Tönisvorst

Basic data
State :	North Rhine-Westphalia
Administrative region :	Dusseldorf
Circle :	Viersen
Height :	37 m above sea level NHN
Area :	44.34 km 2
Residents:	29,336 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	662 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	47918
Primaries :	02151 , 02156
License plate :	VIE, KK
Community key :	05 1 66 028
LOCODE :	DE TVT
City structure:	2 districts
; City administration address :	Bahnstrasse 15 ; 47918 Tönisvorst
Website :	www.toenisvorst.de
Mayor :	Thomas Goßen ( CDU )
Location of the city of Tönisvorst in the district of Viersen

The city Tönisvorst is located on the Lower Rhine in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia and is a medium-sized district town of Viersen in the administrative district of Dusseldorf . It consists of the two originally independent main towns of St. Tönis and Vorst - the latter being the largest district in terms of area, but housing less than a quarter of the residents - and the Laschenhütte and Kehn settlements .

With 29,306 inhabitants (as of December 2018), it is the fifth largest city in the Viersen district. The city has existed in its current boundaries since 1970, when, as part of the local reorganization, it was decided to combine the four current districts from the individual communities that previously belonged to the Kempen-Krefeld district to form Tönisvorst, which received city rights in 1979 .

geography

Tönisvorst belongs to the district of Viersen , administrative district of Düsseldorf in North Rhine-Westphalia and borders directly on the cities of Krefeld , Willich , Kempen and Viersen as well as the municipality of Grefrath .

history

Tönisvorst was formed on January 1, 1970 from the communities of St. Tönis and Vorst and parts of the communities Anrath , Neersen and Oedt .

On March 27, 1979, Tönisvorst was granted the right by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia to use the name city in future .

Early days

In the Bronze and Iron Ages , Germanic and Celtic tribes settled on the Lower Rhine. The first traces of settlement are Neolithic finds such as a stone ax (today in the Kramer Museum in Kempen) and traces of Iron Age settlement on today's Butzenstrasse. Between 58 and 51 BC BC Caesar conquered the left Lower Rhine. Cremation graves and urn graves found at “Hinkes Weißhof” in Vorst are evidence of a Roman-Germanic settlement in the Vorst area.

5th to 15th century

During the Franconian conquest, after the Romans withdrew, Franconian tribal associations settled on the Lower Rhine to fill the power vacuum that had developed. Franconian settlers took in the Germanic tribes that were already living here under the Romans and established individual farm settlements in the form of farm castles. With the invasion of the Vikings from around 900, the Franconian landed gentry withdrew to the swampy Niers lowlands and built defensive and residential towers on artificial (“Motten”) or natural elevations (“Donken”). Vorst was Honschaft ( "Big Honschaft"), that is a merger of several farms, which board a honne. This rural administrative unit belonged, together with five other honors, to the Kempen office, which in turn belonged to the Archdiocese of Cologne . The archbishop was both spiritual and secular ruler.

The first mention of a church dates from the year 1131. It is assumed that the church goes back to the small wooden chapel of the House of Brempt - origin and nucleus of Vorst - which in turn was built on the place where the Teutons already paid homage to their gods to have. It is said to have been the highest point in the landscape. Archbishop Friedrich I von Schwarzenburg gave the Vorster Church relics of St. Godehard , who later became the church's patron saint. 1188 followed the oldest mention of St. Tönis as Osterveerd. The desolate heather in the southern part of the "Kleine Honnschaft" is mentioned for the first time in a document and is called "Osterveerd". 1259 was the first written mention of House Donk .

Haus Raedt and the Gelleshof were first mentioned in the first half of the 14th century . Vorst's small wooden chapel has been replaced by a Romanesque tuff stone building. In 1310 she is said to have received her first parish rights - marriage. From 1330 to 1380 the Kempen office was surrounded by a so-called " Landwehr ", a protective wall made of trenches, ramparts and hedges. In 1380, in addition to weddings, funerals were permitted in the Vorster churches. The place is called Osterhaide (= eastern heath) and receives approval for a chapel from Archbishop Friedrich von Saar Werden . St. Tönis is therefore developing in the area of the "small honors" of the Electoral Cologne Office of Kempen. It is believed that a more easily accessible chapel was built for the surrounding courtyards. Over time, the church became the nucleus for further development.

A churchyard near the chapel was first mentioned in 1396. In the 15th century there were first indications of the existence of a school. In 1443 the Landwehr was expanded on the "Stock" and the "Hückelsmay".

In 1444 In the Middle Ages, young men formed defenses to protect fields and corridors as well as house and yard against robbery. The St. Sebastianus Schützenbruderschaft was first mentioned in a document.

From 1447 to 1449, during the Soest feud , the Cologne Elector and the Duke of Cleves fought over supremacy on the Rhine. Vorst and St. Tönis, like other monies from the Electorate of Cologne, had to deliver funds for war and armaments purposes, which in Vorst initially took the form of oats. In 1479 there was the first documentary mention of a windmill in the St. Töniser Heide. It is said to have stood on the Ühlenberg on the way to Vorst at the time. It was a post mill .

