Michelbacher Hut

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The fountain from Dasbach with manufacturer's information
Running fountain from Oberseelbach from the Michelbacher Hütte
Manhole cover from the Passavant company in Halberstadt

Michelbacher Hütte is the historical name for an ironworks in the Rheingau-Taunus district .

history

The hut was a sovereign ironworks operated since 1656 by the Counts of Nassau-Idstein in the valley of the central Aar between Aarbergen - Michelbach and Kettenbach in the western Hintertaunus . It is the starting point of the Eisenstrasse to Taunusstein .

At the later location of the hut, there is evidence of a mill owned by the Nassau family for 1586 at the latest . Count Johann , the founder of the younger line of the Nassau-Idstein family, pushed ahead with the establishment of the ironworks. Together with the ore deposit Grube Bonscheuer and the iron hammer near Burgschwalbach , the Michelbacher Hütte was supposed to form a pre-industrial network. Count Georg Philipp Plebanus commissioned the construction at the site. Initially, the operation consisted of a blast furnace, an iron hammer and the water wheels to provide driving power. However, the production was well above the processing capacity of the local hammer, so that the hammers in Burgschwalbach and Seitzenhahn were also supplied from the Michelbacher Hütte. In this early phase, especially cast ovens and pots, construction iron and wrought iron for further processing in forges were produced. Production of around 30 tons of forged iron has been reported for 1665. Nassau-Idstein leased the plant for the first time in 1683.

Particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries, the operation of the hut led to an unprecedented deforestation in the Aar area due to excessive charcoal consumption. The result was the tearing of meter-deep erosion gorges, so-called runners or gullies, which can still be found in large numbers in the forests around the hut. The iron ore in historical times came mainly from the iron mines near Zollhaus and Rückershausen .

In 1818, Anselm Lossen leased the hut that his son Karl Lossen ran along with several other hut locations in Nassau. The rent was 800 guilders per year and was increased to 1645 guilders in 1847. After the annexation of the Duchy of Nassau by Prussia , Prussia terminated the lease and looked for a buyer. This initially failed. The Lossen family was also not interested in the conditions offered. The buyer Disch, who was then found, did not even start production and in 1872 sold it to the Frankfurt company Oppenheim & Weill. The latter sold the hut to Adolph Passavant on March 16, 1885 .

The hut became known under Adolph Samuel Passavant. A concentration on channel casting contributed to the success. In 1911 his son Wilhelm joined the management, six years later he took over the management of the company. In the municipalities of the Taunus there are a large number of running fountains made of cast iron from the Michelbacher Hütte. Passavant became world-famous with its channel cast articles (concrete cast, Begu). Manhole covers labeled "Passavant" are used almost all over the world. This division of Passavantwerke was sold to the ACO Group in 2000 by grandson Udo Passavant .

At the instigation of the Passavant family of industrialists, the Aartalbahn between Zollhaus and Bad Schwalbach was completed in 1894 , which connected the hut to the rail network .

During the Second World War , Passavant manufactured armaments . After the war construction machinery , sewage treatment plants and drainage systems as well as sewer castings were produced. The company was sold to the Bilfinger Berger Group. The subsidiary Passavant-Geiger GmbH, headquartered in Aarbergen, offers components and system solutions in the field of water, wastewater and sludge treatment, water extraction and vacuum technology. It brings together the brands Passavant, Geiger, Noggerath, Intech and RoeVac.

Monument protection

Parts of the plant are under monument protection . This initially affects the former administration building of the Michelbacher Hütte. The building is in a dominant position above the factory premises. It is a half-timbered building from the 18th century with recent changes to the structure. A small roof turret with a hood lantern and clock determines the appearance of the roof. On the gable and eastern eaves side there is rounded swell wood, profiled frame. The front door and extensions date from the 19th century. The director's houses are a group of two residential buildings from different construction times. The older building, built towards the end of the 19th century, is an unadorned half-timbered construction, adjoining it is a villa-like house from 1930. This is a plastered cube with a hipped roof and segmented bay window with round, turned wooden columns. The Villa Passavant is the former director's villa of the company founder and, with its garden pavilion and fencing, is a listed building. The house was built in 1890, with subsequent alterations and additions from different eras. Today it is used as a guest house and training building. The complex is built on an angular floor plan above a rising ground level, above a dammed pond. The façades on the courtyard and garden side each have a different appearance with neo-classical and art nouveau elements.

literature

  • Christian Stolz: The hunger for charcoal was immense. Energy use: Michelbach and other Nassau ironworks in early modern times. In: Yearbook of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis. Vol. 64, 2013, ISSN  1439-0779 , pp. 19-21.
  • Manfried Weber: From the stove plate to high-tech. Manhole covers carried the name "Passavant" into the world. In: Yearbook of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis. 62, 2011, pp. 18-22.
  • Christian Stolz: Historical rifts in the water catchment area of ​​the Aar between Wiesbaden and Limburg (= Geological Treatises Hesse. Vol. 117). HLUG - Hessian State Office for Environment and Geology, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-89531-819-1 (At the same time: Mainz, University, dissertation, 2005).
  • Karl Löhr: Ovens, iron bars, and cannon balls. The Michelbacher Hütte in the period from 1656 to 1800. In: Yearbook of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis. 53, 2002, pp. 70-72.
  • Rudolf Reinhardt: Structural change in the iron industry in the Lahn-Dill area. 1840-1914. From iron production to pure iron processing in foundries. Universität, Frankfurt am Main 1999, pp. 86-90 (Frankfurt am Main, Universität, Dissertation, 1999).
  • Fritz Geisthardt: Sovereign iron industry in the Taunus. In: Nassau Annals . Vol. 68, 1957, pp. 156-174.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ACO in numbers - expansion with a clear focus. Strategic growth
  2. ↑ Passavant-Geiger Group on the Internet
  3. ↑ State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse (ed.): Former administration building In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
  4. ↑ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Directors' houses In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
  5. ↑ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Villa Passavant In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse

Web links

Commons : Passavant  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 14 ′ 35 ″  N , 8 ° 3 ′ 58 ″  E