Theodor Krüger (architect, 1852)

Theodor Krüger (born May 25, 1852 in Northeim , † August 17, 1926 in Hanover ) was a German architect and municipal building officer .

Career

Street sign of Theodor-Krüger-Strasse in Hanover

Krüger first went to school in Northeim, then in Hildesheim . After studying architecture in Hanover, he worked as a site manager in Silesia and Berlin. He then worked in New York and then a city architect in Peine . From 1887 to 1892 he was a town builder in Linden , where he introduced the alignment plans with a development plan. His successor here was Georg Fröhlich (1853–1927). In 1888, Krüger became the head of the newly founded city building department and mayor .

After the Hanover tram (since 1921: Überlandwerke und Straßenbahnen AG, today üstra Hannoversche Verkehrsbetriebe ) was founded in June 1892 , the supervisory board elected him to the sole management board (director). He planned the electrification of the horse-drawn tram, the expansion of the rail network, the addition of passenger traffic with goods traffic and electricity generation. The city administration could not make friends with overhead lines. Grinding noises and sparks made the horses shy. However, Krüger was able to convince the magistrate to equip the outer lines with overhead lines, and on May 19, 1893, the first line with overhead lines began between Königsworther Platz and Herrenhausen Gardens. In the city center, the trains ran with accumulator drives until 1903 .

In August 1898, Krüger took part in the 10th general assembly of the international permanent tram association in Berlin.

Under Krüger, passenger and freight tram traffic was expanded until 1902 to such an extent that Hanover had the largest interurban tram network in Germany with a route length of 292 kilometers . At the same time, he linked the power plants in Hanover and the surrounding area, which were built with electrification from 1893, with the surrounding villages and towns, thereby connecting them more closely with Hanover. Obviously, the hoped-for yields fell short of expectations due to the rapid expansion of the network. After strikes by tram workers and differences with the magistrate Kruger resigned then in 1902 - the year with the most highly developed tram network - only from the civil ruler College from 1903 from the post of Director tram.

From Hanover, Krüger moved to Berlin and later to Bückeburg. He became operations manager of the Bad Eilsener Kleinbahn , which he also electrified and modernized.

Honors

• In 1948, Theodor-Krüger-Strasse in front of the Glocksee tram depot was named after the former director of the Hanover tram company.

literature

• Waldemar R. Röhrbein : Krüger, Theodor. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 373.
• Detlef Lüder: From sedan chairs to trams. On the history of local public transport in Hanover. üstra, Hannover 1989, pp. 26-32.
• Horst Moch: Germany's largest tram freight transport. Hanover 1899–1953. üstra, Hannover 1986, p. 9, p. 16 f.
• Walter Buschmann : Linden trees. History of an industrial city in the 19th century. Lax, Hildesheim 1981, ISBN 3-7848-3492-2 , p. 307 ff.