Cotton Industry Society
The Society for Cotton Industry (previously: Reyscher & Bergmann ) was a cotton dyeing and calico printing company in Hilden . The plant was located on the corner of Hummelsterstrasse and Hochdahler Strasse and extended west of Elberfelder Strasse to Hochdahler Strasse and in a northerly direction from Itter on what is now Berliner Strasse to Hummelsterstrasse. That is why the factory was also called Hummelster Factory .
Reyscher & Schuchard
The merchant Karl August Reyscher (born August 14, 1771; † October 17, 1846) moved from Unterriexingen an der Enz in the Württemberg district of Ludwigsburg to Barmen . While his two first-born sons ran commercial business in Barmen, the third son August Reyscher (* July 20, 1802 in Bermen; † May 8, 1868) moved to Hilden around 1828. August Reyscher and his partner Johannes Schuchard (born March 3, 1782 in Barmen; † January 13, 1855 ibid) founded the cotton dye works under the name Reyscher et Schuchard, a factory for cotton witnesses , in leased rooms on the Itter . The company was first put on record because their warehouse was broken into on the night of August 24th to 25th, 1830.
In 1830 the land in Hummelster still belonged to the landowner and merchant Theodor Bongard the Elder. J. ( baptized Evangelical Reformed in Hilden on June 5, 1759 ; † May 8, 1834 in Hilden), who lived in Haus Hagdorn , the first stone house in Hilden. He was also the owner of the manor Haus Horst . The site was Theodor Bongard d. J. fell through his marriage to Anna Gertrud Leven zu Hummelster. Part of the property was sold on June 4, 1832 to Johann Wilhelm Davidis (1782–1839), who set up a vinegar factory there. Other parts of the site went to the mill owner and dye extractor Hermann Gottschalk (* 1806 in Elberfeld ) and to the manufacturer of the sheep wool spinning mill Johann Kreisköther (1800–1879).
About Reyscher & Comp. to Reyscher & Bergmann
After his partner Schuchard had left the company, Reyscher took his brother-in-law Werner Albrecht Henning Bergmann (born January 22, 1810 in Neuenkirchen near Melle ; † August 4, 1870 in Hilden) as a partner in his company. Albrecht H. Bergmann, a brother of Reyscher's wife Dorothea (born March 20, 1815 in Neuenkirchen near Melle; † March 26, 1878), moved to Hilden and took over the commercial part of the management. They founded the company Reyscher & Comp. Albrecht Bergmann was married to Wilhelmine geb. Bausenhaus (born September 24, 1820, † April 2, 1890 in Bielefeld ), a daughter of the cloth manufacturer Adolf Bausenhaus.
On February 14, 1842, Reyscher bought the property of Johann Kreisköther (* 1800 in Hilden; † January 1879 there) from old parts of the Hummelster site and on February 22, 1845 (Paniel No. 720) from Hermann Gottschalk again. There they set up the calico printing and dyeing works on the corner of Hummelsterstrasse and Hochdahler Strasse next to the Davidis vinegar factory. Your company developed rapidly. From 1840 August Reyscher lived at Hummelster 63 and was a neighbor of Davidi's widow.
As a factory owner, August Reyscher was a member of the local council from 1840 . The company was already firmly established as a dye works and calico printing company. Its flowering can be seen from the fact that August Reyscher on October 15, 1842 First Deputy was and as such immediately at the time of independence of the mayoralty Hilden provisionally directed the local administration of the village before 1843 Eduard Eugen Freiherr von Wittenhorst-Sonsfeld his position as Head of the congregation.
When the Benrath train station opened on December 20, 1845, the supply of coal was ensured. ( Hilden train station was only inaugurated on November 18, 1874.)
This created the prerequisite for Reyscher & Comp. A high-pressure steam engine has been licensed to operate the machines and to heat the dyeing equipment and bulkheads ( vats ) . It was probably the first to be erected in Hilden. When the intention was to significantly enlarge the plant, the catastrophic fire on March 17, 1848 caused a severe setback that led to the brink of ruin and made the company temporarily insolvent.
