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Radevormwald

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Coat of arms Map
The coat of arms of Radevormwald Map of Germany. Position of Radevormwald
Basicdat:
State: North Rhine-Westphalia
Adm. Region: Cologne
Kreis (district): Oberbergischer Kreis
Area: 53,77 km2
Population: 25.390 (December 31, 2004)
Population density: 239 per km2
Altitude: 421 m above sea level
Postal code: 42477
Telephone prefix: 0049 2195 und 2191
Coordinates : 51°12′N 7°21′E / 51.200°N 7.350°E / 51.200; 7.350
Car identification: GM
Address of the municipality: Hohenfuhrstr. 13
D-42477 Radevormwald
Official website: www.radevormwald.de
E-Mail-Address: stadt@radevormwald.de
Politics
Mayor: Dr. Josef Korsten (SPD)

Radevormwald is a Northrhine-Westfalian municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis, about 50 km east of Cologne. It is one of the oldest towns in the Bergischen country.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on November 7, 1934. It consists of a lion grasping a key.

The oldest seal of the city, dating from the 14th century, already shows the lion with a key. All later seals show the same image. The lion in the arms is the lion of the Count of Berg. The origin of the key is not clear. It may have had a religious meaning, but it has also been speculated that it symbolises the iron industry in the town.

In the early 20th century the arms below were shown in the Kaffee Hag albums. These arms show the same composition, but in different colours.

General description

Origin of the name

Radevormwald means "clearing before the wood". The town's older name, Rotha also means "clearing". The clearing on the 400 metre high terrain is thought to have been built to help defend against assailing Saxons in prehistoric times.

Position

At 421 m, Radevormwald was the highest-situated town in the governmental district of Düsseldorf and now lies in the governmental district of Cologne. The neighbouring towns are Ennepetal, Breckerfeld, Halver, Wipperfürth, Hückeswagen, Remscheid and Wuppertal.

Character

Radevormwald is known for its small and middle-size companies, predominantly in the service industry. Rail connections with Cologne and Dusseldorf are somewhat marginal. This leaves the town with free space which provides many resources in the area of nature and rest, and gives it a relatively high quality of life. A huge number of religious communities have made their home here. The churches testify to their variety.

Older historical buildings, like in many other places of the Bergischen country, have not survived. An exception is the historical garden house in the town park which survived the last big town fire in the year 1802.

Population density of Radevormwald

 
Year population Year population
1792 4.320 1961 20.957
1807 3.429 1975 24.526
1826 5.383 1983 23.850
1865 8.879 1995 25.720
1900 10.446 2000 25.852
1939 13.861 2003 25.517
1946 17.159 2004 25.390



Villages and Districts

A Altendorf - Altenhof - Am Grimmelsberg - Auf´m Hagen
B Beck - Berg - Bergerhof - Birken - Böhlefeldshaus - Borbeck - Born - Braake - Brebach - Brunsheide - Brunshöh - Buschsiepen
D Dahlerau - Dahlhausen - Diepenbruch - Dieplingsberg
E Eich - Eistringhausen - Erlenbach - Espert
F Feckinghausen - Feldmannshaus - Felsenbeck - Filde - Filderheide - Finkensiepen - Freudenberg - Fuhr - Funkenhausen
G Geilensiepen - Grafweg - Griesensiepen - Grüne - Grünenbaum
H Hahnenberg - Harbeck - Hardt - Heide - Heidt - Heidersteg - Herbeck - Herkingrade - Hinüber - Honsberg - Hönde - Hönderbruch - Höltersiepen - Hürxtal - Hulverscheidt - Husmecke
I Im Busch - Im Hagen - Im Holte - Im Kamp - Im Walde - Im Wiesental - Im Wildental - Ispingrade
J Jakobsholt
K Kaffekanne - Karlshöh - Karthausen - Kattenbusch - Keilbeck - Kettlershaus - Klaukenburg - Knefelskamp - Kötterhaus - Kottmannshausen - Kräwinkel - Krebsöge - Krebsögersteg - Kronenberg
L Laake - Lambeck - Lambeckermühle - Langenkamp - Landwehr - Leimbecker Mühle - Leimhol - Leye - Linde - Lichteneichen - Lorenzhaus
M Milspe - Möllersbaum
N Nadelsiepen - Neuenhammer - Neuenhaus - Neuenhof - Niederdahl - Niedernfeld - Niederwönkhausen
O Oberbuschsiepen - Oberdahl - Oberdahlhauen - Obergraben - Obernfeld - Obernhof - Oberkarthausen - Oberschmittensiepen - Oedeschlenke - Önkfeld
P Pastoratshof - Plumbeck - Rechelsiepen
R Remlingrade - Rochollsberg - Rädereichen
S Scheideweg - Scheidt - Schlechtenbeck - Schmittensiepen - Schnellental - Siepen - Sieplenbusch - Sondern - Stoote - Studberg
T Tanne
U Uelfe - Ümminghausen - Umbeck - Untergraben - Unterm Busch - Unterste Mühle
V Vogelshaus - Vogelsmühle - Vor der Heide - Vor der Mark - Vorm Baum - Vorm Holte
W Waar - Walkmüllersiepen - Wellershausen - Wellringrade - Weyer - Wiebach - Wilhelmstal - Winklenburg - Wintershaus - Wönkhausen
Z Zum Hofe

