Laar (Duisburg)

The Duisburg district of Laar on the right bank of the Rhine lies north of the Ruhr, between Ruhrort and Beeck, and belongs to the Duisburg district of Meiderich / Beeck . Laar has 6,402 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2017) and is located directly on the Rhine .

overview

The name Laar probably goes back to hlar , which means “pasture”. Laar ( by Lare teghen Hombergh ) was mentioned for the first time in 1280 in a (lost) document from the Hamborn Abbey , which deals with fishing rights. The second oldest document from 1282 deals with the ownership structure, which until then had been with Mechthild von Holten , who then sold the Laar farm in Amte Beeck to the Cistercian monastery in Sterkrade .

Later, Hof Laar and Heckmannshof seem to have been acquired for the Duisburg Hospital . Up until the 19th century, Laar was a small farming village, the inhabitants of which lived from agriculture and fishing. In 1845, only 263 people lived in 28 houses in Laar.

In 1853 the “ Phönix ” corporation in Laar acquired 80 acres of land for a steel mill. Just one year later, the first three of the planned 12 blast furnaces were put into operation on the fertile Laar arable land. Thousands of workers flocked from all over the world to make a living. In 1900 there were 9,284 inhabitants in Laar, in 1925 there were already 16,431 citizens. The Phönix ironworks became the largest employer in the area and Laar the largest taxpayer of the Beeck-Holten mayor. That is why there were even efforts in 1881 to make Laar an independent municipality, which the royal government forbade. In 1904, Laar was affiliated with Beeck and Beeckerwerth Ruhrort, and in 1905 Ruhrort was incorporated into Duisburg.

The foreland of the Rhine used to be a storage area for coal, later ore deposits were also established. A works railway, the so-called pillar railway, led through the village to the iron and steel works. Today Laar has what is probably Duisburg's most attractive Rhine promenade. In the 1970s, the Deichkronenweg and the paved riverside promenade with seating areas and play facilities were created. The Flora Park is also used for local recreation. 3 day-care centers and a primary school are located in Laar.

In addition to the Laar Citizens' Association, the oldest in Duisburg, founded in 1874, there are numerous other clubs in Laar, such as the Rot-Gold Laar Carnival Society, the SV Laar 21 sports clubs, VfvB Ruhrort / Laar and the Laar Taekwondo Center kfd St. Ewaldi, the CVJM Laar and the St.-Ewaldi Schützengesellschaft. The residential village Laar is an 11,000 m² residential complex for elderly and disabled people with a care home, community facilities, café and service center. In addition to the Catholic St. Ewaldi Church and the Protestant Church, there is also a New Apostolic Church and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. A walled-up bunker on the market square, which was demolished in 2019, was a reminder of the Second World War for a long time.

Laar boy

The fire station 2 of the Fire Service has since been torn down and the fire departments merged Homberg and Laar in the new guard on the Rheindeichstraße in Homberg. But the volunteer fire brigade is still represented in Laar with its extinguishing group 201. The Institute for Applied Materials Technology at the University of Duisburg-Essen is also based in Laar. Well known is the “Laar boy”, a stone figure on a house at Deichstrasse 50, who greets the boatmen on the Rhine.

While the industrial past is still present, only a few street names are reminiscent of the rural Laar. On the gable of the only surviving courtyard, the Lakumshof, the motto for the Laarer can be read: "Keep faithful to the dignified old, strengthen and rejoice in the strong new".

St. Maximilian and Ewaldi

Catholic Church of St. Ewaldi

One of the most imposing churches in the area is located in Laar. The church of the Catholic parish of St. Ewaldi with its representative double tower facade is known to many as the "cathedral". One of the two tall spiers was destroyed in World War II and not rebuilt. The name "Dom" is also used in a song by the Kaktusspatzen, a singing group of the KG Rot-Gold Laar.

After the restructuring of the diocese of Essen in 2006, the Catholic Laar parish was officially subordinated to the Ruhrort parish of St. Maximilian. Since then the community has been called “St. Maximilian and Ewaldi ”, but the Laar church will remain as a so-called branch church .

Another special feature is the coexistence of a Catholic church and an Islamic mosque in the immediate vicinity, which is unique in Duisburg.

Street names

Am Hagenbeckshof, Am Heckmannshof, Apostelstraße, Arndtstraße, Austraße, Bessemerstraße, Beukenbergstraße, Deichstraße, Eligiusstraße, Emscherhüttenstraße, Erzstraße, Ewaldistraße, Florastraße, Franklinstraße, Friedrich-Ebert- Straße, Friesenstraße, Heinrich-Becker-Straße, Im Wohndanz, Jahnstraße, · Laarer street · mill Straße · Rheinstraße · Schillstraße · · Scholtenhofstraße spade street · Stepelsche street · Thomas street · Theo-Barkowski Square · tower street · Wattstraße · · Werth road Zwingli road

literature

See also the literature given in the articles on Duisburg and Beeck !

Civic Association Duisburg-Laar (Ed.): Duisburg-Laar - A journey into the past - 125 years of the Civic Association Duisburg-Laar, Duisburg 1999.
Civic Association Duisburg-Laar (Ed.): 120 years of Laar's civic association history and the history of Laars , Duisburg 1994.
Citizens' Association Duisburg-Laar (ed.): 700 years of Duisburg Laar 1282-1982, Duisburg 1982.
Pastor Lic. Theol. Friedrich Kuhr: 75 years of the Protestant community in Laar 1900-1975. Chronicle of the Evangelical Church Community Duisburg-Laar. Duisburg 1978.
Günter von Roden : The beginnings of the Catholic school in Duisburg-Laar. A contribution to school history in the context of industrial development. Bonn 1978.
Ulrich Zumdick: Ironworkers in the Ruhr area. The workforce of the Phoenix-Hütte in Duisburg-Laar 1853-1914. Stuttgart 1990.

Web links

Commons : Laar (Duisburg) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Population statistics of the city of Duisburg on December 31, 2017 (PDF; 21 kB)
↑ Ludger Horstkötter: Document book of Hamborn Abbey with translation and commentary , Volume 1 (1139–1467), Münster 2008, p. 69 ff, No. 10.
^ Bürgerervereinigung Duisburg-Laar (1982), p. 16 ff.
↑ See the website of the Duisburg-Laar Citizens' Association .

[EinwohnerStatistik-1] Population statistics of the city of Duisburg on December 31, 2017 (PDF; 21 kB)

[2] Ludger Horstkötter: Document book of Hamborn Abbey with translation and commentary , Volume 1 (1139–1467), Münster 2008, p. 69 ff, No. 10.

[3] Bürgerervereinigung Duisburg-Laar (1982), p. 16 ff.

[4] See the website of the Duisburg-Laar Citizens' Association .