Hürth

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Coordinates: 50°53′N 6°53′E

Hürth
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Administrative region	Cologne
District	Rhein-Erft-Kreis
Population	55,013 source (2005)
Area	51.17 km²
Population density	1,123 /km²
Elevation	54-155 m
Coordinates	50°53′ N 6°53′ E
Postal code	50354
Area code	02233
Licence plate code	BM
Mayor	Walther Boecker (SPD)
Website	huerth.de

Hürth is a suburb of Cologne in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Contents 1 Geography 2 Coat of arms 3 Districts 4 Twin Towns 5 History 5.1 Alstädten 5.2 Burbach 5.3 Berrenrath 5.4 Efferen 5.5 Fischenich 5.6 Gleuel 5.7 Hermülheim 5.8 Hürth (Alt-Hürth) 5.9 Hürth-Mitte 5.10 Kalscheuren 5.11 Kendenich 5.12 Knapsack 5.13 Sielsdorf 5.14 Stotzheim 6 Sights 7 Personages 7.1 Famous People from Hürth 7.2 Other 8 Public transport 9 Literature

[edit] Geography

Hürth is situated about 9 km to the southwest of Cologne, at the northeastern slope of the natural preserve Kottenforst-Ville.

The city, consisting of thirteen formerly independent villages, is essentially made up of numerous subdivisions and commercial centers distributed over a relatively large area, intermittent by lakes and stretches of forest.

[edit] Coat of arms

Hürth's coat of arms shows the eagle from the family coat of arms belonging to the Knight Hurth von Schönecken, the cross of Cologne and a cogwheel that refers to the heavy industry. It was awarded to the community on October 26, 1934 by a verdict of the Prussian Ministry of State.

[edit] Districts

• Alstädten/Burbach
• Alt-Hürth
• Berrenrath
• Efferen
• Fischenich
• Gleuel
• Hermülheim
• Hürth-Mitte
• Kalscheuren
• Kendenich
• Knapsack
• Sielsdorf
• Stotzheim

[edit] Twin Towns

• Argelès-sur-Mer (France) since 1988
• Kabarnet (Kenya) since 1988
• Skawina (Poland) since 1996
• Spijkenisse (Netherlands) since 1966
• Thetford (England) since 1966

[edit] History

On April 1, 1930, the rural communities Hürth (with Alstädten and Knapsack), Berrenrath, Fischenich, Gleuel (with Sielsdorf and Burbach), Hermülheim and Kendenich (with Kalscheuren) were united into a new country community called Hürth. After same year's failed attempt by the city of Cologne, with its then mayor Konrad Adenauer, to incorporate Efferen, Efferen was associated to Hürth in 1933, in tandem with Stotzheim. This made Hürth the largest rural community of Germany until 1978, when Hürth ceased being a rural community and became a suburb of Cologne as new developments in Efferen closed the gap between the city of Cologne and Hürth.

The country administration of the rural district Cologne was seated in Hürth since November 22, 1963. Previously - starting 1816 - it was seated in the city of Cologne itself. The administration moved to Bergheim on September 3, 1993.

Hürth is home of the Bundessprachenamt which was founded on July 4, 1969.

[edit] Alstädten

Alstädten was first mentioned documentarily in 1185.

[edit] Burbach

Burbach was first mentioned documentarily in 1233.

[edit] Berrenrath

Berrenrath was first mentioned documentarily in 922. The resettlement of Berrenrath onto a former and now abandoned brown coal mine 600 metres off was decided on February 27, 1952. This was necessary due to mining plans of the Roddergrube AG. The resettlement was completed in the September of 1995.

[edit] Efferen

The Efferen district had its first documentary mention as a pastoral town in 1189. The Catholics first humbled themselves with a plain wooden church. On June 6, 1869, this church was replaced with a solid building, consecrated by auxiliary bishop Baudri.

