Joachimstal (municipality of St. Martin)

Joachimstal is a group in the cadastral community Harmanschlag of the market town of St. Martin in the district of Gmünd , Lower Austria .

settlement

Joachimstal is located in the Lainsitztal just below the point where the Lainsitz flows into Austria. On the occasion of a border description in 1162, the name "Lorsnich" is mentioned here as a section of the Lainsitz from Joachimstal to Steinbach . The place named after Joachim Fürst zu Fürstenberg and consisting of an eastern and a western group of houses was built around a glassworks in 1770 and later shaped by a sawmill. Up until 1945 there was the border crossing of the national road L8296 to Silberberg in today's Czech Republic, which after the fall of the Iron Curtain has only local and tourist significance. It can only be passed on foot or by bike because there is a nature reserve on the Czech side. There is also a forester's house directly on the border with the Czech Republic. In 1822 the place had 16 houses; In 1869 the place had five houses with 68 inhabitants.

Joachimstal glassworks

The glassworks built by the Counts of Fürstenberg from Weitra in 1750 in the eastern part of the village was leased by Joseph Wenzel Zich in 1788 , whereby the Zich'sche Hütte quickly gained a good reputation and employed over 120 people at its best. In Joachimstal two port ovens with five ports each were installed, which were heated with logs. The focus of production was on fine and refined hollow glass (= vessels of all kinds) that were gilded, enamelled and cut and provided with various types of decorations. In 1818 Zich was able to produce colorless glass for the first time. After Zich's death in 1824 and the sudden death of his son Joseph Zich in 1834, Carl Stölzle took over the glassworks and its workforce in 1835 . As a studied chemist, Carl Stölzle had no practical experience in the manufacture of glass and is continuing the processes established by Zich, so that the products that were created can no longer be assigned to Zich or Stölzle. Stölzle had to stop the glass production due to a lack of wood, dissolved the lease in 1852 and leased a new company in Nagelberg . The glassworks are the forerunners of Stölzle-Oberglas . Today nothing can be seen of the Joachimstal glassworks.

Joachimstal steam sawmill

In 1924 , the Prague timber trading company Löwy und Winterberg built a steam sawmill with three frame saws and a transfer table in the western part of the village . Up to 100 people were employed in the plant. After the Second World War, the plant came into the possession of the Austrian Forest Owners Cooperative , operations ceased in 1964 and the plant was demolished. At most, the foundations of these systems can still be seen; the farm manager's house opposite and two workers' houses have been preserved.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Carl Stölzle's family tree on pressglas-korrespondenz.de
2. ↑ Stölzle glasses on pressglas-korrespondenz.de
3. ^ Gerhard A. Stadler: The industrial heritage of Lower Austria. Böhlau, Vienna, 2006. pp. 302f.

Coordinates: 48 ° 38 ′ 19 ″  N , 14 ° 43 ′ 45 ″  E