Gummersbach

Gummersbach

Gummersbach

Town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Gummersbach (German pronunciation: [ˈɡʊmɐsˌbax] ⓘ; Kölsch: Jummersbach) is a town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, being the district seat of the Oberbergischer Kreis. It is located 50 kilometres (31 mi) east of Cologne.

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History

In 1109 Gummersbach was mentioned in official documents for the first time. The document in question concerned the lowering of the episcopal tax for the church in Gummersbach by Archbishop Frederick I. At that time the name of the town was spelled as Gumeresbracht. In 1855 Gummersbach's industrial history began with the foundation of the company Steinmüller. With the company's success the little village began to grow to a town. Gummersbach received town privileges in 1857. For decades to come many inhabitants found work at Steinmüller. In 2002 the new parent company Babcock Borsig AG went out of business and so Steinmüller was shut down, too. After most of the premises were no longer in use, the town bought the property in order to develop it. The premises played a key role for the municipality, as it made up half of the downtown area by then. In the following years, among other things, an arena, a shopping mall and a new university campus were built.

The coat of arms

The arms were granted on July 27, 1892. Gummersbach developed rapidly from a small village to a large town during the early 19th century, due to the metal and textile industry. The right part of the arms thus show a spindle as a symbol for the textile industry. The left part shows the arms of the Counts of the Mark, as the area belonged to the Mark since 1287.

Communities, localities and villages

Map of Gummersbach

Apfelbaum – Becke – Berghausen – Bernberg – Birnbaum – Börnchen – Bracht – Bredenbruch – Brink – Bruch – Brunohl – Berghausen – Deitenbach – Derschlag – Dieringhausen – Drieberhausen – Dümmlinghausen – Elbach – Erbland – Erlenhagen – Flaberg – Frömmersbach – Grünenthal – Gummeroth – Hardt – Hardt-Hanfgarten – Helberg – Herreshagen – Hesselbach – Höfen -Hömel – Hülsenbusch – Hunstig – Kalkuhl – Karlskamp – Koverstein – Lantenbach – Lieberhausen – Liefenroth – Lobscheid – Lützinghausen – Luttersiefen – Mühle – Neuenhaus – Neuenschmiede – Niedergelpe – Niedernhagen – Niederseßmar – Nochen – Oberrengse – Ohmig -Peisel – Piene – Rebbelroth – Recklinghausen – Reininghausen – Remmelsohl – Rodt – Rospe – Schneppsiefen – Schönenberg – Schusterburg – Sonnenberg – Steinenbrück – Straße – Strombach – Unnenberg – Veste – Vollmerhausen – Waldesruh – Wasserfuhr – Windhagen – Wörde – Würden

Main sights

  • The Vogteihaus, former residence of the Vogt, built in 1700. It is also referred to as die Burg ("the castle"), and lies in the town center, on the Kaiserstraße.
  • The Bunte Kerke ("colorful church") in the village Lieberhausen, a Protestant church with medieval wall paintings.
  • The Protestant church of the village Hülsenbusch, rebuilt in the 18th century after a fire, in Baroque style.

Transport

Gummersbach is connected by regional trains to Cologne and Lüdenscheid, where a direct connection to Hagen and Dortmund exists. Trains heading towards Cologne run every 30 minutes during the week and continue every 60 minutes to Lüdenscheid. Besides the station in downtown, there is another station in the district of Dieringhausen.

South of Gummersbach runs the A 4 motorway from Cologne to Olpe. In the north-east the A 45 motorway, which stretches from Dortmund to Frankfurt, connects to Gummersbach via the exit of Meinerzhagen.

Education

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Gummersbach is twinned with:[3]

Sport

The men's team VfL Gummersbach was one of the most successful handball teams of Europe in the 1970s and 1980s.

Notable people

References

  1. [1]
    Wahlergebnisse in NRW Kommunalwahlen 2020, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, accessed 29 June 2021.
  2. [2]
    "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden Nordrhein-Westfalens am 31. Dezember 2022 – Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes auf Basis des Zensus vom 9. Mai 2011" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  3. [3]
    "Städtepartnerschaften". gummersbach.de (in German). Gummersbach. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  4. [4]
    "Bio". Afu Thomas Official Website. Retrieved 2020-02-08. – German version
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