Places submerged by the Wuppertal dam

  • Dörpe
  • Friedrichstal
  • Nagelsberger Gemarke
  • Oege

Wupper villages

Dahlerau, Vogelsmühle and Dahlhausen lie in the valley of the Wupper and are therefore called "Wupper villages". Here, textile industry arose. These settlements used the water for energy production, by waterwheel and later from hydroelectric power plants. With the establishment of working-class dwellings by textile companies the population increased in the Wupper villages. Also, the middle class settled, above all in Dahlerau where there were many single trading ventures. Nevertheless, with the decline of the textile industry at the end of 20th century as well as increased mobility, most shops closed in the Wupper villages - today many former shops are used as houses.

History

The first documentary mention and town rights

The first mention of Radevormwald in writing was in the year 1050. Klaus Pampus writes in his book Documentary first namings of Oberbergischer places that Radevormwald came into the possession of the Kloster Werden (imperial abbey), and at the time was called Rotha.

Between 1309 and 1316 Count Adolf VI von Berg conferred town rights. The settlement before the wood is mentioned in 1363 in a lease document of the count Wilhelm II von Jülich Berg (as a Herzog called Wilhelm I) as being a town enclosed by a town wall. Radevormwald served among the Counts von Berg as a border stronghold against Sauerland of the Brandenburg March.

The high worth of Radevormwald in the Middle Ages can be seen from the fact that it paid Berg 166.5 guilders for the redemption of pledged land shares of the dukedom, while for example Solingen, Elberfeld and Hückeswagen raised only 88, 84.5 and 34.5 guilders, respectively.

15th century

The town prospered. Walls, towers and gates protected the settled trades of the smiths, wool weavers and garment makers.

16th century

In the 16th century two big town fires raged, the first on 17th July 1525. 15 years later, in 1540, the parish and clergy of the town changed to the reformed church. The second big fire of the century laid waste to Radevormwald in 1571.

17th century

In 1620 Radevormwald was conquered by reformed Hessen under Philipp the Magnanimous. During the Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648) it became the occasional headquarters and warehouse of the Spaniards and Austria, under the command of Octavio Piccolomini (a Wallenstein general). In 1635 and 1636 Dutch troops, and in 1638 Westphalian troops, took the place, before it fell once again to Hessen in 1639. These military occupations were accompanied by murder, looting, arson and rape of the civil population, which was decimated dramatically.

After the Westphalian peace of (1648), the Catholic duke of Berg Philipp Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg (reign 1652 to 1690) persecuted Anabaptist and Mennonites in his territory, so that many of them fled. One such refugee was Adolf von der Leyen of Radevormwald, who in 1656 (or perhaps 1650) brought the new trade of the silk weaving mill from Krefeld.

18th century

1742 brought famine to Radevormwald.

19th century

The last great town fire in Radevormwald was on 24th August 1802. In 1833, local stagecoach traffic between the surrounding towns was recorded for the first time, and a postal institution was set up. Then, towards the end of the century, the railroad followed. On 1st March 1886 Radevormwald celebrated the opening of the Remscheid - Lennep - Krebsöge - Dahlerau - Wuppertal - Oberbarmen railroad line. Four years later, on 3rd February 1890 a branch from Krebsöge to Radevormwald was opened. All railroad lines near the town were typical Prussian branch lines which were built throughout Germany, within a largely invested development program, from 1885.

Radevormwald was a station on the optical pointer telegraph line (1833 to 1849) from Berlin to Aachen. The ___location of the pointer telegraph lay at today's street Am Telegraf.

In 1884 the municipal gasworks received its first business with the production of town gas.

The 20th century up to the First World War

In 1910 there were two important events. With the opening of a railroad line to Halver the railroad network around Radevormwald was completed, and on 1st July the second youth hostel in the world, and the first in the Rhineland, celebrated its inauguration.

The 20th century till 1945

Radevormwald developed into an industrial ___location. Local companies included lock, file, bike, paper and iceskate manufacturing, the motor and textile industries, yarn-spinning and cloth factories.

