Georgsdock
The Georgsdock , also known as the railway dock , in Leer (East Friesland) was a harbor basin for merchant ships that was built in the 1850s. The port was named after the last King of Hanover, Georg .
history
In the years around 1840 Leer experienced an economic boom, in which the turnover figures were partly higher than those of the larger city of Emden, and in the middle of the 19th century Leer was East Friesland's most important export port for agricultural products. With the opening of the Leer train station in June 1856, part of the city's economic life shifted away from the area around the town hall and the Libra towards the connection to the Hanover Western Railway . Already between 1854 and 1856 a new port was built opposite the station parallel to the railway, which extended to the Leda river , whereupon more shipping traffic took place in the Georgsdock at the station. In order to enable cargo to be handled independently of the tide, a dock harbor was established there in 1858 and 1859, the gates of which could be locked opposite the Leeran harbor, which at the time was still on the tidal Leda, and all work on the Georgsdock was completed by 1861. Two years later the customs house between the train station and Georgsdock was inaugurated and in 1885/86 the Imperial Post Office was opened in the immediate vicinity, creating a new center near the train station. In 1869 a private bathing establishment with bathing hall was set up in the dock harbor. With the opening of the sea lock in 1903, the entire port became independent of the tide and in the following years the port basin continued to lose importance, so that it was largely filled in between 1925 and 1928. In 1929 the city built a new swimming pool in the remaining part of the now filled dock port. Later the rest of the remaining port was also replenished. In the northern area of the former Georgsdock, the new post office was built between 1974 and 1978 with the premises at the rear.
The “Georgstraße”, which runs roughly on the former west bank, and the “Am Dock” street on the site of the filled-in Leda arch, are still reminiscent of the former harbor basin.
description
The approximately 1.8 hectare harbor on Georgsdock was created in addition to the open river harbor as a connection to the railway line in the north-south axis. The dock port was about 245 meters long and 75 meters wide. The east side of the port was only eight meters away from the customs house on the northern part of the east side and was provided with a 400-meter-long, massive quay. On the northern half of the west side and the two narrow sides, there were wooden extinguishing bridges on a wooden substructure. All jetties were equipped with cranes with a lifting capacity of up to four tons and rail connections. The southern part of the west side was unpaved. The entrance to the harbor was around 17 meters wide and, during normal high water, had a jogging depth of five meters. The gate for the tide closure opened inwards.
literature
"Hleri iuxta ad fluvium Lade - Leer an der Leda" - The port of the city of Leer through the centuries , brochure of the exhibition of the Leer city archive, 2017
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rainer Sabel leak: Hanover transition from UK to Prussian province in 1866 , Hahn, 1995, p 145ff.
- ↑ Paul Weßels: Leer, Stadt und Landkreis , at Ostfriesische Landschaft (PDF)