In 1482 a Romanesque nave made of tuff was replaced by a Gothic one, which was demolished in 1894.

16th Century

In 1510 the St. Töniser Church was given a baptismal font and thus the right to baptize. In 1559 Vorst received all parish rights, 1564 was the founding year of the Citizen-Bachelor-Schützenbruderschaft, in 1573 today's St. Tönis was named on a map as "Sanct Antonius in der Heyde". In 1583 during the Truchsessian War , Vorst and St. Tönis still belonged to Kurköln. When the Archbishop of Cologne and Elector Gebhard von Truchsess confessed to the reformists, he was removed from all offices by the Pope and German Emperor. Truchsess then allied with the reformed Count von Moers and the Netherlands, who were fighting for freedom against Spain. Meanwhile, Ernst von Bayern ruled in Cologne as Cologne Elector. At Hüls Truchsess defeated Count Adolf zu Neuenahr and Moers, the newly appointed Elector of Cologne, Ernst von Bayern. The result: mercenaries ruled the unprotected land of Amt Kempen and subsequently plundered Vorst and set fire to the Gothic church built in 1482. In 1583 there was a witch trial in St. Tönis . From 1599 to 1603 after the Truchsessian War there were repeated looting in Vorst and St. Tönis by Dutch troops and billeting.

17th century

Especially in the years 1607, 1617 and 1634, when there were major epidemics in the area, numerous processions came to St. Tönis (often up to 4,000 people) to intercede with St. Anthony , the patron saint of domestic animals. In 1609, the approval and start of construction for fortifications (ramparts, ditches, gates) to protect against groups of soldiers roaming around. St. Tönis is surrounded by a defensive wall, moat and three gates. This went hand in hand with rights and privileges for the town of St. Thönis, such as holding annual fairs and the privilege of being exempt from additional financial gifts and other pressures.

In 1642 was the "Hesse year" in the Thirty Years' War . In the battle of the Landwehr between Krefeld and St. Tönis (Hückelsmay) the Protestants won. The Protestant side, consisting of French, Hessian and Weimar troops based on the Electorate of Cologne, namely their winter quarters behind the Landwehr of the "Grand Honors". The Archbishop of Cologne then called the imperial troops to help to drive the strangers away. The imperial troops positioned themselves in today's forest, north of the Landwehr. The French and Hesse, however, defeated the Catholic imperial troops and then devastated the farms and villages of the Kempen office, including Vorst and St. Tönis. In St. Tönis the church fell victim to the flames. 1652 was the founding year of the Kehner Bachelor Rifle Brotherhood. In 1659 the town was named “St. Antonius ”.

18th century

In 1731 the Koitzhof was established (today under monument protection as an example of a water-protected Low German farm). Establishment of a silk factory in Krefeld : Many Vorster house weavers, a result of the tradition of linen weaving, were able to supply the factory. In 1745 what is now the oldest externally unchanged residential building - the Mertenshaus on Kirchstrasse - was built. In 1758 Prussia won one of the decisive battles in the Seven Years' War on Tönisvorster Boden, on the Hückelsmay on the St. Töniser Heide, in which Duke Ferdinand of Braunschweig defeated the French. The French withdrew to Cologne, Vorst and St. Tönis fell to Prussia. The existing Vorster school building - probably located near the church at the time - was expanded. In 1765 the Hagelkreuz was erected in the Kehn. In 1769 the Streuff mill on Kempener Strasse (now Gelderner Strasse) was built by the electoral court chamber. This tower windmill made of stone replaced the old post windmill of the Cologne electors. The mill was in operation until the Second World War. It is considered a symbol of Tönisvorst and lost its wings in January 2007 during Hurricane Kyrill . In 1781 the wall was torn down. In 1785 a school building was built.

French revolutionary troops occupied the left bank of the Rhine and St. Tönis and Vorst in 1794. In 1798 the French divided the Rhineland into four departments (Rur / Roer, Rhine-Mosel, Saar and Donnersberg). The lowest administrative unit (departments were subdivided into arrondissements / approximately administrative districts, these in turn into cantons / approximately districts and these again into Mairien / mayor's offices) in this area was the Mairie Vorst and St. Tönis. From now on, the documents were drawn up in French. In 1799, due to the French laws (Code Civil), registry offices were set up in St. Tönis and Vorst for the first time, from then on responsible for the conclusion of civil marriages and for the registration of births and deaths. Until then, these tasks were reserved for the churches.

19th century

In 1801, in the Peace of Lunéville, the Lower Rhine was officially ceded to France and St. Tönis was renamed Saint Antoine. In 1809 the rescue association was founded in St. Tönis, which became the Tönisvorst volunteer fire department . In 1813 a fire devastated parts of Vorst, a bakery, a restaurant and all houses on the western market as well as some houses on Kuhstrasse.

