Porcelain and earthenware factory Ludwig Wessel
The porcelain and earthenware factory Ludwig Wessel was a manufacture and later a factory for ceramics , earthenware , faience and porcelain in Bonn - Poppelsdorf . It went back to a plant founded in 1755 and existed until 1969. In the course of the company's history there have been several changes of ownership and name.
history
In 1755, Elector Clemens August founded the Poppelsdorf Faience Fabrique in the Katzenburg, a small moated castle south of the center of Poppelsdorf near Poppelsdorf Castle . The aim was to manufacture porcelain, as it was only made in Europe since 1709. However, this did not succeed, so that production was initially limited to earthenware and gray faience.
In 1823 the manufacture was taken over by Ludwig Wessel and traded as "Porcelain and Stoneware Factory Ludwig Wessel". The earthenware factory and art pottery Franz Anton Mehlem (later Villeroy & Boch ) was also built on this site, but later moved to the banks of the Rhine .
Together with the other ceramic factories, Wessel's company was one of the most important driving forces behind industrialization and the largest employers in Bonn and the surrounding area in the mid-19th century (Poppelsdorf was still an independent municipality at that time). The first steam engine was installed in 1830. In 1889 a rail link from the company premises to the Bonn freight yard was established and in 1890 the Wesselbahn was put into operation . The blue tone deposits discovered near Witterschlick in 1880 were an important raw material for Wessel's production and could thus be accessed via the Voreifelbahn .
In the further course of the century the company was called "AG for Porcelain and Stoneware Manufacture Ludwig Wessel". At the turn of the century it was represented at world exhibitions and had sales offices overseas. In 1896 a "Wessels wall panel factory AG, Bonn" was spun off and settled in Dransdorf , from 1914 it was no longer associated with the parent company. It was closed in 1982.
The porcelain factory itself suffered badly from the Great Depression in the 1920s and a fire on February 5, 1926, which almost completely destroyed the factory premises. Thereupon the sanitary ware manufacturer Friedrich Butzke from Berlin took over the company. In World War II , there was no significant damage, after which the plant operated under "Wessel AG Ceramic Works". After a sharp drop in sales and layoffs in the 1960s, the factory was closed on December 31, 1969. The factory site was acquired by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and, after the factory buildings were only demolished in 1977, used for buildings for the University of Bonn .
Products
For most of the company's history, the Wessel factory produced both tableware and handicrafts and decorative items, as well as sanitary ware. After the takeover in 1926, production was limited to the latter field. The decorative products from the 19th century are still traded in galleries and collectors' circles today.
location
The factory premises were in the south of Poppelsdorf on today's Clemens-August-Straße , Carl-Troll-Straße and Katzenburgweg .
literature
- Volkhard Stern: Freight wagons for the stoneware manufacture . In: General-Anzeiger Bonn . February 6, 2008, p. 14.
- Michael Weisser: Porcelain and earthenware factory Ludwig Wessel Bonn-Poppelsdorf . Rhineland, Cologne 1980, ISBN 3-7927-0444-7 .
- Michael Weisser: Wessel's wall panels factory Bonn . Rhineland, Cologne 1978, ISBN 3-7927-0393-9 .
Individual evidence
- ^ About the company history: Michael Weisser: Die Poppelsdorfer Faience Fabrique. Monograph of the fine ceramic company from 1700-1840 . In: Bonner Geschichtsblätter . Volume 28. Bonn 1976, p. 37 ff.
- ^ Förderverein Poppelsdorfer Geschichte eV
- ↑ a b c Stadtmuseum Bonn - Bonner Firmen ( Memento of the original from July 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d General-Anzeiger, February 6, 2008
- ↑ History of Franke Aquarotter GmbH , accessed on September 23, 2012
Web links
- On the history of Poppelsdorf
- Poppelsdorf home collection
- Poppelsdorfer Heimatsammlung - pictures of Wessel products
- History of the company at Porcelain Marks & More (English)
- Poppelsdorf faience manufactory . In: KuLaDig, culture. Landscape. Digital.