On October 31, 1944, large parts of Efferen, including the church and the hospital, were destroyed in an air raid. 36 people died.

On December 20, 1953, Boue, a member of the church assembly, consecrated the newly-built Evangelic church, designed by architect Jürgen Körber. Two years later, on November 25, 1956, a new Roman Catholic church, which was designed by the Cologne architects Wolfram Borgard and Fritz Volmer, was consecrated by auxiliary bishop Wilhem Cleven.

[edit] Fischenich

Fischenich was first mentioned documentarily in 1189.

[edit] Gleuel

Gleuel was first mentioned documentarily in 898.

[edit] Hermülheim

Hermülheim was first mentioned documentarily in 943.

In Hermülheim the town's two grammar schools are located: the Ernst-Mach-Gymnasium and the Albert-Schweizer-Gymnasium.

[edit] Hürth (Alt-Hürth)

Hürth was first mentioned documentarily in 1185.

[edit] Hürth-Mitte

The building of the residential area Hürth-Mitte, that was begun in 1964 according to a decision from the year 1960 of the municipal council, had the aim of establishing a "city center" in the approximate geographic center of Hürth. The decision was evidently benefitted by the constantly raising population in those times. A certain sense of completion was achieved in 1985, when the new town hall and community centre had been erected. Hürth-Mitte is also the site of the Hürth Park, Germany's first shopping mall, which serves as the town's economic and social center.

[edit] Kalscheuren

Kalscheuren was first mentioned documentarily in 1305.

[edit] Kendenich

Kendenich was first mentioned documentarily in 941.

[edit] Knapsack

Knapsack, its first documentary mention in 1566, started to emerge into a notable town after 1900 due to establishment and development of industry (1906 the Knapsack-Griesheim AG, later known as the Hoechst AG; 1913 construction of the brown coal power plant Goldenberg-Werk)

Due to environmental constraints, 4000 citizens had to be resettled between the years 1969 and 1979.

[edit] Sielsdorf

Sielsdorf was first mentioned documentarily in 898.

[edit] Stotzheim

Stotzheim was first mentioned documentarily in 1223.

[edit] Sights

In former times, the Eifel aqueduct, a Roman aqueduct which supplied the city of Cologne with drinking water, went through Hürth. A couple of springs and streams in today's municipal area were used for that purpose before the Eifel aqueduct was built. Remnants of the aqueducts can still be found in the underground of the city.

[edit] Personages

[edit] Famous People from Hürth

• Michael Schumacher, Formula One driver
• Ralf Schumacher, Formula One driver

[edit] Other

• Anne Will, moderator

[edit] Public transport

Since September 29, 1997, Hürth has an omnibus network that covers most of the city's area. There are six bus lines, labelled 711 through 716, by the city's public transport corporation, Stadtverkehr Hürth, and another five lines that are not associated with the SVH, having only a number of bus stops in Hürth.

There is a train station of the Deutsche Bahn in Kalschueren, where regional trains to Cologne, Bonn and Euskirchen stop, and some inter-regional trains pass through.

Additionally, Hürth is connected to Cologne and Bonn via the tram line 18 of the Köln-Bonner Verkehrsbetriebe, which is responsible for the tram and bus lines of Cologne.

All local public transport, including that of the Deutsche Bahn, is subject to the Verkehrsbund Rhein-Sieg, which is a combine of public transport organizations, setting unified prices for the whole of the combine.

[edit] Literature

• Clemens Klug: "Hürth - wie es war, wie es wurde" (1961)
• Herbert Sinz: "Auf der grünen Wiese"
• Herbert Sinz, Heinrich Schnitzler: "Hürth in alten Bildern" (1980), ISBN 3-88265-052-4
• Heinrich Schnitzler: "50 Jahre Ortsgemeinschaft Hürth-Gleuel" (1985)
• Helmut Neßeler: "Hürth wie es früher war" (1999), ISBN 3-86134-585-4