At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the pre-revolutionary political order was restored and Europe was redistributed. The Lower Rhine and consequently Vorst and St. Tönis came to Prussia. In 1816 Vorst was incorporated into the Kempen district. 1816/1817 was a starving winter , school lessons were canceled due to the cold. Around 1818/1819 the Honschaft Kehn was merged with Vorst . From 1821 St. Tönis was written without an "h".

From 1823 to 1851 and later again from 1863 to 1865, Mayor Gerhard Seulen (1796–1865), Major a. D., equally the fate of Vorst and St. Tönis from the Koitzhof (Seulenhof) in the Huverheide. In 1826 the postal business was done by a "riding post", which ran three times a week from Krefeld via St. Tönis, Anrath and Viersen to Dülken and back via Süchteln, Vorst and St. Tönis to Krefeld. The population in St. Tönis at that time was 2911. A post office was built in St. Tönis in 1830.

In 1834 there was daily mail on the mail route. The street name "Nüss Drenk" (in German: Neußer Tränke) is supposed to remind of this time. In 1835 gates were demolished. In 1836 the new school in Unterweiden, today Kempen , was inaugurated . The Rixen brewery was founded in 1837. In 1840–1860 the Rhine Crisis caused tensions in the Franco-German relationship. The traffic routes were expanded as a country road to Süchteln , a Chaussee to Anrath and a country road to Oedt .

Since the old cemetery at the church was no longer sufficient in 1841 due to the growing population, a new cemetery was set up on Anrather Strasse. The boys' school on Kirchplatz was inaugurated. In 1844, a poor hospital and hospital was built on Kempener Strasse. In 1849 it was connected to the railway network . The years from 1849 to 1853 were the heyday of the Vorster silk weavers, who were able to produce at home on their hand weaving chairs.

In 1851 the church tower was expanded. He was last nicknamed "St. Töniser-Stüpp ”. In 1854 the first doctor settled in Vorst. In 1855 there was a textile crisis in the village. In 1857 the community savings bank was opened. In 1858 a school for boys was built on a former pond (Bleiche), which was silted up in the meantime and which was directly in the village center; the girls stayed in the old school building. The Hückelsmay monument was inaugurated. The hospital was built in 1860; The construction of a Jewish cemetery on the Strombusch was approved in 1861.

The railway network was expanded in 1863 with an expansion of the Benrad - St. Tönis line with a train station. A Terhegg windmill was built on today's Mühlenstrasse. In 1866 a girls' school was built between Kirchplatz and Kaiserstraße. In 1867 the men's choir Cäcilia was founded - supposedly following the long tradition of the weavers, who sang a lot at their work. In 1870 a girls' school was built on what was then Kastanienallee (today Seulenstraße). With the construction of the girls' school, a town hall including a syringe house for the volunteer fire brigade and detention cells for offenders was built. This was followed by the founding of a journeyman's association based on the model of Kerpener Adolph Kolping , who set himself the task of “training journeyman craftsmen, especially those who are on the move”. At this time St. Tönis had its own train station.

A train station of its own was built in Vorst in 1871. In 1873, a culture war broke out in the place with disputes between the state and the Catholic Church. Steam mills replaced the windmills, Heinrich Mertens had a large steam mill built on Wilhelmplatz, which later even had its own rail connection. Both oil and flour were made here. In 1874 a telegraph station was set up.

In 1878 he founded the Vorst riding and driving club, the gymnastics club and the Ortmann brothers' brewery. In 1880 the mechanical loom was introduced in Tönisvorst; it could replace eight handlooms. The 400 or so home weavers moved from the handloom at home to the factories in neighboring cities as dependent wage laborers. The elementary school was moved into on the market square. In 1881 the Scheerer mill, which stood on Wilhelmplatz, fell victim to a fire. In 1882 the first organized St. Martins train took place in St. Tönis. In 1883 the Vorst volunteer fire brigade was founded. In 1885 a church choir was founded. In 1886 a new fire brigade building was built at the town hall in Hochstrasse. In 1893 the first telephone was connected in St. Tönis. In the middle to the end of the 19th century there were not only agriculture but also nail smiths, tin foundries, potters and a few house weavers.

20th century

In the first decades of the 20th century there were around ten farms that were located in the town center. As industrial enterprises in Tönisvorst in the 1920s there were a shuttle -Fabrik, an herb press, Kapokfabrik , a mill operating and two brickyards. There were also agricultural craft businesses such as saddlery and nine blacksmiths. Smuggling was widespread and profitable at the time: smugglers bought cheap coffee or tobacco in the Netherlands and sold it in Germany.

The Catholic boys' school on Schulstrasse was built in 1902 and 1903. In 1906 an organized carnival procession passed through the town for the first time. In 1907 the synagogue on Wilhelmstrasse (today Kolpingstrasse) was inaugurated. In 1911 they moved into the post office on Bahnstrasse (today administration). A hospital was built on Hospitalplatz. The old hospital on Kempener Strasse became an old people's home a year later. In 1913 the town hall was built on St. Töniser Strasse. 1918 occupied Allied troops the Rhineland, Vorst was occupied from 1918 to 1926 by Belgians. In 1920, after the merger, the two large breweries operated as Ortmanns & Rixen (Ort-Rix). In 1927 the lido at Tacksee opened.

