Siegen-Solingen Gussstahl-Aktien-Verein
Industrialists from Solingen and Siegen founded the Siegen-Solingen Gußstahl-Aktien-Verein am Weyersberg on December 23, 1872 . The initiator was Emil Peipers. Members of the supervisory board included notables from Solingen such as Gustav Coppel and Fritz Beckmann . The “cast steel factory”, as it was popularly known for short, stretched over the whole of today's Weyersberg area from Heidberg to Friedrich- / Weyersberger Straße, an area of 23.5 hectares. 4000 people were employed there in 1921. Operations started on July 16, 1874. Over the decades, the plant, which initially produced crucible cast steel for the Solingen and Remscheid industries, developed into one of the most important German stainless steel plants. It finally comprised a steelworks, steel mold foundry, steam hammer mill, four rolling mills, roll turning shop, pipe pressing and drawing shop, precision bar and wire drawing shop , cold rolling mill , mechanical workshops and extensive necessary ancillary operations including a laboratory. There was also its own freight yard with an extensive track network, locomotives and wagons. Cast steel was produced in Solingen, as well as in Frankleben , Wald (Rhineland) and Großkayna near Merseburg, where a new electric steel plant was built. In 1922, Weyersberg, Kirschbaum & Cie. (WKC), which produced bare weapons, motorcycles, bicycles and hair clippers, among other things. On February 29, 1932, bankruptcy proceedings had to be opened as a result of the global economic crisis.
The plant in Solingen was dismantled and the buildings demolished, except for a house on Kotter Straße, which was later temporarily used for the police. Today there are u. a. the blade hall with bathroom, 2 soccer fields, a traffic training garden and a small baseball stadium. The bankruptcy of the Siegen-Solinger Gussstahl-Aktien-Verein also resulted in major changes at WKC. The location at Cronenberger Strasse had to be given up. However, production could be continued by outsourcing individual departments to other locations.