Limmatmühlen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Limmatraum in Old Zurich, Müllerplan 1793

The Limmatmühlen used the water of the Limmat to supply the mills and workshops in the city of Zurich with mechanical power. At the end of the 19th century, the water wheels were replaced with turbines and generators for producing electrical energy.

history

The stretch of the Limmat river, located within the city of Zurich, was referred to in late medieval and early modern sources as "Aa" or "lake".

Bucket wheel on the cathedral bridge

On the Münster- ⊙ and Rathausbrücke ⊙ two were water-wheels , which until the 19th century gave the town drinking and mainly water. The well house with water wheel on the Rathausbrücke existed until 1821.

In 1267 and 1287, several mill bridges were first mentioned. The mills in the Limmat and on the Sihl Canal belonged to the extensive property of the Fraumünster Abbey in the Middle Ages . In 1343, all but two of the mills on the jetties are said to have been swept away by the flood. In 1666, Hans Georg Werdmüller built the city water wheel on the Schipfe , which was the city's first pumping station to pump river water to the Lindenhof in order to be able to distribute it from there to the old town . The Schipfe pumping station was abandoned in 1869.

From the late Middle Ages, two footbridges spanned the Limmat between today's Rudolf-Brun-Brücke and the Bahnhofbrücke, on which twelve mills used the Limmat's water power. In addition to the flour mills, there were fulling, paper and powder mills from the early modern era. A paper mill was operated on the Limmatinsel opposite today's Bahnhofplatz from 1471 to 1888.

The Limmat's hydropower helped industrialize the city of Zurich. The Escher-Wyss corporation, founded in 1805, had acquired numerous water rights for the "Neumühle". In the late 18th century there were 32 mills, sawmills and fulling mills in Zurich. Most were on the upper and lower Mühlesteg in the Limmat and the others on the Sihl Canal .

From the 19th century, the abandoned mills were gradually bought up by the city. In 1894 the city council sent a request to the public works management to “remove the buildings on the Limmatbette” (Upper and Lower Mühlesteg) “for reasons of traffic, sanitary and aesthetic considerations”. The town's electorate decided on September 12, 1948 with 55.9 percent yes-votes under the catchphrase "free Limmat" on the fate of this former landmark of Zurich's old town. The upper mill bridge was demolished in 1943, the lower one in 1949.

Today (2018) only the former Papierwerdinsel and the new mill footbridge built in 1982 directly above remind of the old mill footbridges.

Upper mill bridge

Upper Mühlesteg 1909

The footbridge was first mentioned in 1317, and in 1394 as the Upper Mühlesteg . It started from the right bank of the Limmat and initially had no connection to the left bank ("small town"). After the fire of 1842, the left bank was opened up with a footpath as a connecting walkway to the orphanage garden (today Amtshaus I). In 1875 the footpath was extended to a driveway up to the Wollenhof. In 1880 the upper Mühlesteg was converted into a passable bridge and replaced by the Rudolf-Brun-Bridge in 1913 .

On the upper Mühlesteg there were four mills in 1346 and five mills in 1814 and a loop, which was converted into a pumping station in 1840. At the beginning of the 19th century, the state provided the canal with a lock at the first mill . The mills on the upper jetty had water rights number 60, 61 and 63.

The first mill (house no. 2), also called "Rotmühle", was first mentioned in 1469. In 1614 it came into the possession of the Schweizer family. In 1635 it was rebuilt as a sawmill with a loop and in 1842 after a fire. In 1846 a shipping lock was built next to it. The mill was dismantled in 1950. ⊙

The second mill, mentioned in 1603, belonged to the Schweizer family in 1794. It burned down in 1842. ⊙

The third mill, mentioned in 1346 (also known as the "Rohrdorfsche Mühle"), was owned by the Pfenninger family from 1603 to 1734. It was destroyed by fire in 1842 and demolished in 1891 in order to increase the flow profiles and the ability to regulate the lake water level. ⊙

The fourth mill (No. 6) was the largest grain mill on the pier. The inheritance of the Great Minster belonged to the Schweizer family from 1585 to 1734 and to the Wehrli family from 1772 to 1910 . It was canceled in 1943. ⊙