In 1929 the forest was sold to Krefeld and the foundation stone of the water tower was laid. In 1931, the Gotthardus Hospital was expanded with a three-story low-rise building including a large operating room and delivery room. In the 1940s, the hospital was expanded to include a home for the elderly. In 1936, "Prinzenstrasse" was renamed " Ludwig Jahn Strasse" on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the gymnastics club . In 1939 the first modern cinema, the "Lichtburg", was built, which was located directly next to the Wirichs hall, where a movie was often shown.

On June 6, 1942, an aerial bomb damaged the Catholic parish church of St. Cornelius. Most of the houses on the church square were destroyed.

On March 3, 1945, the 335th US regiment captured St. Tönis; this ended there the Nazi era and World War II . Pastor Friedrich Janße was appointed mayor.

Tönisvorst became part of the British zone of occupation .

In 1947 the restored Catholic Church was consecrated. In the 1950s, agriculture specialized in fruit growing, among other things . A self-service supermarket opened on the site of the former Tacksee. The Arca Regulator company moved its production facility into the former rooms of the "Hotel zur Post" on the market. In 1949 the Vorster Siedlergemeinschaft was founded; from 1951 construction began on the southern outskirts.

The district and city savings bank Kempen took over the municipal savings bank as a branch. 1952 saw the inauguration of the new building of the Evangelical School on Hülser Strasse; the "Kirchenfeld" settlement was created. The Allies cleared an area of around 60 acres in the forest for the Franziska barracks. From the beginning of the 1950s, the number of cars increased sharply; the Kuh-, Süchtelner, Kempener and St. Töniser Straße (then Krefelder Straße) were paved. In 1953 the inauguration of the Protestant "Christ Church" on Hülser Strasse. Due to the flow of refugees, the number of Protestants in St. Tönis had grown to around 2000.

In 1954 a hurricane destroyed a gymnastics club. In 1955 the first street communities were formed. In 1957 the Mertens mills burned out. A bus and tram station was built on Wilhelmplatz. In 1958 there was a border change treaty; the former Vorst station and an associated 17 hectare strip went to Anrath. The high cross at the cemetery was built as a memorial to the victims of the World War. A sports facility on Gelderner Strasse, the Jahnsportanlage, was also completed in 1958, and a sports hall was added in 1971. In 1959, the road expansion continued.

Vorst took in several hundred expellees from East Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia and the Sudetenland. This increased the proportion of Protestant Christians in the local population. A small Protestant wooden church was built on Jahnstrasse (today Schützenstrasse). In 1960 the parish church of St. Cornelius in St. Tönis received five bronze bells with the tones b °, c ′, es ′, f ′, g ′ . The weights of the bells are 3704, 2491, 1460, 986 and 697 kg. They were cast at the bell foundry Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock in Gescher. A new Protestant school was built on the site of the former Catholic elementary school on Jahnstrasse. Before that, the two-class Protestant primary school was housed with one class in the Catholic primary school building and the second in the Catholic parish hall. In the meantime she was housed in the little hall of an inn on Kuhstrasse.

In 1961 a new post office (with the new four-digit postcode 4154) was opened on Ludwig-Jahn-Straße. In 1962 the Vorster elementary school was expanded with an extension on the south side. The first groundbreaking ceremony for the new hospital / nursing home took place.

The section of Schelthofer Strasse between Vorster Strasse and Westring (then Friedhofstrasse) was renamed "Brauereistrasse" on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Rixen brewery. In 1964 action medeor , the world's largest drug aid organization, was founded. The new town hall was inaugurated on Bahnstraße (today city administration) in the new school building in Unterweiden (today Kempen). The new old people's home and nursing home (Antoniusstift) on Kempener Strasse was occupied.

In 1967 the Vorster Hospital was closed; the old people's home remained in existence for a few years. 1968 was the inauguration of the community secondary school. A Kildersmühle had to give way to the expansion of Mühlenstraße (today Hauptstraße) and a first indoor swimming pool was opened on Schelthofer Straße. On January 1, 1970, the former municipalities of St. Tönis and Vorst were merged to form the new municipality of Tönisvorst under the law on the reorganization of the Kempen-Krefeld district and the independent city of Viersen . In St. Tönis, a secondary school with two classes was opened in the rooms of the school on Hülser Straße. The Tempelshof industrial area was created between St. Tönis and Vorst. School operations have started at the new community elementary school in Kirchenfeld. In 1971 the indoor pool was expanded to include an outdoor pool.

The former Wilhelmstrasse is renamed "Kolpingstrasse" on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Kolping Family St. Tönis. A Protestant church was built on Lutherstrasse. In 1972 the community received a new coat of arms. In 1973 the first municipal kindergarten was opened in the bivouac. The Rosentalhalle in the Jahnsportanlage fell victim to a major fire and was rebuilt at the same location. In 1975, the district of Kempen-Krefeld was expanded and renamed "District Viersen" after the seat of the district town. After the school center Corneliusfeld celebrated the topping-out ceremony in 1974, the secondary school - at that time the district secondary school - was able to move out of the school on Hülser Straße and move into its premises in the new school center.