At 8:15 on the morning of 26th May 1928 a Lufthansa Junkers F13 airplane crashed in Hahnenberg on the Schlegelschen meadow. Three people were killed. In November 1934, with the connection of a gas pipeline, the gasworks adjusted its production of town gas.

The 20th century from 1945

Bismarck motorcycles

In 1957, Bismarck motorcycle production ended in Bergerhof.

The Dahlerau railway accident

On the evening of 27th May 1971, a Deutsche Bundesbahn rail bus ran as a special train on the Wuppertal - Oberbarmen line. The train was full of schoolchildren on a school outing and was about 30 minutes behind schedule. It should have waited for an approaching freight train in the railway station at Dahlerau, but it went on, in spite of a hold command signaled by the train controller with his flashlight. The freight train's driver was not informed that the other train was delayed. About 1,100 m beyond the railway station the trains collided. The engine carriage of the two-part rail bus unit was almost completely destroyed by the impact. 46 passengers died in the accident, including 41 school pupils. 25 passengers were seriously injured. The exact cause of the accident could not be determined, because the train controller of the railway station died in a car accident shortly after the event. The surviving driver of the freight train stated at the inquest that the train controller had signaled green giving him the right of way. None of the railway stations on this local branch line had a proper station exit signal.

Almost all of the dead pupils were buried at the municipal cemetery in Radevormwald in a common graveyard and a stone monument with the inscription: Come spirit of the four winds and breathe on these dead, that they may come alive (Komme Geist von den vier Winden herbei und hauche diese Toten an, damit sie lebendig werden). This accident was the worst railroad disaster in the Federal Republic of Germany until the Eschede train disaster in 1998.

From 1975 - Radevormwald in Oberbergischer district

On 1st January 1975 the Rhein-Wupper district was dissolved and Radevormwald became part of the Oberbergischer district. A year later, on 28th May 1976 regular passenger traffic on the railroad to Radevormwald ended.

Since the 1950s construction of the Wuppertal dam had been planned. In the mid-1980s many years of preparation concluded, and construction began. Numerous places had to be razed, so that in 1987 the Krebsöge dam could be inaugurated. In the same year the B 237 bypass was opened.

In 1990 Radevormwald tried to make its name as a sports town with the inauguration of the stadium in the Kollenberg and the indoor swimming pool Aquafun. However, these efforts suffered a setback in 2004 when the land sport school closed down.

Culture

Destinations

In the area lie many different dams and reservoirs, among them: Wuppertal dam, Bevertal dam, Neyetal dam, (Wipperfürth), Ennepe dam Breckerfeld), Heilenbecker dam and Schevelinger dam.

  • Uelfebad, former outdoor swimming pool (an ice rink in winter, with suitable weather) and restaurant
  • Leisure resort Kräwinklerbrücke, which is also a starting point for footpaths around the Wuppertal dam.

Churches

Radevormwald has a unique skyline with four church buildings close together:

Other churches are to be found in Remlingrade (Protestant Church), in Wallenberg (Protestant Church) and in Dahlerau (both a Protestant and a Catholic church).

Monuments

Mills (including historic mills)

  • Hees mill (also: the Lowest mill): today the earlier mill is used by a food company. Remains of the meal plant still exist.
  • Luhner mill: no longer standing, it lay in the immediate neighborhood of the Leimholer mill.
  • Leimholer mill in the Uelfe brook: it takes its name from the place, Leimhol.
  • Lambecker mill: about the mill itself nothing is known. The name Becke designates a brook in the Low German and is used in a large number of names in the region. The place Lambeck was mentioned in the year 1789 as a Langenbeck (= Long brook).
  • Neuenhammer: This mill was a hammer plant in Uelfe brook. Only the local name and a building used for trout breeding remains.
  • Uppermost mill in Uelfe brook: today this affectionately-restored former mill is a catering trade company.
  • Stooter mill the Stooter mill was a grain mill in Bever (Wupper). It was registered 1828 in the ancient land register and was also called Stötermühle. In 1902 the mill was razed for construction of old Bevertal dam.
  • Bird's mill: no longer standing. In the year 1804 Vogelsmühle, a fulling mill, stood at this site. This was the precursor for a cloth industry developing here.
  • Wiebach mill: the mill at the exit of the Wiebach valley, 1956. Today the Wiebach brook from the Wuppertal dam floods the area.

Calendar of events

Health service

The Knights Hospitallers hospital provides health services for the resident population.

Personalities

Twin towns





the coat of arms Nümbrecht Towns and municipalities in Oberbergischer Kreis

Bergneustadt | Engelskirchen | Gummersbach | Hückeswagen | Lindlar | Marienheide | Morsbach | Nümbrecht | Radevormwald | Reichshof | Waldbröl | Wiehl | Wipperfürth

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