were located in the village, including ones for candles, soap, matches, paints, champagne wine and a brewery, as well as the first steam-powered laundry in Central and Eastern Europe. Such growth led to a rapid increase of the number of inhabitants who settled along the Warsaw-Terespol road (which was renamed Grochowska Street soon afterwards). Finally, in 1916, after the creation of the Kingdom of Poland as a puppet state of Germany, the village of Grochów became a part of Warsaw and a seat of Grochów Area of Warsaw (Komisariat XVII Grochowski). After Poland regained her independence in 1918, Grochów and all the nearby villages started to grow rapidly. Grochów itself soon lost its rural and industrial character and was gradually converted into a borough built up with blocks of flats. New streets were paved, gas, running water and sewer networks were installed and it soon became one of the most popular places for companies and societies to build cheap houses for their employees and members. During World War II Grochów escaped destruction, and from the early 1960s, it saw a new period of rapid growth and expansion as new areas were heavily built up with blocks of flats. Neighbourhoods of Warsaw Praga-Południe