Brothers Laurenz
Gebrüder Laurenz was a company for the production of textiles in Ochtrup and Epe (Westphalia) .
history
The brothers Anton and Bernhard Laurenz founded together with Anton Laurenz's son Hermann on August 13, 1854 A. & B. Laurenz a nettle cloth weaving mill . At that time the 50 or so weavers were still working from home for the company. Hermann Laurenz's younger brother Heinrich joined in in 1855. In 1864 the company was mechanized, 216 looms were installed and a steam engine with 30 hp was purchased. In 1868 the previous oHG was converted to Gebr. Laurenz KG . A little later the production facility was expanded to include dyeing , roughing, etc., and the number of looms increased to 450 after the Franco-German War. In 1879, the successful entrepreneur Hermann Laurenz was appointed to the council of commerce .
In 1881 a branch was built in Epe , a district of Gronau . The colored weaving mill there was equipped with 500 looms. The company grew rapidly: as early as 1892 they had 1850 looms and exported to overseas, among other things. At that time, Gebr. Laurenz was the largest textile company in Münsterland . Commercial buildings were set up in Berlin , Stettin , Mönchengladbach and Königsberg . Lively construction activity went hand in hand with the growth.
At the beginning of the 1890s a spinning mill was built near the train station in Ochtrup, and another in Epe in 1904/05. In Ochtrup, the existing systems were supplemented and expanded between 1906 and 1913.
In 1913 around 2000 people found employment with the Laurenz brothers ; but only three years later, short-time work had to be introduced and operations in Epe ceased. After 1934 the systems were modernized again; In 1947, however, a major fire that destroyed the warehouses set the company back.
The company's social facilities included the Josefshaus Epe, a kindergarten built between 1945 and 1947, as well as the Klarastift in Ochtrup from 1946 and the Marien-Hospiz for young workers, which was established between 1942 and 1947. A company health insurance fund had already been set up by Hermann Laurenz, who died in 1895 shortly after being appointed secret councilor of commerce. In 1944, Gebr. Laurenz Ostarbeiterinnen were assigned, some of whom had young children. An Eastern workers' child care center was set up, which soon also took in children from the Waltrop maternity camp after the works welfare officer had recognized grievances and an infant nurse was then responsible for the children. Many children survived here.
In addition, a plant fire brigade had existed since 1884, and two years later a music band emerged. Today's Ochtrup City Chapel has its roots in this chapel.
In 1966 the company was taken over by Gerrit van Delden & Co. from Gronau. In 1973 it was finally deleted from the commercial register . Van Delden soon ran into trouble too. The company was taken over in 1981 by the Greek textile company Piraiki Patraiki .
Piraiki-Patraiki was later forced to withdraw from Germany due to new legal provisions in Greece. In 1996 the Hof textile group took over van Delden AG from the Greek state-owned company. A short time later, Hof AG was taken over by ERWO Holding AG. ERWO serves as the parent company of Südwolle GmbH & Co. KG.
At the end of the 1990s, all weaving activities at the Ochtrup location were stopped. The finishing operation in Ochtrup was also given up at the end of 2013. The company closed its location on Laurenzstrasse on June 30, 2015.
Works railway
The Laurenz brothers also owned a works railway with a siding to Langenhorst . It was inaugurated on June 20, 1906. The first locomotive was in use for at least 50 years. It came from the Hohenzollern AG in Düsseldorf and had the serial number 2084. In addition to this locomotive, a Deutz locomotive with the serial number 46402 had also been used since 1947. Today it is located in Mülheim an der Ruhr .
Preserved buildings
The administration building of the Laurenz brothers has been preserved in Ochtrup . The Flemish Neo-Baroque complex crowned by a tower dates from 1893/94, although the tower is significantly younger than the surrounding structure. It was added in 1909. The office building also contained bathing facilities; affiliated was a consumer association. In 2008, deleting the building planned by the Dutch architect Gerrit Beltman from the list of monuments and demolishing it was discussed. Since the so-called Beltmanbau plays a central role in the plans for the currently ongoing expansion of the outlet center, the demolition is off the table.
Furthermore, a reception and storage building by Dominikus Böhm has been preserved. The listed rotunda made of brickwork and ribbon windows is now used as an outlet center. The entrance hall is decorated with a mosaic by Hubertus Brouwer depicting an apocalyptic rider .
The names of Café Laurenz and Laurenzstrasse in Ochtrup are reminiscent of the former owners.
Web links
- photos
- Barbara Gerstein: Laurenz, Hermann. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-00194-X , p. 724 f. ( Digitized version ).
literature
- Paul Casser: 1854-1954. The Laurenz Ochtrup brothers. Becoming and working in a hundred years. Ochtrup 1954.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Overview of the steam engines, other machines and buildings by Gebr. Laurenz
- ^ Hermann Laurenz 'merits
- ↑ Photo album of the Ostarbeiterkinderpflegestlegestlegestette ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Ochtrup town band
- ^ Spiegel report
- ^ Archives in NRW
- ↑ company newspaper from 1956
- ↑ Friends of the works railway
- ↑ Demolition plans ( Memento of the original dated November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ochtrup travel guide
