virtual museum of modernism nrw

Dortmund

1802,
The "Freie Reichsstadt" (imperial free city) Dortmund, founded in the 12th century and belonging to Lower Rhine-Westphalia, becomes an exclave of the principality Oranien-Nassau.

1806
Dortmund becomes part of the French Grand Dukedom of Berg and prefecture of the Ruhr department.

1815
After the Prussian victory over Napoleon, Dortmund is part of the Prussian province of Westphalia. In 1817 the city becomes the seat of a rural district in the administrative region of Arnsberg, and in 1875 it constitutes its own administrative district.

1822
The von Romberg family assigns the Düsseldorf court gardener Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe to design an English garden on the premises around the Wasserschloss Romberg in Dortmund-Brünninghausen.

1847
With the opening of the Köln-Minden railway line in1847, Dortmund becomes an important traffic junction in the Ruhr District. Gradually the city evolves into an industrial city through coal mining and steel mills.

1852
The Hoerde mining association is constituted, first comprising the Hermannshütte in Dortmund-Hoerde (Phoenix-Ost) that had been founded in 1839. At the furnace Phoenix-West – parts of it have become official landmarks – two partly preserved furnaces with burden, gasometer, renovated furnace hall, and spare parts storage remind of the industrial history of this city district.

1858
The Nordstadt of Dortmund is erected between 1858 and 1913 as a workers' district.

1862
The "Bergisch-Märkische" railway opens as an East-West connection in the south of the Ruhr District, connecting Duisburg – Essen – Bochum – Dortmund.

1870
The sculptor Benno Elkan (1870-1960) is born in Dortmund. Numerous portrait busts and monument assignments, e.g. in Dortmund (sculptures on Eastern city cemetery), Hamburg, Frankfurt, Edinburgh and Jerusalem remind of the work of this artist who was trained at the art academies in Munich and Karlsruhe.

In the last third of the 19th century Dortmund enters an intensive phase of industrialization. Numerous companies in the fields of coal-mining, iron processing, and bridge building are founded between the 1860s and 1890s – among them Hoesch, Dortmunder Union, Phoenix Ltd for mining and metallurgy and Dortmund Mines. In the mid-20th century there are still more than fifteen coal mines in the city. Dortmund also becomes a city of beer brewing, with significant increases between 1870 and 1913.

South of the Kaiserstrasse many Wilhelminian-style industrialist villas are built at the end of the 19th century.

1887
First horse races take place at the Hobertsburg at Fredenbaum

1895
Through the intense growth between the 1890s and 1910s, large-scale urban development becomes possible. In 1898/99 the Alte Rathaus (Old City Hall) and Alte Stadthaus (Old City House) are renovated and modified as to their architecture.

1897
All over the Ruhr District so-called "Kaisergärten" are created. In Dortmund the Kaiserhain is opened south of Highway 1. After 1959 various flower shows and fairs (Bundesgartenschau) take place there.

1899
Between 1898 and 1899 the Alte Kolonie Eving is built by the mining company Vereinigte Stein and Hardenberg for foreign workers. It consists of 76 houses with 270 apartments.

The Dortmund-Ems Kanal is opened by Kaiser Wilhelm II. It becomes an important route of transportation for the Dortmund coal and steel industries.

The Hafenamt (Harbor Office) is built according the design of city building officer Friedrich Kullrich and inaugurated by Kaiser Wilhelm II. The two-story building with a central front tower is the seat of the Dortmund Hafen AG until 1962. Today it is the home of the harbor police and includes exhibition space with exhibits of the history of shipping and the harbor.

1900
Berlin architect Eduard Fürstenau builds the new Synagoge at Hiltropwall.

In the same year the Musikkonservatorium (today: Dortmund School of Music) is founded.

1902
The Kaiser-Wilhelm I. Denkmal is inaugurated at Hohensyburg.

1904
Opening of the Kaufhaus Althoff, the largest department store in Westphalia. In the same year the city establishes the Stadttheater (Municipal Theater) am Hiltropwall.

