Ladbergen is a municipality in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated near the Dortmund-Ems Canal, approximately 25 km south-west of Osnabrück and 20 km north-east of Münster.

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Ladbergen
Municipality
Ladbergen Dorfstraße
Coat of arms
Location of Ladbergen within Steinfurt district
Ladbergen Show map of Germany Ladbergen Show map of North Rhine-Westphalia
Coordinates: 52°08′12″N 7°44′14″E
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Münster
District	Steinfurt
Subdivisions	Village (centre), Hölter, Wester and Overbeck
Government
• Mayor (2020–25)	Torsten Buller[1] (Ind.)
Area
• Total	52.34 km2 (20.21 sq mi)
Elevation	51.8 m (169.9 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)[2]
• Total	7,007
• Density	130/km2 (350/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	49549
Dialling codes	05485
Vehicle registration	ST, TE, BF
Website	www.ladbergen.de

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The municipality is situated in the Tecklenburg country in the middle between the cities Münster and Osnabrück. Because of its central location between these two cities Ladbergen is well accessible by the Autobahn (motorway/freeway) A 1 (Ladbergen junction) and the Bundesstraße (federal highway) B 475. The Dortmund-Ems Canal (canal port Ladbergen) situated on the western municipal border and Münster Osnabrück Airport (FMO) are located a few kilometers from the centre of Ladbergen. Unlike the name part of "bergen" suggests, Ladbergen offers no mountainous or hilly landscape, but is situated at a relatively uniform level between 48.1 m (158 ft) and 55.5 m (182 ft) with a mean elevation of 51.8 m (170 ft) above sea level. Two streams flow through Ladbergen, the Ladbergen Aa and the Ladbergen Mühlenbach that both flow eventually into the Glane stream.

The municipality Ladbergen is subdivided in the village(centre) and the surrounding rural areas Hölter, Wester and Overbeck.

With a population of 6,370 (census of 30 June 2011) Ladbergen is the second smallest independent municipality in the district of Steinfurt (just before Laer with 6,298 inhabitants). 3,221 women and 3,149 men were living in the municipality. The camping facilities offer about 700 more people a second home in Ladbergen.

Regarding religion the largest part of the population is Protestant (Lutheranism), a smaller part is Roman Catholic.

Because of graves found, it is assumed that the territory of the municipality Ladbergen was already populated in the Bronze Age. Ladbergen got mentioned first in 950 in a certificate of the Freckenhorst monastery.

In the year 1149, the municipality was assigned as an independent parish by the Diocese of Münster. In 1170 the parish was taken over by the Diocese of Osnabrück.

In 1246 the Ladberger Marktbund (Ladbergen Marketfederation) was founded by representatives of the cities Münster, Osnabrück, Minden and Herford. This was a precursor of other forms of cooperation in Westphalia and the Hanseatic League.

Around 1400, the western parts of the community were lost to the Diocese of Münster. As a result, the population of Ladbergen until after World War II remained religiously almost exclusively Protestant (Lutheranism).

In the year 1650 Ladbergen gained political autonomy for the first time. In 1707 Ladbergen with the entire Duchy of Tecklenburg got incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia. After 1816 Ladbergen belonged to the Landkreis Münster and was later assigned to the Landkreis Tecklenburg.

In 1855 Ladbergen lost its political autonomy, and was administratively unified with the village Brochterbeck. This situation remained unchanged up to 1907, when Ladbergen was assigned to Tecklenburg.

During World War II the vicinity of Ladbergen was heavily bombed.^[4] Allied bombers tried to destroy the Dortmund-Ems Canal aqueducts near Ladbergen, where the canal passes over the Mühlenbach to render the canal useless for extended periods.[^[5] To defend the canal there were two heavy 105 mm Flak locations in Ladbergen, supported by smaller anti-aircraft guns. Batteries of 105 mm guns were usually left to defend major cities. This indicates the importance of the canal to the overall German war effort. Besides bombs and downed airplanes shrapnel fell onto Ladbergen during the air raids causing loses in property and lives. The air raids did not result in the destruction of the targeted aqueducts, but Tallboy bombs dropped by Avro Lancaster bombers of No. 617 Squadron RAF did breach the canal banks on 23/24 September 1944.^[6]

In September 1949 Ladbergen regained its political autonomy. In January 1975 Ladbergen was transferred from the then dissolved district of Tecklenburg into the newly founded district of Steinfurt.

For centuries the economy of Ladbergen was based on agriculture. The introduction of fertilizer in the 20th century enabled the local peasants – who up to that moment had to deal with infertile sandy soil that yielded modest harvests – to escape from poverty. The infrastructural improvements and urbanization of the village after World War II and the West German Wirtschaftswunder created new jobs in trade, industry, transport, tourism and the service sector and commuters settled in Ladbergen. These developments diversified and boosted the economic development of Ladbergen. The last decades the municipality itself also profited from the establishment of new successful businesses and companies in Ladbergen and general prosperity amongst its citizens, by a steady increase in local taxes revenues. This enabled the municipality to invest in the local infrastructure, education and (social) services for its citizens.

Blazon: Under a red shield top with two golden bees, in silver field three (2 : 1) red nymphaea leaves.

The bees refer to beekeeping. On the heath and moorland of Ladbergen beekeeping was widespread for centuries. According to a historic certificate honey farmers from Ladbergen had to pay taxes to the monastery Freckenhorst in the year 950.

The three Nymphaea or water lilies come from the seal of the Lord of Ladbergen from the year 1324. The water lilies symbol originates from the Duchy Lingen, to which Ladbergen belonged during a medieval period. The leaf shape has its origin in the coat of arms of the Counts of Tecklenburg.

• New Knoxville, Ohio, United States

A lot of emigrants originating from Ladbergen settled down in the area around New Knoxville in the state of Ohio in the United States with which Ladbergen established a town partnership. New Knoxville is partly composed of the descendants of the Ladbergen emigrants. The typical Ladbergen Platt dialect is still spoken by some of the older citizens whose ancestors originated from Ladbergen.^[15]

Due to the interest of American descendants of emigrants from Ladbergen in their family genealogy, more or less reliable private genealogical work was conducted after World War II. As Neil Armstrong, whose great-grandfather Friedrich Wilhelm Kötter emigrated from Ladbergen to the United States in 1864, was the first man to walk on the Moon in 1969, many citizens of Ladbergen became interested in their American "relatives". This resulted in a very close connection between Ladbergen and New Knoxville, which is especially cultivated by reciprocal visits.^[15][16] For the New Knoxville sesquicentennial in 1986, approximately 100 Ladbergen residents traveled to New Knoxville to join in the celebration.

Ladbergen's neighboring municipalities, Lengerich and Lienen, are sister cities with New Knoxville's neighbors Wapakoneta and Saint Marys, respectively.