[3] According to legend, the source of silver ore (solely responsible for the town's existence) was first discovered in 1490, when local peasant-farmer named Rybka found a strange, heavy, metallic stone while plowing the field near village of Tarnowice.

Its population rivaled in size some of the major cities of the Renaissance world and prospectors were coming from all corners of the continent, some as far as Spain, all of this fueled by the massive amount and quality of ore, so high that on many occasions it was said to be practically pure, metallic silver.

Initial growth can be attributed to Jan II the Good, the last Duke of Opole and Racibórz of the first Polish dynasty of Piast, and George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (from the House of Hohenzollern), both of whom, in 1526, gave the town special privileges called "Akt Wolności Górniczej" (The Miners’ Freedom Act).

In 1528, "Ordunek Górny" (the Mining Ordinance) strongly promoting farther exploration and offering a high percentage of profits to miners, was proclaimed and sparked a period of an explosive growth and prosperity.

Many Protestants found refuge in Tarnowskie Góry, and after the death of John II the Good (1532) town was ruled by the family of Hohenzollern, supporters of reformation movement.

[6] Around 1780 Friedrich Wilhelm von Reden opened a government-controlled mine as well as silver and lead foundry named "Frederyk" after Frederick William II, the king of Prussia.

In 1788, sparking the onset of the Industrial Revolution the first steam engine in continental Europe (and only the second one in the world) was imported from England and installed with a purpose of draining the underground waters.

"Górnośląska Spółka Bracka" (The Upper-Silesian Brotherhood Cooperative) was organized with its headquarters in Tarnowskie Góry; (this revolutionary institution functioned as an insurance company for miners and covered the entire Upper Silesian region with 17,821 initial members).

[16] During the occupation, the Armia Krajowa (Home Army, the leading Polish underground resistance organization) undertook a sabotage campaign against Nazi forces, railroad-transport and local industry.

[17] Liberation of Silesia came in early 1945; in order to save the industrial infrastructure of the region, the Red Army opened an offensive supported by massive numbers of troops with minimal use of heavy artillery and air-bombardment.

The decades following the end of World War II saw an influx of immigrants from other parts of Poland (including its former eastern provinces) to take over property of expelled German inhabitants, and as a result of planned-economy developments.

For decades the railroad industry remained one of the largest local employers, however, due to an aging infrastructure, it slowly decreased in volume and other cities of the area begun to handle more and more of the rail traffic in terms of both cargo and passenger trains.

The fall of Iron Curtain in 1989 brought freedom back to Poland accompanied by the chaos of restructuring and privatization, which led to a small but steady decline of population, beginning in mid-1990s and lasting throughout the first decade of the 21st century.