The actor Rudolf (Antonius Heinrich) Platte (1904-1984) is born in Dortmund-Hörde.

The Kreuzviertel in the Southwest of the city is built between 1904 and 1908 by the Beamten-Wohnungsverein (association of civil servants).

1905
There are numerous incorporations of smaller towns, starting with Körne. They reach a peak in 1928 with the communal reorganization law.

1908
The new Sparkassen- und Bibliotheksgebäude (savings bank and library) (1908), the Oberbergamtgebäude (board of mines) (1910), and the new Bahnhofsgebäude (railway station) (1910) are formally opened.

1911
The Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte is opened as "Städtisches Kunst- und Gewerbemuseum zu Dortmund" in the former building of the board of mines. After relocations and destruction suffered in World War I, the collection moves to the city center, into the building of the city savings bank, designed by Hugo Steinbach in 1924. The collection contains paintings and sculpture until 1900, furniture, crafts and design up to the present, graphics, photography, textiles, and archives of city history, archeology, and the history of surveying.

1912
The Museum für Naturkunde is founded. The history of the earth, geology, minerals, fauna and flora are at the center of the collection.

Set up as Westentotenhof, the cemetery is converted to a park in 1912, after the opening of a main cemetery.

1913
Dortmund has become an important site of the German Reich's industrial economy. For steel production, for mining, and for the building industry numerous companies, such as Schüchtermann, Jucho, Klönne, Wagner Ltd, and the machine factory "Deutschland", are founded. Coal mining and coke manufacturing reach their peak in 1913.

The turf racing course with a sand and grass lane is opened.

The city council decides on developing plans that lead to the building of the Dortmunder Gartenstadt (1913), as well as numerous sport and pleasure grounds, e.g. the Lunapark at Fredenbaum.

1914-18
The Ruhr District and the Rhineland suffer heavy losses in World War I. The British naval blockade creates serious problems for the German economy that is heavily dependent on imports. After the end of the war there are strikes, riots, and armed fights between rightist and leftist groups. Inflation leads to social problems and dispossession, especially of the middle class.

1920
The Red Ruhr Army is founded. Within a short time it defeats the official forces of the Ruhr District, occupying Dortmund and the entire District until March. Members of the Reichswehr and the Freikorps (volunteer corps), authorized by the government, defeat the Rote Ruhr Armee and put down the rebellion. There are death sentences and mass shootings.

1921
Because of outstanding reparation payments, French troops advance into the demilitarized zone (Düsseldorf, Duisburg) thus securing a key position for the occupation of the unoccupied Ruhr District and for the control of the most important trade centers in the areas of Rhine and Ruhr.

1922
The actress Gisela Trowe is born in Dortmund.

1923/24
Proceeding from the already occupied area of Düsseldorf and Duisburg, the entire Ruhr District is occupied by French and Belgian troops. Passive resistance, sabotage, terrorist acts of former Freikorps members and communists, military measures, and inflation lead to the so-called "Ruhrkampf" ("Ruhr fight) and an economic crisis. After the end of the occupation a new reparation plan is agreed upon.

1924
The Weiße Wiese (White Meadow) at Wambeler Straße is enlarged to a stadium for 18,000 visitors and renamed "Borussia Sportpark".

1925
After the acceptance of the Dawes Plan by the German government, the occupation troops leave the Ruhr District.

The Westfalenhalle is built as a wooden structure for 15,000 visitors, at the time it was the largest hall in Europe. Several festival halls and a horse-riding course with stables are part of the complex. During World War II the hall becomes a camp for prisoners of war and is later destroyed in an air raid with thousands of prisoners becoming victims of the raids.

The airport is opened. Dortmund becomes part of the route Kopenhagen –Hamburg – Bremen – Dortmund - Frankfurt – Stuttgart – Zürich.

1926
The industrial high-rise Dortmunder U is built and becomes a city landmark. In 1962 a "U" as trademark of the Union-Brauerei (brewery) is attached in neon letters to the roof of the former brewery.