In 1977 the “Wirichs” hall, built in 1850, was demolished as part of the renovation of the town center. The “Pastorswall” leisure facility is completed and the renovated Seulenhof is handed over to its intended use. In 1979 city rights were granted. In 1979 a town twinning with the French city of Sées was decided. 1980 was a festival week for the 600th birthday of St. Tönis. The Breite Strasse was renamed "Rue de Sees". The new city library opened in the town hall. In 1981 the pedestrian zone Hochstraße, Rathausplatz, Antoniusstraße was completed.

In 1983, the memorial commemorating the persecution of the Jews and the Holocaust was inaugurated on Kolpingstrasse opposite the former synagogue . On November 7, 1984, a widely acclaimed concert by the Cologne rock group BAP took place in the Rosentalhalle . In December 1984 the Rixen brewery was shut down. In 1985 the Vorster Hospital was demolished. 1986 Tönisvorst got a grammar school. The “Städtische Gymnasium Tönisvorst”, later renamed “Michael-Ende-Gymnasium”, started teaching in the Corneliusfeld school center. In 1988 the new savings bank building on the corner of Krefelderstrasse and Ringstrasse was completed. In 1989 the Mertenshäuser on Kirchstrasse were inaugurated after renovation as a community meeting place with a hall, hotel and restaurant.

The Sparkasse Tönisvorst merged with the Sparkasse Krefeld. The proceeds went to a savings bank foundation. In 1994 the newly designed "Old Market" was inaugurated and the St. Martin monument was inaugurated there. The extended retirement home was inaugurated in September 1995. After the old indoor pool was demolished, a new fun swimming pool was opened at the same location, which was given the name "H2Oh" and with its block- type thermal power station also supplied the "Pipper" development area on the western outskirts with local heating.

In 1995, a minority stake (49%) in the Tönisvorst municipal utilities was sold by the city of Tönisvorst to RWE Energie in exchange for the power supply network in the St. Tönis district. On June 1, 1999, RWE Energie completely took over the municipal utility; On January 1st, 2006 the Niederrheinwerke Viersen acquired the Stadtwerke Tönisvorst completely.

From 1996 around 450 residential units were built in the area between Friedrichstrasse, Gelderner Strasse and Biwak around the Düngelshof, colloquially known as the "Pipper area". 1997 saw the development of two new building areas on Willicher- / Benrader Straße and Corneliusstraße / Südring and the construction of around 300 and 75 residential units respectively. In 1999 a town partnership began with Staré Město, Czech Republic.

21st century

In 2001, the city was daycare (KiTa) Field road from the Sports Federation of the first facility in NRW, which is not in ownership of an association - - awarded as a recognized movement kindergarten (LSB). In March 2002 the event "Freedom Of The City" took place for the last time. The telecommunications company "280 (UK) Squadron" moved from the Franziska barracks to Niederkrüchten-Elmpt . In 2003 the Gerkeswiese development area was opened up. In January 2003 the inauguration of the new building of the Catholic elementary school on Schulstrasse took place.

In 2005 the citizens' initiative “Grüner Pastorswall” was involved in maintaining the Pastorswall leisure facility. In addition, the new “Tacksee” industrial park was opened with numerous well-known retail companies. In January 2007, a member of the Tönisvorst volunteer fire brigade was fatally injured by the storm "Kyrill" during a storm operation. In addition, one of the city's landmarks, the "Streuffmühle", was damaged. Her wing cross had to be removed. In 2007 the development of the new building area "Blaumeisenweg" on Südring / Viersener Straße was developed. In 2008 the Vorst fire brigade of the Tönisvorst volunteer fire department celebrated its 125th anniversary.

Incorporations

According to the law on the reorganization of the district of Kempen-Krefeld and the independent city of Viersen , the communities of St. Tönis and Vorst were merged into a new community with the name Tönisvorst on January 1, 1970. Territory parts of the previous municipalities of Anrath , Neersen and Oedt were also incorporated into the new municipality . At the same time, parts of the previous communities of St. Tönis and Vorst were spun off into the city of Krefeld and the newly formed city of Kempen .

Development of the population

From 1796 to 1998

year	St. Tönis	Vorst	together or Tönisvorst
1796	approx. 900	approx. 1,600	approx. 2,500
1814			1,355
1826	2,911
1850		approx. 4,000
1925			7,802
1961	12,407	5,385	17,792
1963	13,000
1984	16,664	5,249	21,913

Since 1998

(as of December 31st)

year	Residents	Graph of population development since 1998
1998	30,039
1999	30.302
2000	30,347
2001	30,477
2002	30,479
2003	30,370
2004	30,343
2005	30,140
2006	30,238
2012	29,322
2013	29,181
2015	29,296
2018	29,306
2019	29,336

politics

City council

The city council has been composed as follows since January 31, 2019:

Fraction:	CDU	SPD	FDP	Green	UWT ^*	GOOD ^**	non-attached	total
Seats:	16	11	2	4th	2	2	1	38 seats

* Independent community of voters Tönisvorst ** Community of independent Tönisvorsts

The mayor is another member of the committee.

