Louis Mitgau

Louis Mitgau , born August Wilhelm Carl Ludwig Mitgau , (* July 21, 1831 in Gandersheim ; † February 18, 1912 in Braunschweig ) was a German engineer and building officer.

life and work

Ludwig Mitgau was born as the son of a judicial officer in Gandersheim, which at that time belonged to the Duchy of Braunschweig . From the age of 10 he attended a humanistic grammar school and then a secondary school in Braunschweig.

In 1848 Mitgau began to study technical sciences and mechanical engineering at the Collegium Carolinum , the forerunner of today's Technical University of Braunschweig . After completing his studies, he worked, among other things, at the Duke Braunschweigische Staatseisenbahn and in the machine factory of the Zorge iron and steel works . In the autumn of 1854, at the instigation of the Braunschweig government, he went to Berlin to undergo further training in the Hoppeschen Maschinenfabrik, followed in 1862 by being sent to the World Exhibition in London .

On April 1, 1869, the engineer entered the service of the city of Braunschweig and soon became the “technical director of the city's gas and water works”. In 1874 he had an extension built for the gas works in the street Am Alten Bahnhof . In the same year he was a board member of the Association of German Engineers (VDI). In 1881 Mitgau was commissioned by the city to work out proposals for improving the drinking water supply . From 1882 to 1884 he had the river waterworks expanded in the railway park. According to his plans, the modern sewer system of the city of Braunschweig was built from 1886 to 1895 with a pumping station in the Eichtal and the use of the Steinhof estate with the Braunschweig sewage fields for near-natural wastewater treatment . In 1888 a new building followed in Taubenstrasse, where the company headquarters of Braunschweiger Versorgungs-AG & Co. KG are still located today . On April 1, 1888, Mitgau was hired as a chief engineer for life. Because of his services he was awarded the title of "Baurathes" on May 8, 1897. Towards the end of the 19th century, the supply of drinking water to the city of Braunschweig deteriorated, as its quality steadily decreased. The numerous sugar factories in the city and duchy of Braunschweig discharged their wastewater directly and untreated into the Oker, which flowed through Braunschweig . In addition, the level of the Oker fluctuated strongly depending on the season. Mitgau and his engineer colleague Wilhelm Clauss therefore demanded that the water supply for the population be ensured via groundwater . In 1902, drilling according to Mitgau's plans in the area of the Dowesees led to the installation of the drinking and industrial water works on Bienroder Weg. The water tower on the Giersberg regulated the supply within the city. The old waterworks served from then on for emergencies.

Mitgau's work on improving water quality and supply as well as on the disposal of urban sewage was so well known at the end of the 19th century that the director of the Paris Civil Engineering Office had a Mitgau brochure translated into French.

In 1901 Mitgau was retired. He died of a stroke in 1912 and was buried in the main cemetery in Braunschweig .

Louis Mitgau had married Annette Hoffmann, daughter of the chief hut inspector from Zorge, in 1859, with whom he had two children, Louis († 1946) and Martha. It was in honor Mitgaustraße in North Circular area of Brunswick named after him.

Fonts (selection)

Atlas containing the project for the eastern outer city salvation. (= Canalisation of the city of Braunschweig. Atlas). Zwissler, Wolfenbüttel 1877, OCLC 251220002 .
Report on the urban cleaning systems introduced in Berlin, Amsterdam, Rochdale, Manchester, Croydon, Leamington and Abingdon. Haering, Braunschweig 1880, OCLC 238821475 ( online ).
The drainage systems and sewage fields (with 2 plans). In: Rudolf Blasius (Ed.): Braunschweig in the year MDCCCXCVII. Festschrift for the participants in the LXIX meeting of German natural scientists and doctors. Meyer, Braunschweig 1897, pp. 352-362 .

literature

Wilhelm Appelt, Theodor Müller: Water arts and waterworks of the city of Braunschweig. In: Braunschweiger workpieces. Volume 33, Orphanage Printing and Publishing, Braunschweig 1964, OCLC 5037379 .
Wolfgang Ernst: Braunschweig's underworld. Canals and vaults under the city. Volume 1: The Burgmühlengraben through the ages. Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2011, ISBN 978-3-941737-40-2 .
A. von Feilitzsch: Louis Mitgau. Obituary. In: Monthly Health Care. Meyer, Braunschweig 1912, OCLC 48654195 , pp. 61-64.
Hermann Mitgau : Common life 1770-1870 in Brunswick family papers. In: Cultural Studies Series. Wolfenbütteler Verl. Anst., Wolfenbüttel and Hannover 1948, OCLC 174244932 .
Norman-Mathias Pingel: Mitgau, Louis. In: Manfred Garzmann , Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (Hrsg.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . Supplementary volume. Joh. Heinr. Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1996, ISBN 3-926701-30-7 , p. 94 .