Amazingly, the calico printing plant was rebuilt in a very short time in a greatly expanded and modern way, and from then on the rapid further rise is unmistakable. On July 20, 1850, the two company owners changed the name of the company to Reyscher & Bergmann . However, full employment was not reached again until 1858. The rapid renovation and the rise after the fire of 1848 can only be explained by the fact that the financially strong Bilker cotton factory Ludwig & Gustav Cramer Reyscher & Bergmann stood by.
As early as January 4, 1849, both business owners applied to be included in the primary electoral list of the First Chamber on the basis of their income and their business relationships. The details of their information are interesting: According to them, they had real estate in the amount of 19 Rheinische Morgen , 40 rods . Their buildings were insured for 2,000 thalers from the Provinzial- Feuerversicherung and 3,300 thalers from the Leipziger Feuerversicherung, their machines were additionally insured for 9,000 thalers. They employed 45 workers and had a 4 hp steam engine .
The important, rapidly growing cloth printing company, which had a large textile company as its client, needed printing plates. In 1852 it attracted the Waldeck & Nacke roller engraving company . It was based on the property at Walder Strasse 24 until 1965.
The rapid growth of the company also required a significant expansion of the factory premises. So further properties were added by 1858. On September 12, 1850, they bought Flur 10 No. 570/445 and 571/445 from Friedrich Herminghaus for 510 thalers. On July 21, 1854, Hermann Gottschalk added corridor 10 No. 549/145 for 3,350 thalers. On November 3, 1854, in front of Notary Paniel (Paniel no. 4780. page 41), the widow of the vinegar manufacturer Johann Wilhelm Davidis and her children opened the adjacent parcels of corridor 10 no. 649/450, 448, 449, 651/450, 653 / 451, 656 / 452.247 transferred. On parcel 449, the factory building of the old Davidis vinegar factory was already recorded in the land register when it was acquired . The purchase price was 5,000 thalers. In 1862 Johann Kreisköther acquired the adjacent parcels Flur 10 No. 675/475, 676/477 for 1,378.19 thalers. After the factory was expanded between 1850 and 1862, the company had more than 34 acres of land. (85,000 m², approximately 292 mx 292 m).
The number of workers at the Reyscher & Bergmann calico dye factory had risen to 70 by 1854 and 120 in 1855. At that time, two steam engines and three steam boilers were available. In 1859 it was the second largest company in Hilden after Gressard & Co. and continued to invest. By 1860, the Reyscher & Bergmann calico printing company on Hummelsterstrasse expanded from three to a total of five steam boilers and from two to five steam engines, from four to seven printing machines and from twelve to 18 printing tables. By 1862 the number of employees increased to 187 workers in 1858 and to 200 workers in 1862.
The amount of fabric used and produced in 1860 was 50,000 pieces of printed calico and the same amount of nettle cloth . The entrepreneur Reyscher & Bergmann worked and delivered as a commission printer for Ludwig & Gustav Cramer in Bilk. Cramer supplied the nettle cloth and also sold the finished products.
Industry and its entrepreneurs made Hilden a commercial place. The population increased from 3,600 in 1850 to 4,994 in 1861. At the request of Mayor Albert Koennecke Hilden were on 18 November 1861 by Royal Decree , the city rights awarded.
At the request of Mayor Koennecke, the Gas Commission decided on January 8, 1864 to found a partnership limited by shares for the construction of the gas works. The 16,000 thalers share capital should be subscribed by the people of Hilden themselves. On April 8, 1864, the companies Reyscher & Bergmann (dyeing and printing), Waldeck & Nacke (roller engraving institute), Kirberg & Hüls (mechanical engineering, steam engine boiler construction), Ernst Pickardt / Jordan (synthetic wool spinning) committed themselves to gas for ten years long available from this gas company.
