In 1926, Dr. Franciszek Panek (1858-1931), a well-known district doctor and the first chairman of the City Council in Wejherowo, built a villa for his family on Szosa Krokowska Street. Dr. Panek came from Lidzbark Welski. He studied medicine in Berlin and Munich. In 1887, he settled in Wejherowo, where he married Antonina Szyszko. They had five daughters.
He moved into his new home, whose architectural style was reminiscent of Józef Piłsudski's manor house in Sulejówek, as a widower with his daughters Maria, Anna, Kazimiera, and Stanisława. Kazimiera and Stanisława were particularly active participants in the political, cultural, and social life of Wejherowo.
In September 1939, due to its convenient location, the building was occupied by the Germans, who set up the local headquarters of the district “self-defense” (Selbstschutz) formation there. From here, the Gestapo coordinated the organization of mass executions of thousands of people in the Piaśnica Forests. Clothing and items looted from the murdered were stored in the basement and garden. Among the victims of the Piaśnica crime were two daughters of Franciszek Panek - teachers Kazimiera and Stanisława Pankówna.
After World War II, Dr. Panek's daughters returned to the villa: Anna Katarzyńska with her daughter Zofia and Maria Hosemann. The last owners of the house before it was converted into the Piaśnica Museum were Zofia Ostrowska and her son Krzysztof Ostrowski.
