Forsbach

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Village fountain in Forsbach

Forsbach is a district of Rösrath in the Rheinisch-Bergisches Kreis . Around 6000 people live in an area of ​​7.5 km². Forsbach became known nationwide on the one hand for the restaurant "Whiskey Bill", on the other hand the Rheinisch-Westfälische Genossenschaftsakademie is a training center for banking professionals known throughout North Rhine-Westphalia .

History and Development

The oldest part of Forsbach is the settlement of Altvolberg, which was probably mentioned in 893. The current place name is first mentioned in the year 1056 or 1075, when Archbishop Anno II donated a farm in Vorstbach to the Deutz Abbey . From the High Middle Ages, the Knights of Forsbach had their seat in the town center. This was probably initially due to the Motte Beienburg and was relocated to the Halfenhof in the late Middle Ages.

Due to the different focus areas of the settlement, the place increasingly developed into a street village along the north-south direction of Bensberger Straße. The large gaps in the development along the more than 2 km long route were closed by the steady influx of new residents after the Second World War. An expansion of the residential development in west-east direction followed. While there was still a building site for the Protestant Christ Church on Bensberger Strasse in 1956 , the cornerstone of the Catholic Holy Spirit Church was laid in a side street in 1964 .

Forsbach has no points of contact in the development with the other Rösrath districts. There is forest around the place. On short distances to the neighboring city of Cologne , many Forsbacher commute between their “house in the country” and their place of work in Cologne every day.

Whiskey bill

Whiskey bill parking.jpg

After the Second World War, the “Zum Wiesgen” restaurant was initially used as quarters for war refugees. From 1957 Werner Müllenbach was able to resume hospitality. His first guests were Belgian soldiers, who mainly asked for whiskey. Werner Müllenbach had sympathy for the Wild West and regularly advertised his “Ranch Wiesgen” with his portrait in newspaper advertisements. A cowboy hat was his trademark and from then on he called himself "Whiskey Bill". His discotheque was known far beyond the municipality's borders until the 1990s. At the weekends in particular, Forsbach was parked with hundreds of vehicles with license plates from all over the Rhineland. The singer Wolfgang Petry was discovered here during a performance . The traditional Forsbach restaurant closed its doors in July 2010. At that time, the property was being offered for a monthly lease of 2000 euros. The restaurant is currently only used sporadically, for example for carnival events. In April 2014, the premises were used as a film set for the ARD film “Special Severity of Guilt”.

Rheinisch-Westfälische Genossenschaftsakademie

Rheinisch-Westfälische Genossenschaftsakademie in Forsbach

The Raiffeisen School Rhineland started its educational offerings for the employees of Volksbanks and Raiffeisenbanks on September 13, 1965. When choosing the Forsbach location, the convenient location to the city of Cologne played a decisive role.

The seminars often extend over several days. An affiliated hotel ensures the appropriate accommodation for the course participants. The building plans came from the Forsbach architect Horst Welsch, who also designed a swimming pool and a bowling alley for the building complex on the edge of the Königsforstes . Due to the strong demand for meeting space for banks, insurance companies and other organizations, the building complex has already been expanded twice (1975 and 1984).

Halfenhof

The centrally located Halfenhof is a former old knight's seat ( Motte Beienburg ). Part of the large building complex was demolished in the 18th century. A pub has established itself in the remaining Halfenhof. From 1952 to 1965 movies were shown in the hall of the Halfenhof. The hall was demolished in 1971 because it was in disrepair. In front of today's economy there is a bus stop of the same name on RVK line 423 from Cologne-Königsforst to Bergisch Gladbach. While other stop names were changed to the system of the next road junction - for example, “Tente” in the south of Forsbach became “Wiesenweg” or “Wiesgen” in the north of Forsbach became “Holzmarkt” - the old traditional stop name “Halfenhof” remained.

The sports hall, built in 1992 behind the Halfenhof, is primarily used by the Forsbach 1914 eV gymnastics club, which is best known for its success in handball. From 1996 to 2000 the handball men played in the regional league. In addition to the hall, the "Halfenhof sports complex" also includes several tennis courts.

A supermarket was opened at Halfenhof in February 2010.

