Stargard

Stargard, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Pomerania, situated on the left bank of the navigable Ihna, 20 m. E. of Stettin on the railway to Danzig and at the junction of lines to Posen, Schneidemiihl and Ciistrin. Pop. (1905), 26,908. Formerly a member of the Hanseatic League, the town retains memorials of its early importance in the large church of St Mary, built in the 14th century, the 16th-century townhall, and some gateways and towers dating from the 14th century. The walls which formerly surrounded it have been mostly converted into promenades. Extensive new law-courts and three large barracks are among the modern buildings. Stargard has a considerable market for cattle and horses, and carries on trade in grain, spirits and raw produce. Its manufactures include cigars, tobacco, wadding and stockings; and there are also iron-foundries, and linen and woollen factories in the town.

Stargard, mentioned as having been destroyed by the Poles in 1120, received civic rights in 1229, and became the capital of eastern Pomerania. As a Hanseatic town it enjoyed considerable commercial 'prosperity, but it had also to undergo siege and capture in the middle ages and during the Thirty Years' War. In 1807 it was taken by Schill. The name Stargard (from the Slavonic Starogad or Starigrod, meaning "old town") is common to several other towns in the north of Germany, of which the chief are Preussisch-Stargard, near Danzig, and Stargard an der Linde in Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

See Zuck, Fiihrer durch Stargard (Stargard, 1900).