The local election results of May 25, 2014 initially resulted in the following composition of the city council:

List:	CDU	SPD	FDP	Green	UWT ^*	GOOD ^**	total
Seats:	17th	11	2	4th	3	1	38 seats

On December 19, 2018, a council member left the CDU parliamentary group. In February 2018 this council member joined the Community of Independent Tönisvorster (GUT). Since then, GUT has again been represented as a parliamentary group in the city council of Tönisvorst.

On January 31, 2019, a council member resigned from the UWT parliamentary group and has since been represented as a non-attached member of the city council of Tönisvorst.

badges and flags

coat of arms

The former municipality of Tönisvorst, city since March 27, 1979, was granted the right to use a coat of arms in a certificate from the District President in Düsseldorf dated June 22, 1972.

" Description of the coat of arms :
In silver (white) a continuous, overturned blue tip , covered with a floating golden (yellow) Antonius cross ."

The colors blue / silver come from the coat of arms of the former municipality of Vorst.They were combined with the golden Antonius cross on a blue background, which is borrowed from the coat of arms of the former municipality of St. Tönis - blue Antonius cross on a golden background.

In addition, the V-shape of the blue tip is reminiscent of the first letter of the place name "Vorst", the Antonius Cross is similar to the capital letter T in the place name "St. Tönis ”.

The basic color of the Vorster coat of arms is silver.

The heraldic elements of the coat of arms of the municipality Vorst have their origin in the historical past of the municipality.

The coat of arms is divided into four fields by the black Kurkölner cross. The top two show the coats of arms of the former landlords of Vorst, on the left the Lords of Brempt (five horizontal bars), on the right the Lords of Donk (one glaive). The key in the lower left field comes from the courtroom of the Electorate of Cologne near the old St. Peter's Church (Honschaftsgericht Kapelle St. Peter - also the oldest Christian church in the Kempen region). The bishop's staff in the lower right field indicates the church patron St. Gotthardus, once bishop of Hildesheim.

The municipality of Vorst was given permission to use the coat of arms by decree of the Prussian Prime Minister and the Prussian Ministry of the Interior of April 20, 1928.

City arms
Flag of the city of Tönisvorst
Coat of arms of the former municipality of St. Tönis
Coat of arms of the former municipality Vorst

flag

The former municipality of Tönisvorst, a city since March 27, 1979, was also granted the right to fly a flag with a certificate from the District President in Düsseldorf dated June 22, 1972.

"Description of the flag:
In white, a continuous, overturned blue tip, covered with a floating, elongated yellow Antonius cross."

Town twinning

Culture and sights

Rathausplatz - on the right the old town hall, on the left the parish church of St. Cornelius

Parish Church of St. Godehard

Buildings

The four mansions in the Vorst district are worth seeing. The Donk house was inhabited for several years by the US national football goalkeeper Kasey Keller when he was playing for Borussia Mönchengladbach .

Old Town Hall, St. Tönis
Mertenshof, St. Tönis
Water tower, St. Tönis
Raedt House, Vorst
House Brempt, Vorst
House Neersdonk , Vorst
House Donk , Vorst
Gelleshof
Streuff-Mühle, Gelderner Straße, built in 1769/70
Parish Church of St. Cornelius, St. Tönis . A climb to the five bells is worthwhile, but the stairs have been without protective grids since 2008.
Parish Church of St. Godehard, Vorst

Movable monument

Schluff museum railway, St. Tönis

Regular events

The Vorster Schützenfest always takes place on the first weekend after May 5th, unless May 5th is a Sunday, then the Vorster Schützenfest takes place on this weekend. The three Vorster brotherhoods take turns organizing each year.

Vorster weekly market, every Thursday afternoon on the market square
St. Martin in Vorst takes place annually on November 9th.
Rags ball of the Rheinische Landjugend Tönisvorst e. V., always one week before Carnival (Saturdays)
Tönisvorster rock night of the evangelical youth mostly in the first weeks of September on a Saturday evening
The amateur play group "Salt and Pepper" of the Kolping Family Vorst has been offering changing plays every year on the last weekend in October in Vorst since 1991. Partly with own pieces - written by Vorstern for Vorster - that provide an insight into life in a small town on the Lower Rhine. The plays will then take place in St. Tönis in mid-November.
Concerts in the Palm Beach Cafe of the evangelical youth St. Tönis - with the Rocknacht the biggest youth events in the city

On the first weekend of summer vacation, the Service Club Round Table is organizing the open-air concert “Rock am Rathaus” on St. Tönis Town Hall Square.