Forsbacher Hof

The Forsbacher Hof was moved from its original location in Schwiegelshohn , a forest settlement between Forsbach and Bensberg, to the center of Forsbach in the 19th century . After a decade of vacancy, the former restaurant was dismantled in 2011 with the aim of rebuilding the house and using it as a residential building. Discussions about the recyclability of the old, partially ailing beams accompanied the demolition.

traffic

The former Forsbach train station

A section of the former Cologne-Mülheim-Lindlar railway (popularly: Sülztalbahn) connected Bensberg with Rösrath and Hoffnungsthal. In 1879, a route from Bensberg through the Königsforst was still considered too complicated and costly because of the steep gradients that had to be overcome. It took several attempts before the railway connection could be opened on July 1, 1890. The entire route of the Sülztalbahn ran from Cologne-Mülheim via Bergisch Gladbach, Bensberg, Rösrath, Hoffnungsthal and Immekeppel to Lindlar. The last section between Hommerich and Lindlar was completed on December 16, 1912. The railway brought tourism to the Bergisches Land .

Stone with a bronze plaque

Many people from Cologne, looking for relaxation, left the train at Forsbach station and wandered through the Königsforst. Many restaurants made their living from these railway tourists, for example the “Forsbacher Mühle” restaurant, where the well-known Cologne songwriter Willi Ostermann liked to stop by. After refreshment with coffee and cake, most of the day trippers boarded the train again for the return trip in Hope Valley.

With increasing car traffic in the wake of the economic miracle after the Second World War, the number of Cologne “tourists” who went on a trip into the countryside by train fell. On December 1, 1961, the line between Bensberg and Rösrath was closed for freight and passenger traffic. Forsbach station, located in Bensberg , was used as a residential building for a while and then demolished. Today's hikers will only find a stone with a bronze plaque at the original location of the train station in the Königsforst, erected in 1994 by the Forsbach village community "Därer Einigkeit".

Road traffic

The main connecting routes are:

  • the L 288 north towards Bensberg
  • the K 40 to the southeast in the direction of Hoffnungsthal
  • the L 288 to the south in the direction of Rösrath
  • the L 170 west in the direction of Kleineichen and the Königsforst motorway junction of the A3

The VRS bus line 423 Bergisch Gladbach - Bensberg - Rösrath - Königsforst runs on the L 288 with six stops in Forsbach.

Hiking and biking trails

There is a parking lot for hikers on the L 288 in the north and on the L 170. The following hiking trails can be found:

Art Waymarks Distance Path length
trail  X22  Kurkölner Weg : Meschede - Hoffnungsthal - Cologne-Rath 153 km
trail  <4  Rath-Heumar - Herkenrath - Hommerich 37 km
trail  <5  Rath-Heumar - Marialinden - Vilkerath
trail  <5a  Cologne-Brück - Honrath
Circular hiking trails  A1   A2   A3  Königsforst

→ see also hiking trails in the Bergisches Land

Former mining

In the northern part of Forsbach, the Königsforst has been mining for iron , lead , blende and copper ore since the middle of the 19th century . No further information is available on the operating activities of the Blondel , Carlsglück and Löwenherz mines . Remains of an earlier mine structure have been preserved from the United Glückauf mine.

Stone meteorite "Forsbach"

A stone meteorite was observed to fall on June 12, 1900 at 2:00 p.m. It is a chondrite with a mass of 240 g. It was named "Forsbach" after the place where it was found and is now in the Mineralogical Museum of the University of Bonn.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Schönfeld: The motte and the knight seat Forsbach. One of the oldest medieval settlements in the Königsforst. , Rheinisch Bergischer Calendar 2015, Bergisch Gladbach 2014, pp. 20–27
  2. ↑ Forsbach stone meteorite at www.astroamateur.de

literature

  • Waltraud Rexhaus and Robert Wagner (eds.): Forsbach - From the life of a village between Königsforst and Sülztal , series of publications by the history association for the community of Rösrath and the surrounding area, Volume 26, Rösrath 1995 (Reprint: Rösrath 2004)
  • Georg Geist: 25 years of the Rhineland Raiffeisen School in Forsbach - modern and future-oriented - Academy of the Rhenish Cooperatives , in: Rheinisch-Bergischer Calendar 1991, Heimatjahrbuch für das Bergisches Land, pp. 179-184, ISSN  0722-7671

Coordinates: 50 ° 55 '  N , 7 ° 10'  E