If the Bilk company Cramer was by far the largest shareholder when the company was founded, which was formed to set up the Hilden gas works , then it can be seen how interested it was in the Hilden wage company. The company Reyscher & Bergmann must be regarded as the first purely industrial company in Hilden's industrial history. From 1866, 18 gas lanterns operated with coke oven gas from the new gas plant illuminated the city center. Two of them illuminated the factory entrances of the largest shareholder, the Reyscher & Bergmann dye works. Their locations were: the corner of Elberfelder Straße / Berliner Straße, previously Mühlenstraße (today Zoo Thomas; formerly Gottschalks Mühle) and the corner of Hochdahler Straße / Hummelsterstraße (today the residential and care center of the city of Hilden; formerly the Society for Cotton Industry).
The following years from 1864 onwards were characterized by recession and the associated severe work restrictions (in 1864 only 50 employees instead of 200 before). Another setback was a major fire in the calico printing and dyeing works Reyscher & Bergmann on July 2, 1867, which caused a lot of damage. Production was suspended until winter during the reconstruction. In this situation, August Reyscher decided to retire and sold his company share. However, his retirement did not last long. He died on May 9, 1869.
The Reyscher & Bergmann era ended with the death of the company's founder August Reyscher on May 8, 1869.
Albrecht Bergmann
After August Reyscher left, Albrecht Bergmann took over the management of the dye works, but died a year later on August 4, 1870.
Carl Bergmann & Cie.
Carl Bergmann (born February 25, 1846 in Hilden, † December 28, 1909 in Düsseldorf), the son of Albrecht Bergmann, took over management of the company in 1870 after the death of his father. He led the company under the company Carlsberg Man & Cie. away. In 1874 he married Eleonore Marie Vollmer (* May 17, 1855 in Hilden; † November 29, 1929 ibid), a daughter of the Hilden factory owner Karl Gustav Vollmer (born May 22, 1822 in Hilden; † October 28, 1896 ibid). They lived in Hilden at Mittelstrasse 42 (later the house next to the town hall , registration office, now “Café Extrablatt”). The company initially continued to work under Carl Bergmann, like its predecessors, on behalf of the Bilker company Ludwig & Gustav Cramer, so it was dependent on its course of business.
In the years 1872 and 1875, the factory was hit by several fires, which hampered its development. The mayor's management reports showed that the company was very sensitive to the crisis and as a result could only pay low wages.
With the construction of the Troisdorf - Opladen - Hilden - Düsseldorf-Eller - Mülheim-Speldorf railway line in 1874, Hildens was connected directly to the rail network. Hilden got its own train station . Since then, the coal no longer had to be transported from Benrath in horse-drawn vehicles.
The degree of Itter pollution became a measure of value for the growing Hilden industry. The tannery of Johann Heinrich Stürmer (later until 1961 Max Jüntgen tannery, today the Bast-Bau-Siedlung at the corner of Am Rathaus / Mühlenstraße is located there), which is located further below the Itter, required clean Itter water for watering and tanning and for leather production . However, she received it at times completely contaminated and unusable. Therefore, from 1874 onwards, Johann Heinrich Stürmer complained to Mayor Pabst on paper printed extra sky blue that the “factory of C. Bergmann & Cie. their dirty colored water drifts into the respectable Itterbach pond, whereas the water above the imaginary factory is bright and clear ”. The residents got together and filed joint complaints against the then Mayor Pabst. There were heated arguments, administrative fines and serious admonitions without actually eliminating the problem. In its lower course, the Itter feeds the canals and water basins of Benrath Palace Park . The color-polluted Itter filled the castle ponds with black-brown, foul-smelling water. Benrath Palace belonged to the Prussian crown, and it was repeatedly inhabited by high and high people. Even Kaiser Wilhelm I took quarters there during maneuvers. In order to be able to clean the park lakes during the maneuvers in September, the Royal Court Marshal's Office prohibited the discharge of factory outflows into the Itter by July 1, 1884 at the latest. Page 79.