Romberg Park, built in 1822, is acquired by the city. In 1930 a botanical garden is established. Both park and castle are heavily damaged in 1944.

The new Stadion Rote Erde Dortmund becomes the home of the BVB (Dortmund football/soccer club).

1927
Max Schmeling beats the Belgian Delarge in the Westfalenhalle and becomes European champion.

1930
The Nikolaikirche, based on a medieval building in the western city, is built as a steel, glass, and concrete construction. After its destruction in World War II, it is rebuilt and a large, blue neon cross on the tower, known as Kreuz des Südens (Southern Cross) is added.

1932
Before the takeover of the National Socialists, the "Schlacht am Nordmarkt" (Battle at the North Market) is fought with violent clashes between the communist workers of the North Town and National Socialists.

1933
The "Gleichschaltung" (subjection to NSDAP politicies) of the press begins in Dortmund immediately after the takeover of the National Socialists. The Westfälische Allgemeine Volkszeitung is now published as Westfälische Post. Also, the Dortmunder General-Anzeiger, one of the biggest German newspapers, is subjected to rigid censorship.

Mayor Ernst Eichhoff retires under pressure from the NSDAP.

1935
There is extensive building of army barracks at the Westfalendamm, the former Reichsstrasse.

1938
The Dortmund Synagoge is torn down; during the "Reichspogromnacht" (night of progroms) the synagogues in the suburbs Hörde and Dorstfeld are set on fire and torn down.

1939-45
There are numerous deportations to Riga from the Dortmund Südbahnhof, many Jewish citizens, Sinti and Roma and others who are persecuted in the Third Reich are taken to concentration camps.

Between 1943 and 1945 almost all parts of the city are destroyed by air raids.

At a clearance in the Bittermark, at Rombergpark and at the railway area between Hörde and Berghofen, there are mass executions of forced laborers and political prisoners by the Gestapo. In 1960 a monument is created, commemorating their deaths (Mahnmal Bittermark).

On April 13th American troops occupy Dortmund.

In June 1945 all coal mines take up production again, the first Hoesch furnace starts working again.

1946
The newspapers Westfälische Rundschau (1946), later the Westdeutsches Tageblatt and in 1949 the Ruhr-Nachrichten are published again.

1947
The Museum am Ostwall is founded as a museum of modern art. The collection comprises paintings, sculpture, objects, 20th century photography, and more than 2500 graphic sheets from classical moderism to art of the present. It also contains a comprehensive collection of works by Jawlensky as well as works of "Die Brücke," the "Blaue Reiter," Art Informel, ZERO and Fluxus.

1951
The reconstruction of the city progresses rapidly. The great demand for iron and steel turns Dortmund into the biggest industrial city of North Rhine-Westphalia with 500,000 inhabitants.

1952
There is full employment, and an increasing number of immigrants, especially refugees from Eastern Europe come to Dortmund, whose population reaches a peak of 658,075.

The new Große Westfalenhalle, planned by architect Walter Höltje as a concrete structure with cantilevered roof, replaces the destroyed old building and can accommodate 20,000 people.

1953
The painter Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997), considered a representative of the "Neue Wilde" (New Expressionists) is born in Dortmund.

With new regulations of energy supply, many coal mines are shut down at the end of the 1950s, accompanied by heavy protest of miners.

1955
The architect Emil Steffann builds the Catholic parish church St. Bonifatius from the ruins of a neo-Romanesque church that was destroyed in World War II.

1968
The Universität Dortmund (University of Dortmund) is founded.

The city opens the independently operated Freizeitzentrum West (FZW, Recreational Center) devoted to youth and Pop culture. It now organizes the "Electronic Music Festival."

1973
The five-story Haus des Volkswohl-Bundes is built by architect Harald Dellmann.

1974
On the occasion of the Football World Championship the Westfalenstadion is built for 54,000 spectators and opened with a friendly match between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04. In the 1974/75 season the club Borussia Dortmund moves into this new arena from the stadium Rote Erde.

1975
Dortmund is hard hit by the global steel crisis. Of approximately 38,000 workers in the iron and steel in