The town had Polish majority in 1825 with 1496 Poles and 386 Germans living within it. At the same time the Prussian authorities were hostile to the local population due to its Polish pro-independence activity during the November and January Uprisings in Congress Poland. During the January Uprising of 1863 an ammunition depot and contact point was secretly established by local people trying to help their fellow Poles in the struggle against the Russian Empire; it was located at the house of Doctor Russendorf. Prussian authorities arrested several locals and harassed the local population which tried to form military units to aid the uprising. The area remained Polish despite attempts at Germanisation. In 1815 79% of the local population were Poles, and only 21% Germans. In 1837 74% were Poles and 26% Germans. In the second half of the 19th century 87% of the district's population were Poles. With the increase of Germanisation efforts in 1910, the whole district population was divided among 57% Poles, 42% Germans and 1% Jews according to official German statistics. In 1910 the town itself had 4,728 inhabitants, 3,589 of them Germans. In 1912 the Germans introduced the terms "Masurs" and "Masurian language" instead of "Pole" and "Polish language" in the census in the area. It was part of the "Landkreis Neidenburg" district in East Prussia, and it was the southernmost town in the province.