Industrialization of the city of Weingarten
For a long time, Altdorf, as the place was called until it was renamed Weingarten and became a town until 1865, was shaped by Weingarten Monastery and there was hardly any industry. The industrialization from about 1800 owes Weingarten the advancement of technology for hydropower. Thanks to the Scherzach , which flows through vineyards and the Silent Bach , the water power could be used well. From 1866 onwards, due to the lack of water in the Scherzach, a steam engine was used in summer to replace water power.
Population development
The population development in Weingarten was an important factor in the industrialization of the city. From 1806 to 1910 the number of inhabitants rose from around 2,000 to 8,000.
Location factor hydropower
With the Mühlbach ( Stiller Bach ) and the Scherzach , Weingarten had a considerable energy potential that was used intensively from time immemorial by numerous mills and engines and represented one of the most important resources for the commercial and industrial development of the place in the early phase of industrialization.
Weingarten's oldest sawmill, Habisreutinger, was built using water power . It began with the acquisition of a mill and water rights. The former monastery sawmaker Franz Josef Habisreutinger was able to take over the Obere Säge as a tenant after the abbey was abolished in 1803 . In 1822 the business became the property of the family. A 40-horsepower turbine was replaced by the water wheel in 1892 as part of an operational renovation. However, the company soon reached its limits because the hydropower was no longer sufficient. An increase in output was only possible if additional water rights could be acquired. After lengthy negotiations, the company succeeded in increasing the turbine output to 150 hp by building a pressurized water line between the Mahlweiher and the sawmill (1910). This power lasted until 1960, only then was a steam power plant with 300 hp built. The sawmill was closed in 2000 and the buildings of the former sawmill have been used by the company for the timber trade since then.
Another company that still exists today is Schellinger Mühle. In 1879 Josef Schellinger acquired the small grain mill and expanded it into a powerful art mill. In the past few decades, the company has expanded several times and is now one of the largest grain mills and concentrate plants in Baden-Württemberg.
Another company whose products were closely associated with the Weingarten name for decades and which could trace its roots back to a former mill location was the yeast factory. In 1885 Eberhard Riedlinger bought an old oil mill on the lower Mühlbach and soon afterwards began to produce pressed cereal yeast and fruit brandy. After various conversions and changes of ownership, the company experienced a considerable boom after the Second World War, but could not survive in the long term in view of the strong competition in the food industry. The yeast factory was closed at the end of the 1970s and demolished in 1982 as part of the city renovation.
The real industrialization
In 1866 the actual industrialization of Weingarten began in the Laura Valley. The flax, hemp and waste spinning mill in Weingarten was built there. For a long time this company was the largest in the town. At that time it was planned under the most modern production aspects and equipped with English machines, including Weingarten's first steam engine . This was used to compensate for the summer water shortage of the Scherzach . A large number of companies made use of this possibility of using a steam engine as an energy reserve in the following years, as the following table shows:
| company | Business | year |
|---|---|---|
| Spinnerei AG | - | 1866 |
| Alois choice | dyeing | 1866 |
| CF Autenrieth | Timber Manufactory | 1867 |
| Ris and Reiser | Paper mill | 1869 |
| Heinrich Schatz | Machine shop | 1869 |
| Johann B. Rupp | Stocking knitting | 1870 |
| Georg Bildstein | Machine factory | 1879 |
| August concert | Mill | 1883 |
| E. Riedlinger | Yeast factory | 1885 |
| Joseph Jacob | tannery | 1894 |
| Köpff | brewery | 1895 |
| Concert | Grieselmühle | 1903 |
| B. Jordan | Timber Manufactory | 1905 |
| Schiele | Bad Schoeneck | 1907 |
| Thomas Sontheimer | Drive belt | 1911 |
| Supply hospital | - | 1922 |
| Hummler | Soap factory | 1926 |
| Milk supply | - | 1934 |
Weingarten and the rail network
A problem for Weingarten during the industrialization was the lack of connection to the rail network. Numerous goods had to be brought to Ravensburg or Niederbiegen and fetched from there. It was only with the construction of the Ravensburg – Weingarten local railway in 1887/88 that this problem could be overcome. The Weingarten – Niederbiegen railway , which was inaugurated on October 1, 1911, improved the inadequate transport options, which turned out to be a major disadvantage for the expanding machine factory in particular . At that time, in addition to the machine factory, the small industrial area on Ettishoferstraße received a siding.
literature
- Werner Heinz: Altdorf-Weingarten 1805-1945. Industrialization, the world of work and political culture . Eppe, Bergatreute 1990, ISBN 3-89089-018-0