Highest port
The Höchst port was an urban inland port in the Höchst district of Frankfurt . The origins of the port, which was originally located in the mouth of the Niddam and later on the Main , date back to the Roman period in the late first century. The Höchst Main Harbor existed until 1982. Since 2006, the former harbor has been a promenade with green spaces and a beer garden.
History of the highest port
In the area of the later Höchst, a Roman auxiliary fort of the Legio XXII Primigenia was built shortly after the turn of the century , which operated a brick kiln here from 85 to 120 . In the protected mouth of the Nidda, a port was set up at the level of the Wörthspitze , which at that time was still an island between the Main and two branches of the mouth of the Nidda. The port was used to supply the Roman troops and to land building materials for the Limes in the Taunus . After the Roman retreat in the 3rd century, the settlement fell into desolation and the port was no longer used.
Only from the end of the 8th century can it be assumed that there will be a ship landing in this area. Goods that came by ship from the Rhine up the Main were reloaded here and transported by wagon over the Lindenweg and through the short Hessen towards Vogelsberg . At this time, however, a structurally laid out port cannot be proven archaeologically or in documents. However, the levying of a Mainz toll and the existence of a Mainz customs castle in Höchst since the 12th century and the daily market ships between Frankfurt and Mainz , which docked in Höchst at noon, suggest a river port. It was not until 1450 that there was written evidence of a Main port with a considerable turnover of goods in Höchst. With the establishment of the Höchst New Town at the end of the 18th century, the Höchst Harbor was relocated back to the mouth of the Nidda. The port stayed here until the beginning of the 20th century. An old hand-operated loading crane from the 19th century on a baroque sandstone plinth from 1770 still bears witness to the former port at this point.
In 1873 the city of Höchst bought the banks of the Main between the Nied district and the Höchst customs gate in order to build a municipal shipyard here. This meant that another port was built on the banks of the Main. Between 1882 and 1885, the Lower Main was canalized and expanded into a shipping route in order to be able to cope with the larger ships and growing flows of goods of the early days . One of five barrages was built in Höchst and was in operation until 1927. The Höchst shipyards were expanded into a quay and expanded from 1892 to 1912 to what is today the Leunabrücke . Starting in 1908, the Höchst bank of the Main was raised by two meters and the quay wall increased accordingly. In 1914 the port reached its final size; three gantry cranes were ready for loading work. Mainly wood for the furniture industry in Höchst and Kelkheim as well as raw materials for the metal industry in Höchst were handled. In the western part of the port, coal was unloaded for the coal-fired power station of the Main-Kraftwerke, built in 1910 .
From the 1970s onwards, economic changes set in that made the Höchst Hafen unprofitable in its previous form. The freight shifted increasingly to the streets; Increasingly, containers were used that could not be unloaded in Höchst. There have been no larger buyers of bulk goods in Höchst since the decline of the metal and furniture industry. Therefore, the city of Frankfurt closed the port operations in Höchst in 1982, only the supply of coal to the power plant continued until it was shut down in 1999. Since then, the Mainkai has only occasionally been used as a pier for inland vessels that take a break there.
The Höchst Mainkai has been used as a parking lot and space for the annual Höchst Curb since the port was closed . The old power station was demolished in 2004/2005. In 2006 the city of Frankfurt had the Höchster Mainkai redesigned. The parking spaces have been reduced to two areas at the ferry and the Leunabrücke, the space in between has been converted into a green area with a promenade and a summer beer garden . The remaining of the three loading cranes, a luffing slewing crane built by MAN in 1954 with a lifting capacity of 3 tons, has been restored as an industrial monument. The former Höchst Harbor is part of the Rhine-Main Industrial Culture Route .
literature
- Wolfgang Metternich: That ends well, everything is green. The long history of the ports in Höchst. In: Vereinsring Frankfurt (M) -Hoechst eV (ed.): Festschrift for the Höchst Castle Festival 2007. Frankfurt am Main 2007. pp. 24–30. (PDF 1 MB)
- Rudolf Schäfer: Höchst am Main. Frankfurt am Main 1981: Frankfurter Sparkasse
- Rudolf Schäfer: Chronicle of Höchst am Main. Frankfurt am Main 1987: Kramer. ISBN 3-7829-0293-9
- Adalbert Vollert: Nied am Main. Chronicle of a Frankfurt district. Frankfurt am Main 1998: Local history and history association Nied.
Web links
- Highest bank of the Main at par.frankfurt.de , the former website of the City of Frankfurt am Main
- Local route guide No. 15 Frankfurt West of the Route of Industrial Culture Rhein-Main Frankfurt am Main (PDF, 6.1 MB)
Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 51.9 ″ N , 8 ° 32 ′ 52.3 ″ E