Westerkappeln

Basic data
State :	North Rhine-Westphalia
Administrative region :	Muenster
Circle :	Steinfurt
Height :	60 m above sea level NHN
Area :	85.83 km 2
Residents:	11,241 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	131 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	49492
Primaries :	05404, 05456
License plate :	ST, BF, TE
Community key :	05 5 66 092
LOCODE :	DE WKP
Address of the ; municipal administration:	Grosse Strasse 13 ; 49492 Westerkappeln
Website :	www.gemeinde-westerkappeln.de
Mayoress :	Annette Große-Heitmeyer ( CDU )
Location of the municipality of Westerkappeln in the Steinfurt district

Westerkappeln ( Low German Kappeln ) is a municipality in the Tecklenburger Land region ( Steinfurt district ) in the northern part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia . It is located about eight kilometers west of Osnabrück .

geography

Westerkappeln is located on the northern edge of the Tecklenburger Land . The north German lowlands extend to the north , and the Teutoburg Forest borders in the south .

Neighboring communities

The municipality is surrounded by a total of six cities and municipalities. Westerkappeln mainly borders on towns and communities in the Tecklenburger Land , these are Lotte , Tecklenburg , Ibbenbüren and Mettingen . In the north it borders the Osnabrück region in Lower Saxony . These are the community of Neuenkirchen and the city of Bramsche

Neuenkirchen 12 km		Bramsche 13 km
Mettingen 7 km		Lotte 5 km
Ibbenbueren 12 km	Tecklenburg 12 km

City structure

The Westerkappelner municipal area includes the actual town center beyond a large area with the nine farmers Seeste , Osterbeck , Westerbeck , Metten , Düte , Sennlich , Handarpe , Hambüren and Lada . The last three farmers named together with the Ortfeld settlement form the district of Velpe , which is located in the south of the municipality.

history

The name Westerkappeln goes back to the founding of a chapel (capellun) or church in the west of the Osnabrück diocese to distinguish it from another chapel in the east ( Ostercappeln ). The church must have been built in the period after 800 under Charlemagne. Corvey Abbey on the Weser probably had basic rights in Westerkappeln since 816. Westerkappeln was first mentioned there in an income register in the 11th century. Until 1939 the official spelling “Westercappeln” was used.

House Cappeln was created when Count Hermann von Ravensberg had a neighboring castle built in Westerkappeln around 1100 in addition to his Ravensberg Castle near Borgholzhausen. From this a manor developed .

On October 1, 1939, the former municipalities of Westerkappeln-Stadt and Westerkappeln-Land merged to form the new municipality of Westerkappeln.

Reinhild von Westerkappeln can be seen on the coat of arms of Westerkappeln .

politics

Local election 2014

Turnout: 62.2% (2009: 54.3%)

%

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

44.7%

30.9%

5.3%

10.3%

8.7%

Citizenship

Gains and losses

compared to 2009

% p

4th

2

0

-2

-4

-6

-2.9 % p

+ 4.0 % p

-5.2 % p

+1.7 % p

+ 2.4 % p

Citizenship

Municipal council

Since the local elections on May 25, 2014 , the 26 seats of the municipal council have been distributed among the individual groups as follows:

Party / list	Seats	+/-
SPD	12	± 0
CDU	8th	+ 1
Green	3	+ 1
FDP	1	- 2nd
Civic community	2	± 0

mayor

In June 2014, Annette Große-Heitmeyer (CDU) was elected mayor with 63% of the vote. She prevailed against incumbent Ullrich Hockenbrinck (SPD).

Town twinning

Since May 19, 1984 there is an official partnership with the municipality of Bathmen in the Netherlands. Bathmen is in the province of Overijssel , about 10 km from Deventer . Around 5,150 people live in the 28 km² community. After the incorporation of the municipality of Bathmen into the Hanseatic city of Deventer in 2005, the partnership was transferred to this city. The town twinning was then tacitly ended.

Culture and sights

Langenbrück manor around 1860, Alexander Duncker collection

The Evangelical City Church

Evangelical town church

The Evangelical City Church was completed around 1500, with components of a previous church under the patronage of St. Stephen being included: On the one hand, the tower from the end of the 12th century, and in particular the remains of a south transept from the 13th century.

Well in the town center

The controversial "fountain hare"

In 2002, a selection committee dealt with the task of selecting a suitable well system for the town center. The citizens of Westerkappeln were left out. The commission decided on the work of art fountain with rabbit and flowers by Heinrich Brummack , who lives and works in Westerkappeln, and thus prevailed against the suggestion “fountain with saucepan and owl”. The system consists of a cast iron shell with a diameter of 2.40 meters and a natural stone base placed in the middle with a turntable. A gold-leaf rabbit cast from bronze and flowers made from aluminum are attached to this turntable. The hydraulic turntable lets the rabbit placed on it randomly change its direction. In winter, when the well is out of order, the rabbit is enclosed in a blue grid “so that it cannot run away” (Brummack). The fountain is controversial. In the opinion of opponents of this system, the project is “kitschy garbage” and “money thrown out”. In fact, the fountain cost a five-figure sum (donation from the Kreissparkasse to the Westerkappeln cultural and local history association). Others expressed their protest by pouring washing powder into the well.

