19th-Century Migrations
Until 1793, while Łódź was an episcopal town, Jews were mostly barred from settling there. The legal situation changed after it became a Prussian town, and Jewish merchants started to migrate to Łódź, mainly from the surrounding towns and villages. Spinners and weavers from the German lands came to Łódź during the 1820s and 30s (at which point the city was already under Russian control). Jews engaged in textile production—establishing crude domestic workshops and textile factories—started to arrive in large numbers only in the 1860s, predominantly from the other towns in central Poland.
At the start of the 19th century Jews in town and villages held traditional jobs as consignment traders, laborers, stallkeepers, and merchants, or provided services to the Jewish community, for example as religious as teachers (melamed) or keepers of the ritual bath (mikvenik). As they moved to Łódź, many of them acquired skills that were better suited to the economic opportunities offered by this city. Many of them became weavers; some opened small textile businesses. The the textile industry also created the need for the services of professionals such as wool and cotton merchants, or wagoners who would provide local transport.