Bielefeld

Basic data:

Geography:

The north and northeast of Bielefeld lies in the hilly landscape of the Ravensberger Mulde. The Teutoburg Forest runs through Bielefeld from west-northwest to east-southeast. A historically important connection is the Bielefeld Pass from which the district of Gadderbaum (with Bethel) extends into the transverse valleys. The highest point of the city is in Lämershagen at 320 m above sea level, the lowest in Brake at 73 m above sea level. The largest extent extends in a west-east direction and is 21 km, in a north-south direction, the extension is 19 km. In the north of the city is the artificially created Obersee, the largest body of water in the city. Bielefeld is the city with the most green spaces per inhabitant in Germany.

Climate:

Bielefeld is in the temperate climate zone. The mean annual rainfall is 99.6mm, with most of the precipitation falling in March. August is also the warmest month with an average of 18.5 °C.

City structure:

10 districts: Gadderbaum (with Bethel), Brackwede, Senne, Sennestadt, Dornberg,
Jöllenbeck, Bielefeld-Mitte, Schildesche, Stieghorst, Heepen

history:

The Ravensberg Count Hermann IV founded the city of Bielefeld ("Biliuelde") in 1214. He placed the city at a crossroads of old trade routes in close proximity to a pass through the Teutoburg Forest, which was a good basis for a merchant town. Numerous merchants from the surrounding area and from neighboring Münster were happy to take advantage of the freedom offered by the newly founded town. The city should increase the economic and financial power of the count. Even today, the most important trading center (today: Alter Markt), the town hall and the church (Altstädter Nicolai-Kirche) characterize the medieval townscape.

With the construction of the Sparrenburg, which served as the count`s residence and for military purposes from 1293, the new town developed parallel to the old town. It was mainly inhabited by the construction workers of the Sparrenburg, developed unplanned and consisted of the settlement cores: the Marienstift, The craftsmen`s settlement (today`s Breite Straße), Adelshöfe (today`s Kreuzstraße). From 1423 Bielefeld belonged to the County of Jülich-Berg. The Sparrenburg survived the 30-year war and multiple sieges unscathed by the fortifications built in the mid-16th century, which are still visible today. After the castle had fallen into disrepair in the mid-18th century, the city of Bielefeld bought the castle complex in 1879 and extensively restored it.

The two cities Bielefeld, which had developed independently, became one city in 1520. Until the city developed into a linen city at the end of the 16th century, it was characterized by craftsmen and merchants. From 1830 onwards, despite the good quality, the linen trade in Bielefeld fell into a serious crisis, caused by competition from cotton and the yarns and fabrics manufactured in Ireland by machines. Through the connection to the Cologne-Minden railway, it quickly developed factories. One of the largest factories at that time developed in 1854 with the "Ravensberger Spinnerei", which developed into the largest flax spinning mill in Europe.

In 1878 the municipality of Bielefeld became an immediate city, the district administration of the district of Bielefeld remained in the city. Parallel to the textile industry, mechanical engineering developed and at the end of the 19th century the food industry with the Oetker Group, one of the largest food manufacturers in Europe.The group originated in the pharmacy on Niedernstrasse, where August Oetker began selling and developing baking powder. The city`s population steadily increased. After incorporations in 1900, 1907 and 1930 with the hitherto independent municipalities of Schildesche, Sieker, Stieghorst and parts of Heepen and Gadderbaum, Bielefeld exceeded the 100,000 mark with 129,963 inhabitants that year.

Despite major losses during World War II, the city grew after the war to 155,000 in 1950 due to the influx of people displaced from the East. Reconstruction gave Bielefeld a new face.

The textile industry became less and less important and the city, like almost all large cities, developed into a service center. Bielefeld also became a garrison town for the British Army of the Rhine. In 1969, Bielefeld became the only university town in the Minden-Ravensberg region. In the course of municipal reform in 1973 and as a result of the Bielefeld Act, the district of Bielefeld and the independent city of Bielefeld were dissolved and (with the exception of a few areas) combined to form the "new" independent city of Bielefeld. The population rose to over 300,000.

Sights: