Max Clemens Canal
The Max-Clemens Canal (or Max-Klemens Canal ) is a former shipping canal between Münster and the northern Münsterland.
Under the prince-bishop of Münster, the Wittelsbacher Clemens August I of Bavaria , construction began on May 9, 1724 near the Münster children's home . Under the direction of the Frisian hydraulic engineer Georg Michael Meetsma , an approximately 30 km long section of the canal from the Neubrückentor in Münster to the Frischhofsbach in Neuenkirchen was built by 1730 . Here, at the provisional end point of the canal, south of Rheine , between Mesum and Burgsteinfurt , Clemenshafen was created . The first section of the canal was put into operation in 1731. A critic of the canal construction was the geometer and master builder Lambert Friedrich Corfey .
Under Clemens August's successor, Prince-Bishop Maximilian Friedrich von Königsegg-Rothenfels , another 6 km long stretch to Maxhafen between Wettringen and Neuenkirchen was completed from 1766 to 1771 . The not far away Steinfurter Aa and the navigable Vechte were not connected because the Vechte runs through the Grafschaft Bentheim and no agreements were made with the count in advance.
The canal was used between Münster and Clemenshafen from 1731 to 1771, after which Maxhafen was the end point of the canal until 1840. The starting point was the canal port in Münster. According to the von Mangerschen city map from 1839, it was located on today's Kanalstrasse opposite the junction to the Coerdeplatz street. The packing house in Geisberg, built in 1791, between the houses at Kanalstrasse 7 and 10. According to plans by Johann-Konrad Schlaun, a harbor basin with a packing house, crane system and winch was built there.
During the time it was used, it was known as the "Münsterscher Canal"; The name "Max-Clemens-Kanal" only became common after the closure.
The "standard ship" was a wooden barge ( trek barge ) 3 m wide and 16.5 m long with a load capacity of about 10 tons. This boat was towed by two horses . There was also a mail ship that went twice a week and also carried people. The transport from Maxhafen to Münster lasted from morning to afternoon. In the 19th century, the canal increasingly fell behind the competition from the now better developed roads . After the Münsterland became Prussian, the canal also lost its strategic commercial importance because the Prussians relied on the Rhine as a waterway. Although the Münster merchants campaigned for preservation, ship operations were officially closed on February 10, 1840. The goal of connecting the Max Clemens Canal with the Dutch waterway network or the North Sea port of Emden was never achieved by water. The delivery or further transport from or to Clemenshafen and later Maxhafen had to be done by land. Nevertheless, for a good century it was such a powerful transport link that even reloading in the terminal ports was worthwhile. In addition to the poor road conditions, this was also due to the fact that, by order of the Prince-Bishop, the Münster merchants had to purchase all goods coming from Holland, East Friesland, Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck via the canal. From the port, the merchants were transported directly to the door in special canal freight cars.
175 years after it was closed, the canal is accompanied by streets and paths running parallel to it, almost along its entire length. The actual canal is often only recognizable as a hollow and placed under protection as a "technical ground monument ". In Münster, the canal within what is now the ring was completely filled in at the end of the 19th century. Today only the name “Kanalstrasse” reminds of him.
Some sections of the canal are integrated into the system of waterway indicators (GWK), as flowing waters drain into the former bed and the canal also drains into other flowing waters. Therefore, these sections are provided with a GWK correlating to the respective river system, for example in the area of the Ems tributaries Temmingmühlenbach it has GWK: 333292 and Emsdettener Mühlenbach GWK: 33694, in the area of the Vechte it is provided with GWK: 928629242.
Web links
- Creation of the Max Clemens Canal
- Images around the Max Clemens Canal in the image archive of the LWL media center for Westphalia
- lanuv.nrw p. 170 | P. 173 | P. 236