Poststrasse (Wuppertal)

Poststrasse has been the name of a street in the Elberfeld district of Wuppertal since 1824 . It runs from Kerstenplatz to Alte Freiheit .

history

Corner of Schwanenstraße with carillon, world clock and three-wheel clock at the former Wuppertal clock museum , 2016

The Elberfeld center with Poststrasse 1849

Poststrasse, late 19th century

Poststrasse, 1912

View from Alte Freiheit into Poststrasse, 1973

In the course of the division of the grounds of Elberfeld Castle in 1603, the street that was still called Marktgasse at that time was created. The name given to this was the market on Alte Freiheit, to which the street led from the haystack at the time. It developed into the core of the city of Elberfeld.

Between 1744 and 1758 the first post office of the Imperial Post Office existed here , which was operated by the Taxis family . After several relocations, the post office returned here in 1824, after which the street was named Poststrasse . The post office existed here until 1868 on the corner of Poststrasse and Grabenstrasse; This year it moved to the new building on the corner of Morianststrasse and Hofkamp. The former post office was then used to run the Zur alten Post , which was broken up in 1890. The Hotel zur Post was built in its place around 1912 .

In the 1920s and 1930s, the so-called “carpet” on Poststrasse was home to the “traffic areas” of many National Socialists and the paramilitary fighting organization of the NSDAP , the Sturmabteilung (SA) . In 1941 the street had a high concentration of retail stores. It was badly affected by the air raid on Elberfeld in 1943, particularly when phosphorus bombs were dropped . The asphalt that covered the ground had caught fire as a result, and the Poststrasse was full of embers. Instead of the underground connection routes via cellar openings that were common at the time, business owners had bricked up their cellars, killing many people seeking protection. Many of the adjoining houses were destroyed or badly damaged, including the oldest surviving building in Elberfeld at the time, the Moser'sche Haus (built between 1660 and 1670) and the old Bergisch business house of the goldsmith and watchmaker Georg Abeler .

In the post-war period, Poststrasse was rebuilt as the main shopping street. In 1967 the Alte Freiheit and the lower part of Poststrasse (as far as Schwanenstrasse) were converted and, together with the rest of Poststrasse (initially without conversion), it was declared a car-free pedestrian zone. The remainder of the piece was rebuilt in 1968. Poststrasse thus retained its central function for the passage in the Elberfeld city center. On September 14, 1987, a renewed renovation of Poststrasse from Kerstenplatz to Schwanenstrasse began, during which this part was repaved. In 1988 the southern part of Poststrasse and Alte Freiheit was redesigned for 2.8 million DM by 1989.


Wuppertal city arms on Poststrasse, 2016		Mina Knallenfalls, Poststrasse in the background, 2016

In 1993, around 50,000 pedestrians passed the Alte Freiheit and Poststrasse streets every day. Together they form the most important shopping street in Wuppertal, which was rated "Ia" in 2009 in the ranking of the location.

At the intersection of Poststrasse and Schwanenstrasse, Wuppertal's coat of arms is embedded in the pavement. A statue of Mina Knallenfall , a literary figure by the Wuppertal poet Otto Hausmann , stands here today at the transition to Alte Freiheit.

Since 2016, the "Real Estate and Location Association (ISG) at the Poststrasse / Alte Freiheit" site has been trying to upgrade this area of the city, through which "Poststrasse [...] should get a new face", not ultimately in view of the renovation and redesign of the nearby Döppersberg .