Rathausplatz in St. Tönis during the “Rock am Rathaus” event on July 22, 2017

Sports

The clubs are the DJK Teutonia St. Tönis , the TV Vorst, the Turnerschaft, the SV St. Tönis , the SV Vorst, the HFC Vorster Frösche and the BC Tönisvorst. The SV St. Tönis is mainly known for its football department. DJK Teutonia St. Tönis and SV Vorst, who play in the regional league and have had a new artificial turf pitch with a career since 2011, are also active in football. With the artificial turf pitch created in addition to the natural grass pitch, SV Vorst can now fall back on the most modern sports facility in Tönisvorst. The TV Vorst has become known regionally for its successful handball department. The club, which lays the foundation for successful handball through targeted youth work, has been playing in the association league for years. The gymnastics club is the larger club in terms of members and, after two years in the association league, rose again to the state league at the end of the 2006/07 season. At the end of the 1970s, the first men's team played temporarily in the second handball league and in 1979 lost the promotion game against TuSEM Essen . The club has had some successes thanks to the youth teams in recent years. The BC Tönisvorst, on the other hand, has been offering badminton fans from Tönisvorst and the surrounding area a sporting home for over 50 years. The shooting sport is supported by the Schießfreunde-Freischütz-Tell 1926 St. Tönis e. V. represented.

Every year in April, the “Apple Blossom Run” takes place in favor of the drug aid organization action medeor .

dialect

Both in the district of St. Tönis ( Zent Tüenesser Platt) and - with slightly different pronunciation - in the district of Vorst (Vörschter Platt) the Lower Rhine dialect is cultivated. Until shortly after the Second World War, Platt was the colloquial language of the vast majority of the population. Today mostly only older citizens speak genuine Platt; the younger generation speaks - in an informal group - a mixture of High German and dialect, called Regiolekt or Lower Rhine German by linguists .

Tönisvorster Platt is in a way close to the Krefeld dialect but also to the Viersen dialect - although there are clearly audible differences for the initiated. Tönisvorst is located in the Dutch-speaking area north of the so-called Benrath Line (with the maache-maake distinction), which is considered the border with Central Franconia . The Tönisvorster include dialects to the south of the uerdingen line lying Südniederfränkischen (also Limburgish called), u in. a. by using “ech” or “esch” for the High German personal pronoun “I”. To the north of it, in Northern Lower Franconia , "ek" or "ekk" is spoken instead, e.g. B. in the Krefeld district of Hüls ( Hölsch Plott ), in Kempen and on the lower Rhine.

Even if the dialect is on the decline, Platt is cultivated at carnival, on dialect evenings and in clubs. In the Tönisvorst districts, for example, there are carnival and local associations that use their own websites to promote the preservation of the local area. It should be emphasized here

the Heimatbund St. Tönis
the Heimatverein Vorst
If the story of Zent Tüenes were schriewe well, there would come jau op enne Schöeper da Osterhee (Osterheide) en Beld van dä hellije Antonius jefongen. Dat Beld has stopped the Schöeper joot, but jrad eene Daach later fong hä op the selve Stell dat jlieke Beld still ens on on the next roof still ens ... Doa woer for the Schöeper kloor dat that same to the position tu Iere van dä hellije Tünn ( Antonius), en Kapellke should jebout. Dat woar dan Anfong van os Zent Tüenes.

Economy and Infrastructure

Companies

Tönisvorst's local economy is predominantly medium-sized. Until the end of the 2000s there was a major supplier in the textile industry, KRESS textile finishing. With the company's third bankruptcy in 2011, the long history of the textile industry in Tönisvorst almost ended. Today several smaller companies from the service sector as well as smaller remaining textile processing companies are located on the site. With Abbelen Fleischwaren GmbH and Arca Regulator GmbH on the northern outskirts of the Vorst district there are two nationally better known companies. Until 2011, the larger, nationally significant company in the St. Tönis district was the German headquarters of the Japanese car manufacturer Daihatsu . As part of the development of the Hohenhöfe industrial park, where the Real u. a. opened the first so-called Future Store , more medium-sized companies have settled in Tönisvorst in recent years. With the ongoing withdrawal of Deutsche Bank from the area and the associated closure of the local branch, Tönisvorst still has two credit institutes, the Sparkasse Krefeld and the Volksbank Krefeld , both of which are present in both districts, which are committed to promoting the local economy and private customers .

traffic

On the edge of the local part Lasch hut already on Krefeld city, situated on the railway line Duisburg-Ruhrort-Mönchengladbach the breakpoint Forsthaus, that of the regional trains RB33 (Aachen - Mönchengladbach - Krefeld - Duisburg - Essen) and RB35 (Mönchengladbach - Krefeld - Duisburg - Oberhausen - Gelsenkirchen) is approached.

Public transport

In addition to bus lines such as the city express bus SB 87 from Viersen via Anrath Bf, Vorst, Kempen Bf, Grefrath to Nettetal-Lobberich, the eastern district of St. Tönis is served by the tram line 041 of the Krefeld SWK Mobil . This offer is supplemented by a citizens' bus and the 068 line between Krefeld-Forstwald and Kempen Bahnhof, which runs through St. Tönis and stops at the most important stop, Wilhelmplatz. Both the 041, 062, 064, 068 and the citizens' bus stop here. Via Wilhelmplatz you get to Vorst , Kempen and Krefeld . With the tram line 041 there is a connection to the center of Krefeld, and with it the longest tram journey in Germany begins .