Economy and Infrastructure

Business

Westerkappeln has two larger industrial parks. Medium-sized companies have settled in the nearby Gartenkamp industrial park in Westerkappeln, some of them of supraregional importance. For example, the largest vending machine operator in Germany in the public vending sector, the Geile company, is based there. The headquarters of the company Foto Erhardt, Menke-Spezialtransporte, tvs, Aqua-Living, ELOS, TAAC, Atlantis Event Technology, Restaurant Kontor-Lounge, Kamphermann & Opfermann, Düsing, Oberschmidt, LBW, Iborg, Kroog, design offices can also be found in the Gartenkamp industrial park Möller, Gedes, Confiserie Rabbel, Essing an der Kreuzstrasse and others.

Another, larger industrial area is located in the Velpe district. It is located directly at the Lotte junction of the A 30 . The largest companies there include Lidl's logistics center and regional company, the construction company Echterhoff, hagebau central warehouse + Service HZL, hagebau central warehouse Weser-Ems, Poppensieker & Derix (laminated wood) and an ABC ceramic plant. Logistics centers from Trans-O-Flex, GLS and the WM-Group are also located here. All of these companies are located in the industrial area Velpe. In addition, the Heinemann galvanizing plant (Seppeler Group), the shipping and logistics company City-Trans as well as Hellos Stahlbau and Velper-Fenster are located. There is also a Wulff-Farben warehouse, a Scania truck branch and others. A specialty of the industrial area Velpe is an adjoining golf course at the foot of the Teutoburg Forest.

education

The Lotte-Westerkappeln comprehensive school with five classes has existed since the 2014/2015 school year and is located at the Westerkappeln and Wersen locations. In the 2017/2018 school year, grades 5 and 6 will visit the Wersen site; grades 7 and 8 will be in Westerkappeln. The comprehensive school is under construction.

traffic

The area of the municipality of Westerkappeln is located directly on the A 1 and A 30 federal motorways and is crossed by two subordinate railway lines. The Mittelland Canal is located in the north of the municipality . Münster-Osnabrück Airport can be reached quickly via the A1.

The Tecklenburger Nordbahn runs through the center of Westerkappeln. This railway line from Osnabrück to Rheine is used for freight traffic and museum trains; a perspective for a modern regional train is under discussion. In the local traffic plan SPNV Westfalen-Lippe, the recommissioning of a modern regional train from Osnabrück to Recke every 30 minutes is planned due to its good economy. The previously existing Westerkappeln train station can be used as a train stop. Until a few years ago, the district of Velpe also had a regional train stop on the Löhne – Rheine railway line .

Regionalverkehr Münsterland operates two regional lines through Westerkappeln. The express bus line S 10 in the direction of Mettingen and Recke as well as to Osnabrück, where the regional line R 11 also goes via the Lotter districts of Wersen and Büren. The citizen-operated B 1 citizen bus has also been running in Westerkappeln for a number of years. In the southern districts of the municipality, the bus line runs from Osnabrück via Lotte to Ibbenbüren at regular intervals.

Westerkappeln is connected to some bicycle routes, including a. to the legend route.

Westerkappeln is a classic out- commuter place and therefore has significantly more out-commuters than in-commuters. The outskirts of the city of Osnabrück are particularly noticeable here, where commuters cover around 20,000 kilometers by car every day on their way to the Hanseatic city. The commuter balance is clearly negative at minus 1,482. For 2015, 4,507 outbound commuters and 3,025 inbound commuters were recorded.

At 85%, the out-commuter quota is among the most pronounced in the Münster administrative district.

Commuters

workplace	2013	2014	2015
Osnabrück	1,550	1,574	1,498
Ibbenbueren	417	379	397
Lotte	411	409	404
Mettingen 304	296	216	289
Tecklenburg	186	172	186
Muenster	144	129	160
Bramsche	109	112	115
Lengerich	101	k. A.	n / a
Wallenhorst	100	101	108
Georgsmarienhütte	96	102	110
Rheine	k. A.	104	102

Commuters

place of residence	2013	2014	2015
Ibbenbueren	414	438	476
Osnabrück	341	417	423
Lotte	276	346	405
Mettingen	188	216	217
Bramsche	92	88	75
Wallenhorst	83	108	108
Warrior	70	79	86
Tecklenburg	62	74	80
Lengerich	60	68	66
Georgsmarienhütte	49	63	66

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the church

Christian Friedrich Goedeking (born September 10, 1770 in Westerkappeln, † March 23, 1851 in Berlin), General Mint Director in Berlin
Wilhelm Korspeter (born October 19, 1897 in Westerkappeln; † January 21, 1967 in Osnabrück), politician ( SPD) , member of the Lower Saxony state parliament 1947–1951
August rent (born November 1, 1908 in Westerkappeln; † 1987), SS-Scharführer in the Treblinka extermination camp

People who worked on site

The cousins Josef Wiese (1932–2009) and Aloys Coppenrath (1933–2013) founded the Coppenrath & Wiese confectionery on January 1, 1975 in the old dairy , which existed at this location until 2003.
Heinrich Brummack (1936–2018), sculptor and university professor

literature

Friedrich E. Hunsche : Westerkappeln. Chronicle of an old community in northern Westphalia. Westerkappeln, Westerkappeln municipality, 1975.
Heinz Weyer : The Protestant town church in Westerkappeln . Culture and local history association Westerkappeln e. V., 1991.
Gertrud Althoff : Jewish people from Westerkappel, on the trail of their history . Westerkappeln, Vol. 9, Westerkappeln Municipality, 2005.