DEBICA: A town located at 50 degrees 1’ latitude and 39 degrees 2’ longitude*, on the river Wisloka, in Ropczyce county [powiat], it has an area of 1,232 morgs. There are 286 houses, 1,307 male inhabitants and 1,452 female, for a total of 2,759, of whom 450 are Catholic and 2,309 Jewish. It is the site of the county court, a military police post, a notary’s office, a post office and telegraph office.
There is a Latin-rite parish in the town, belonging to the Ropczyce deanery. The parish church is of stone, built in 1318 and at some unknown point dedicated to Sts. Jadwiga and Malgorzata [Margaret]. There is a Jewish "kahal" [community, assembly of elders] and a synagogue.
There is a paupers’ fund for the support of the poor, but it is not known by whom it was founded, when, and on what authority. The property which is the source of the fund’s capital consists of 6 morgs of land and 3,000 Rhenish zlotys in bonds.
There is a 4 – grade public school, one doctor, two surgeons, and a pharmacist. The municipal gmina [township, administrative district] has only 3,000 Rhenish zlotys of assets.
Debica lies on the Vienna governmental highway, and is also a departure point for a national road to Tarnobrzeg and Nabrzezie. In the town is one of the more important stations of the Karol Ludwig railway (111 km. from Krakow) with extensive buildings and storehouses and a rather pretty passenger station.
Industrial plants in Debica are: a steam mill, steam sawmill, match factory, soap-works, glass-works and alcohol distillery. There is brisk commercial activity, particularly the transportation of goods by rail. The populace supports itself primarily by industry and trade.
Despite such advantageous economic conditions, the town is poor; it has only a few nice brick houses, the rest are squalid mud huts, occupied by the poor Jewish population. The manorial tract belongs to the Debica demesne, property of the Counts Raczynski, the central point being the palace in Zawada, 4 km. From Debica.
* [In many Slownik entries longitude is given by an obsolete meridian system using Ferro (Hierro) of the Canary Islands as base point. Ferro lies at about 18 degrees W by the system now accepted as standard; so to arrive at approximately the correct longitude, subtract 18 degrees from the longitude given in the article. By modern reckoning Debica lies at 50 degrees 03’,21 degrees 25’.]
Source: Slownik Geograficzny translated by Michael Kurtin (This information was published between 1880 and 1902 and gives a view of this locality during that time frame).