At the Bergmann & Cie. In 1876 the transition from printing and dyeing to general textile operations with cotton bleaching , cotton washing and weaving took place . Further steam boilers and steam engines for the new cotton bleaching and washing machines were licensed and installed from 1876 to 1878 (license files K5 and K17).
Society for Cotton Industry AG
With the spread of dyed cloth, the importance of printed cotton cloth declined more and more. From the company Carl Bergmann & Cie. came out on July 18, 1883 the society for cotton industry AG . When the company was reorganized, the Hilden-based company became a subsidiary of the Bilk- based Ludwig & Gustav Cramer company . The Society for Cotton Industry had its headquarters from July 18, 1883, initially in Düsseldorf, Martinstrasse 10, and under the managing director Gustav Cramer (born October 28, 1871 in Düsseldorf; † October 27, 1953 at Gut Hospelt ) from November 2, 1896 in Hilden, Elberfelder Straße 41. Gustav Cramer moved to Bad Münstereifel in 1912 to the Hospelt estate and had it renovated in 1924 and rebuilt on a large scale. Ernst Jantsch became director.
The Society for Cotton Industry had a branch in Berlin . Its chairman was Ernst Cramer (born September 27, 1833, † January 22, 1902 in Düsseldorf), who lived in Düsseldorf, Hofgartenstrasse 6/7 .
As protective tariffs fell, the economy slowly recovered from the depression from 1894 onwards . The year 1895 also saw a complete change in Hilden. An upswing set in, which immediately led to a strong and almost uninterrupted flowering of the German economy until the outbreak of the First World War. The Society for Cotton Industry also used it and expanded its factory significantly with B. Creation of a large camp in Hilden, which was previously in Bilk. In the meantime, workers were being sought again in 1896 and numerous companies were working overtime to cope with the abundance of seasonal orders. The Society for Cotton Industry was always fully employed with its 370 workers, but due to competition it paid low wages and achieved low prices. The entrepreneur Carl Bergmann died on December 28, 1909. He is buried in the main cemetery in Hilden.
The population of Hildens rose from 8,900 in 1894 to 20,500 in 1933. In 1931, the company Kampf & Spindler set up a bleaching , piece dyeing and finishing plant in the buildings of the closed society for cotton industry between Hochdahler Strasse and Elberfelder Strasse . Gert P. Spindler ran it there until 1970.
In 1932, the Haniel Group listed the Society for Cotton Industry as a participation.
Web links
- Envelope from the Society for Cotton Industry, sent to the Hans A. Rödel company in Hof an der Saale, 1929
- F. Haniel house and Ernst Cramer house in Düsseldorf, Hofgartenstrasse 6 and 7 (around 1900)
- The first association after Professor Esmarch around 1875
- Exhibition “Wounded in the field” - Friedrich von Esmarch and anesthesia in war
- White triangular scarf of the Imperial German Army in World War I
- List of sponsors of the German Motorboat Expedition through Africa DEMEDA
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Wolfgang Wennig: History of the Hilden industry. Hilden 1974, pp. 38-41, 76-78, 117, 125, 171-172, 184, 193, 199.
- ↑ Mayor of Hilden , in: Address pocket book from the Duchy of Berg and the Graffschaft Mark. , 4th edition, Friedrich Hyll, Barmen u. Elberfeld, p. 411.
- ^ Genealogy by Karl Bergmann (1846-1909)
- ↑ Wolfgang Wennig: Hilden yesterday and today. Hilden 1977.
- ↑ Albert Koennecke: From the memorandum of Mayor Koennecke of October 15, 1860. (City archive Hilden inventory 2, no. 80, and provincial archive at the Rhineland Regional Council in Cologne, vol. No. 183) (partial print after Heinrich Strangmeier in the Hilden yearbook, volume 9 (1961-1964), pp. 50-56.)
- ↑ August Ludwig Reyscher : Family book to remember for the Reyscher family , Cannstatt 1869, p. 36.
- ↑ Ulrich Jantsch: The ground under my feet. Self-published , 2017. (Copy in the Hilden City Archives)
- ^ The Haniel family at www.geschichtsforum.de