The fifth mill (No. 8, also the upper grinding mill) was inherited from the Great Minster and belonged to Johannes Manesse in 1361 . It became a grinding mill in 1469 and a water pumping station in 1840, which was replaced by the Letten pumping station in 1879 . It was taken over by the city in 1842, which replaced the wooden water wheel with an iron one from Escher-Wyss. In 1943 it was removed. ⊙

The sixth mill (No. 10), inherited from the Grossmünster, was at times a printing works and from 1858 a foil spinning mill. It was canceled in 1943. ⊙

  • Upper mill bridge 1880

  • downstream 1902

  • Oberer Mühlesteg 6: Potato sales in the war year 1916

  • downstream 1922

  • Upper Mühlesteg 2, 1950

Lower mill bridge

Upper and lower mill bridge with paper mill

The Untere Mühlesteg was first mentioned in a document in 1267, in 1320 as "Werdsteg" and in 1379 as "Niederer Steg". It connected the right bank of the Limmat ("big city" with Niederdorf, today Limmatquai ), with the river island (Werd) on which the paper mill (Papierwerd) and other factories were located. In 1689 the bridge became a river crossing with the construction of the covered Brüggli ⊙ . In 1871 interned Bourbaki soldiers were housed on the lower Mühlesteg.

On the right side of the lower mill bridge there were initially five mills (water rights number 64, 65, 66, and 67). The flour mills were replaced by a cotton mill, a mechanical workshop and a loop at the beginning of the 19th century. The ships could pass between the first and second mill by means of an elevator.

The first mill (house no. 2) was first mentioned in 1253 and was inherited from the hospital. She ground grain for the Grossmünster and was swept away by the floods in 1343. It came to the Kommende Hohenrain in 1344 and was rebuilt. In 1349 she came to the Selnau monastery . In 1856 it was turned into a foil spinning mill and in 1949 it was removed. ⊙

The second (No. 4) mentioned in 1344 was converted into a foil spinning mill in 1864 and dismantled in 1949. ⊙

The third (No. 6) was owned by the Oetenbach Monastery until 1551 . The mill was given up in 1845, demolished and later merged with the second and fourth mill to form a foil spinning mill for the Escher Wyss & Cie company. ⊙

The fourth mill mentioned in 1416 was a pledge from the Counts of Toggenburg . It was used as a mill in the 16th century, abandoned as a mill and later merged with the second and third mill to form the foil spinning mill.

The fifth mill, a whale tanner , came to grinder Hans Rudolf Waser in 1809 and was removed in 1827. ⊙

The sixth mill (No. 8) was a grinding mill (also lower grinding mill or "Rufimühle"). It was mentioned in 1397 and was inherited from the great minster. In 1543 the city exchanged the hospital mill for the "Rufimühle" (awarded in the 13th century) in order to convert it into the lower grinding mill. In 1528 it became the municipal rifle forge and loop and from 1841 to 1865 the workshop of Escher Wyss, later the cotton mill and in 1949 it was removed. ⊙

  • interned Bourbaki soldiers 1871

  • Lower mill bridge 1890

  • upstream 1910

  • downstream 1911

  • Demolished in 1949

Hospital mill

Hospital mill 1834

The Spitalmühle (also Landmühle) was on the right bank of the Limmat at the height of the lower Mühlesteg. It was mentioned in 1278 as a fiefdom of the Lords of Habsburg . In 1420 it belonged to the city, which built a new building in 1534. In 1543 she exchanged the city with the hospital for the "Rufimühle" (forgiven in the 13th century) on the lower mill footbridge in order to convert it into the lower grinding mill. The hospital mill was demolished in 1863.

Paper mill

Papierwerd 1725

A paper mill had been located on the river island of Papierwerd ⊙ since the middle of the 15th century. The big water wheel had 40 hp and powered eight Dutchmen and auxiliary machines. The paper mill was acquired by the mechanical paper factory on the Sihl in 1842 . In 1882 Josef Weber built the “Bazaar without Borders” on the Papierwerd, which later became the Globus department store. In 1900 a panopticon was opened.

The Papierwerdinsel was connected to the left bank of the Limmat by the “covered Brüggli” built in 1689.

The powder mills on the paper mill area were sold to the city by the Werdmüller family in 1456. The powder mill was attached below the fourth and fifth mill (white tanner whale and loop). After several explosions it was moved to Werdinsel in Höngg in 1750 .

