Elgermühle
Elgermühle is a former copper mill in the Stolberg district of Büsbach on the border with the Aachen district of Freund in the Aachen city region . The Elgermühle has significantly influenced the economic development of Stolberg and, through the semi-finished brass products produced here, made a decisive contribution to the economic success of the Stolberg brass industry in the 17th and 18th centuries.
General
The core buildings of the Elgermühle group of houses date from 1595 and are therefore among the oldest buildings in the former municipality of Büsbach . The mill has been used commercially without any major interruptions since it was founded.
The name Elgermühle changed its spelling several times over the centuries. Names such as “narrow Muhl”, “Engenmull”, “Eltgermull” or “Elchermühle” were common. All indicate that the mill was a narrow, narrow mill that lay in a narrow place in the valley. Both are true, because the mill building is only about 7.50 meters wide and is built closer to a mountain slope than any other in the Münsterbachtal.
The imperial abbey Kornelimünster was the liege mistress of the mill and drew an annual lease from the tenant.
Elgermühle as a copper mill
The owners of the copper mill are not adequately recorded. The builders can be seen from the coats of arms of the three parts of the building placed above the entrances. The four-part coat of arms shows a bird in the first field, a six-pointed star in the second and third and a fish in the last field. This is essentially the coat of arms of the former Aachen copper master family Beck. One difference is interesting. In the original Beck coat of arms there is a second bird in the fourth field. It can therefore be assumed that this deviation originates from the name of the until now unknown wife of the builder. Her initials are MK, only the first name Maria is saved. Wilhelm Beck († 1619 in Stolberg) as the builder is clear and fits the initials WB in the coat of arms stone. The mill never served the Beck family as living space, but the rooms were used exclusively economically. The influence of the Beck family was extremely great and can be seen from the fact that in 19th century writings the mill is still referred to as “belonging to the heirs of the Beck family”, although the building had long since had other owners at that time .
From around 1800 the mill belonged to the Stolberg brass manufacturer Joh. Nicolas Schleicher, widow Joh. Adam Lynen and Isaac Lynen (Adams).
Until 1817/1818 the entire mill was used to process brass products and was a sheet metal (latsch) and wire mill. One of the three water wheels was used to make sheet brass, the other two brass wire. In the Elgermühle, only semi-finished goods were made from brass. It has been estimated that the mill employed between 10 and 12 workers.
A farm also belonged to the Elgermühle. Church records of the Kornelimünster Abbey from 1734 document the baptism of Anna Mo, daughter of Neclas Mol (Moll) and Elisabeth Cor (Korr), who lived at Elgermühle. The farm that was demolished in 1970 bore the initials of the builders and the year 1736. So there must have been a farm on Elgermühle before it was demolished.
Around the year 1815, i.e. after the end of French rule over the Rhineland , the Stolberg brass industry lost its global economic importance. In addition to the political reorganization of Europe, a further technological development, through the possibility of using metallic zinc in brass production, was responsible. In addition, the steam engine replaced the commonly used water wheels. As a consequence, the owner was forced to stop the brass processing in the Elgermühle.
The building complex was sold by the heirs of the Beck family through a contract dated August 24, 1818. It was divided into three parts. Eulogius Lynen, representative of the families Mrs. Margarethe Wilhelmina von Asten, widow of the brass manufacturer Johann Lynen and his siblings, sold them to Joseph Lejeune, Laurenz Jecker and NN Mahson.
Elgermühle as a needle factory
The upper western operation of the former copper mill was acquired by the needle manufacturer Johann Joseph Lejeune, the middle one was taken over by the needle manufacturer Laurenz Jecker . Both came from Aachen, owned their main works there and had the needles scrubbed shiny in the mill buildings. Due to the frequent shortage of water in the stream, only half of the 5 or 6 available scrubbing machines could be used.
The eastern, lower part of the mill belonged to another needle manufacturer from Aachen. NN Mahson. There he operated five scrubbing machines, of which usually only one worked. A source from the year 1826/28 speaks of the fact that the Mahson “needle whetmills” had been shut down for a long time. The competition from the other two parts of the mill for water was probably responsible for this.
Elgermühle as a grain mill and wool spinning mill
The frequent lack of water in the creek forced Mahson to convert the mill into a grain and grinding mill in 1830. To do this, he converted the overturned water wheel with its three grinding cycles . Unlike the mills in the other parts of the building, Mahson’s mill was rarely profitable due to insufficient water supply and only one mill wheel was usually in use. Therefore Mahson leased the mill to the miller Leonhard Pesch. In addition to the problems of an adequate water supply, the mill suffered from competition from two other grain mills, the Obersteinmühle and the grinding mill in the Haumühle brass factory. Both had two water wheels and were superior to the Elgermühle. At the same time as the conversion to a grinding mill, the mill was expanded to include a small house for the millers' family and a horse stable.
Heinrich Hamacher became the new owner of the mill in 1850 and bequeathed it to his son. In 1882 he sold the mill to Albert Kalkbrenner. In 1909 he built a new horse stable and in 1911 installed an electric drive in addition to the water drive. In 1923/24 a new residential building was built and the old miller's house was converted for mill purposes.
The western part of the Elgermühle changed hands in 1864 when Friedrich Wilhelm Pohlen bought it. He set up a wool mill here . The middle part of the building served the same purpose after Jakob Meuren bought it in 1878. His son Cornel acquired the western part of the Elgermühle in 1898, so that the Meuren family owned both parts. When the spinning mill on both parts of the mill was stopped in 1929, the Kalkbrenner family bought them all, so that the entire mill was owned by a family again for the first time since the master copper maker Beck . In 1937 the entire equipment of the mill was removed and more powerful turbines were installed.
During the Nazi era, the Elgermühle was allocated a fixed quota of 450 tons of grain to be ground due to the synchronization . This was based on the law on the merger of mills of September 15, 1933 and the law on the regulation of the grain industry of June 27, 1934.
In 1941 two new locks were installed at the Elgermühle weir, and in 1943 one of the mill's wastewater locks had to be replaced.
In 1944/45, another 3,000 quintals of rye were ground in the mill . Due to the lack of electricity, other mills in the region did not work and the water power of the Elgermühle could be used.
In 1970 the area was significantly expanded through the acquisition of a neighboring farm. At the same time, the use of water power was completely discontinued and the water rights were revoked from the mill in 1981. The mill ditch, which is around 1200 meters long, has now been buried and partially dried out.
In the meantime there is a wholesaler in the buildings, the mill operation has been completely stopped.
literature
- von Alpen, Ludwig: Some news about Stolberg and the most distinguished families of the ev. ref. Municipality, Aachen 1845
- "On the history of the Elgermühle", yearbook Büsbach 1995, publisher: KG Büsbach, 1995
- "On the history of the Elgermühle", Büsbach yearbook 1996, publisher: KG Büsbach, 1996
Coordinates: 50 ° 45 ′ 14.9 ″ N , 6 ° 11 ′ 55.6 ″ E