drink that would soon make the city on the Tuga River famous far beyond the area of Pomorskie. Stobbe’s Machandel – because that’s what we’re talking about – enjoyed enormous popularity. The people of Gdansk even called it their national drink, creating their own ritual of drinking it. A characteristic element was a plum dried in smoke impaled on a toothpick.
Nowy Dwór Gdanski - "Zbożowiec", photo: Ł. Kępski
The success of the Stobbe family made them enjoy great respect among the residents of the capital of the Low Lands. They were involved in political, social and charitable activities. In 1855, they got involved in helping the Low Land residents who had been affected by the flood. The esteem that the family enjoyed among the former residents is also evidenced by the fact that when telephone line no. 1 installed in the city, was in their house at the former Marktstraße (today Ernest Wejher street).
Stobbes Machandel - juniper vodka produced by the Mennonite Stobbe family. photo. Mark Opitz
Empire
It must be admitted that over all these years the Stobbe family created a real empire in Nowy Dwor Gdanski. They owned numerous buildings and enterprises. In addition to the already mentioned distillery, they also owned a brewery, an orangeade factory, and a bank. Most of them were located in the vicinity of today’s 3 Maja Street, Ernest Wejher Street, and Dworcowa Street.
Unfortunately, today we can find few traces of it. One of them is the granary located on the Tuga River. It is the only preserved structure of this type in contemporary Nowy Dwor Gdanski. Built in 1878, the granary was one of many that were located on the river at that time. Looking at old photographs, it is easy to get the impression that the city was a kind of “little Venice”. Today, unfortunately, this is just a memory.
On the opposite side of the Tuga River, there was a warehouse. The characteristic building stands to this day in a much changed form. It houses the “Zbozowiec” Shopping Center. Interestingly, both parts of the empire were connected by a bridge funded by the family, which was called the “Stobbe Bridge”. One of its spans has survived to this day.
Fragment of letterhead, Archives of the Nowodworski Club