Langer Steg, Neumühle and Paradiesmühle

Langer Steg, Neumühle and Paradiesmühle (Walche) around 1800

The "Lange Steg" ⊙ was built around 1689 after the construction of the third city ​​fortifications as a pedestrian bridge below the Papierwerd and was initially provided with a drawbridge . It traversed the Limmat in a diagonal direction from the left bank (below the mouth of the Schanzengraben , Schützenplatz) and led into the middle of the "Neumühle" at the Niederdorfpforte on the right bank. After the station bridge was built in 1864, the Lange Steg was demolished.

The “Neumühle”, built in 1648, stood at today's Hotel Central . With the construction of the third city fortification, it was integrated into what was then the paradise bulwark. The Escher Wyss & Cie machine factory in Stampfenbach-Unterstrass acquired the Neumühl area in 1805. There she owned two water wheels with a total of 60 hp (water law no. 68). The mechanical hydropower was transferred from the Neumühle plant (Stampfenbachstrasse 13) to the Stampfenbach plant (Stampfenbachstrasse 17) by means of wire ropes. In the assembly workshop for steam engines, an auxiliary steam engine served as an additional energy supply. The foundry had its own water wheel for the fan. In the years 1892 to 1895, the machine factory relocated its factories and facilities near what is now Escher-Wyss-Platz in the Hard district .

The Stampfenbach, a stream with a stamp mill, was first mentioned in 946. In the immediate vicinity of today's Walcheplatz, the "Paradiesmühle" had been located since the 12th century. In 1658 it was converted into a fulling mill ("Walchi"), later in the Rahn silk dyeing factory, and demolished around 1860.

literature

  • Friedrich Salomon Vögelin (Hrsg.): The old Zurich presented historically and topographically, or a hike through the same in 1504: with explanations and additions up to the most recent times . Orell, Füssli and Compagnie, Zurich 1829.
  • Zurich's buildings and sights. Description of the city. Zurich section of the Swiss Association of Engineers and Architects. Orell Füssli Publishing House, Zurich 1877.
  • One hundred years of pictures from the history of the city of Zurich from 1814 to 1914. Volume I. Printed and published by the report house printing company, Zurich 1914. (digitized version )
  • Christine Barraud Wiener, Peter Jezler and others: The city of Zurich I. City in front of the wall, medieval fortifications and the Limmatraum. (= The art monuments of Switzerland. Volume 94). Verlag Wiese, Basel 1999, ISBN 3-909164-70-6 .
  • Rudolf Schilling: Ideas for Zurich. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1982, ISBN 3-280-01307-0 .
  • From papermaking to the Sihl: 500 years of paper manufacturing. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 309 of 7 July 1971.
  • Markus Brühlmeier: Flour and bread, power and money in old Zurich. Chronos-Verlag, Zurich 2013.

Web links

Commons : Mills in Zurich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alt-Züri: Well house with pumping station on the Lindenhof
  2. ↑ Tina Fassbind: The lost landmark of Zurich. In: Tages-Anzeiger . January 3, 2018, accessed August 31, 2018.
  3. ↑ Nicola Behrens: Why were the old mills in the Limmat demolished? Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich , 25 November 2016.
  4. ^ Rudolf Schilling: Ideas for Zurich.
  5. ↑ Mühlesteg.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On Hallocity , accessed August 31, 2018.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.hallocity.ch  
  6. ^ Alfred Cattani : A Zurich temporary solution that lasts: The wrong path of the "Free Limmat" project . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . 24./25. February 2001, accessed August 31, 2018.
  7. ↑ Free Limmat - cleared and dreamed of. With contemporary photos. accessed on September 5, 2018.
  8. ↑ Alt Züri: Oberer Mühlesteg
  9. ↑ 100 years of pictures from Zurich
  10. ↑ The lower mill bridge with a wooden bridge. Auf Gang dur alt-Züri , accessed on August 30, 2018.
  11. ↑ Alt-Züri: Unterer Mühlesteg
  12. ↑ Alt-Züri: Panoptikum
  13. ↑ Christine Barraud Wiener, Peter Jezler and others: The city of Zurich I. City in front of the wall, medieval fortifications and the Limmatraum. (= The art monuments of Switzerland. Volume 94). Verlag Wiese, Basel 1999.
  14. ↑ Millers, bakers and power. Review in the NZZ on September 11, 2013.