Major roads

On the outskirts of the settlement, St. Tönis is surrounded by an outer ring, which can be used to access four traffic junctions in all directions:

Via the Nüss Drenk (L 362) / Südring (L 379) junction in the south of the village, you can get from the outer ring to Krefeld-Forstwald, the A 44 and the Krefeld industrial area "Stahldorf".
Via the junction Düsseldorfer Straße (L 379) / Südring (L 475) you can either go west to the municipality of Vorst (Tönisvorst) or south to Anrath and the A 44 .
Via the Düsseldorfer Straße (L 379) / Biwak (K 22) roundabout on the northwestern outskirts of the city, you can head west to Oedt or north to Kempen .
Via the junction Biwak (K 22) / Hülser Straße (L 379) you can reach the A 40 or Krefeld-Hüls in the north .

Another road “Sankt-Töniser-Straße” (L 475) leading out of the town center leads to a direct traffic connection to the center of Krefeld.

The closest motorways are the A 40 , which runs about twelve kilometers north of St. Tönis, and the Krefeld-Fichtenhain and Krefeld-Forstwald exits of the A 44 are only five kilometers from the southern exit of St. Tönis .

education

The city has four primary schools , three in St. Tönis and one in Vorst:

Catholic primary school St. Tönis
Community elementary school Corneliusstraße St.Tönis
Community elementary school Hülserstraße St.Tönis
City Community elementary school Vorst

The city has two secondary schools :

Michael-Ende-Gymnasium

The Rupert Neudeck Comprehensive School was a secondary school before 2016 until it was renamed after Rupert Neudeck and converted into a comprehensive school.
The third secondary school, the junior high school Leonardo da Vinci was closed mid-2018.

Urban development concept 2035

Under the name STEK Tönisvorst 2035 ( ST adt E ntwicklungs K onzept), the city of Tönisvorst has been developing an integrated urban development concept in cooperation with a Dortmund planning office since 2019. Important topics are the living and shopping situation, getting around, how to spend your free time and environmental protection.

Personalities

literature

The expansion of the church tower to S. Tönis: together with some historical notes about the origin and expansion of the community, as a contribution to the topography of the Kempen district. Klein, Crefeld 1849 ( digitized version )
Franz Dohr: Vorst - From the history of a community. Parish of St. Godehard Vorst, around 1980.
Paul Wietzorek: St. Tönis - From the history of a Lower Rhine community 1188-1969. Geiger-Verlag, 1991, ISBN 3-89264-419-5
Paul Wietzorek: St. Tönis - Tell Pictures. Geiger-Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-89570-585-3
Cl. Bridger: The Roman Age Grave Field - "To Hinkes Weisshof" Tönisvorst-Vorst, District Viersen, 1996, ISBN 3-7927-1577-5
TönisVorst - A picture journey through St. Tönis and Vorst, ALWO druck & Verlag Arretz GmbH, ISBN 3-00-009771-6
Willi Schmidt: Vorst - from back then until today. 2 volumes, ALWO druck & Verlag Arretz GmbH
Willi Faahsen: Tönisvorst introduces himself. Municipality of Tönisvorst 1977.
Johann Peter Lentzen: History of the parish of St. Tönis in the Kempen district: Contributions to the special history of the Rhine; from archival sources. Self-published, Fischeln 1886. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf

Web links

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

Individual evidence

↑ Population of the municipalities of North Rhine-Westphalia on December 31, 2019 - update of the population based on the census of May 9, 2011. State Office for Information and Technology North Rhine-Westphalia (IT.NRW), accessed on June 17, 2020 . ( Help on this )

^ In the course of Operation Grenade . rp-online.de from March 16, 2015, Hans Kaiser: The last fights in the region

↑ The following information is based on: heimatverein-vorst.de (PDF)

↑ For example, Jakob-von-Danwitz-Platz was built, named after a former mayor of Vorst.

↑ Martin Bünermann: The communities of the first reorganization program in North Rhine-Westphalia . Deutscher Gemeindeverlag, Cologne 1970.

↑ See also NEW Tönisvorst GmbH

↑ Law on the reorganization of the Kempen-Krefeld district and the independent city of Viersen . 18 December 1969

↑ ^a ^b § 2 of the main statute of the city of Tönisvorst ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2014 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. (PDF; 79 kB) @1@ 2

↑ Stephanie Wickerath: Tönisvorst: Summer concert: Rock music attracts many people to the city center. Accessed January 31, 2018 .

↑ Apple blossom run in Tönisvorst. Retrieved January 22, 2018 .

↑ Internet portal of the LVR: Comments on the subject of Regiolekt in the Rhineland ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2012 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. Website accessed October 10, 2013 @1@ 2

↑ Internet portal of the LVR: Rhenish subjects and explanation of the dialect boundaries ( Memento of the original from May 3, 2012 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. Website accessed October 10, 2013 @1@ 2