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Norman-Mathias Pingel: Mitgau, Louis. In: Manfred RW Garzmann, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf, Norman-Mathias Pingel (eds.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon - supplementary volume. P. 91.
↑ Wolfgang Ernst: Braunschweig's underworld. Canals and vaults under the city. Volume 1: The Burgmühlengraben through the ages. P. 94.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Hermann Mitgau: Common Life 1770-1870 in Braunschweig family papers. P. 395.
^ Marie-Luise Heuser , Wolfgang König : Tabular compilations on the history of the VDI . In: Karl-Heinz Ludwig (Ed.): Technology, Engineers and Society - History of the Association of German Engineers 1856–1981 . VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 3-18-400510-0 , p. 572 .
^ Jörg Leuschner : Economy and social situation in the Duchy of Braunschweig. In: Jörg Leuschner, Karl Heinrich Kaufhold , Claudia Märtl (Hrsg.): The economic and social history of the Braunschweigisches Land from the Middle Ages to the present. Volume 3: Modern Times. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-487-13599-1 , p. 302.
↑ Jürgen Hodemacher: Braunschweigs streets - their names and their stories. Volume 3: Outside the city ring. P. 191.
↑ Wolfgang Ernst: Braunschweig's underworld. Canals and vaults under the city. Volume 1: The Burgmühlengraben through the ages. P. 91.
^ Hermann Mitgau: Common Life 1770-1870 in Braunschweig family papers. P. 269.
↑ Jürgen Hodemacher: Braunschweigs streets - their names and their stories. Volume 3: Outside the city ring. Braunschweig 2001, ISBN 3-926701-48-X , pp. 190f.

personal data
SURNAME	Mitgau, Louis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Mitgau, Ludwig; Mitgau, August Wilhelm Carl Ludwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German engineer and building officer
DATE OF BIRTH	July 21, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH	Gandersheim
DATE OF DEATH	February 18, 1912
Place of death	Braunschweig

[Pingel94-1] A ^b Norman-Mathias Pingel: Mitgau, Louis. In: Manfred RW Garzmann, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf, Norman-Mathias Pingel (eds.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon - supplementary volume. P. 91.

[2] Wolfgang Ernst: Braunschweig's underworld. Canals and vaults under the city. Volume 1: The Burgmühlengraben through the ages. P. 94.

[Mitgau395-3] Hermann Mitgau: Common Life 1770-1870 in Braunschweig family papers. P. 395.

[4] Marie-Luise Heuser , Wolfgang König : Tabular compilations on the history of the VDI . In: Karl-Heinz Ludwig (Ed.): Technology, Engineers and Society - History of the Association of German Engineers 1856–1981 . VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 3-18-400510-0 , p. 572 .

[5] Jörg Leuschner : Economy and social situation in the Duchy of Braunschweig. In: Jörg Leuschner, Karl Heinrich Kaufhold , Claudia Märtl (Hrsg.): The economic and social history of the Braunschweigisches Land from the Middle Ages to the present. Volume 3: Modern Times. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-487-13599-1 , p. 302.

[6] Jürgen Hodemacher: Braunschweigs streets - their names and their stories. Volume 3: Outside the city ring. P. 191.

[7] Wolfgang Ernst: Braunschweig's underworld. Canals and vaults under the city. Volume 1: The Burgmühlengraben through the ages. P. 91.

[8] Hermann Mitgau: Common Life 1770-1870 in Braunschweig family papers. P. 269.

[9] Jürgen Hodemacher: Braunschweigs streets - their names and their stories. Volume 3: Outside the city ring. Braunschweig 2001, ISBN 3-926701-48-X , pp. 190f.