Düsseldorf-Garath

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Garath is a quarter in the south of Düsseldorf, next to Benrath in Germany.

1 Geography
2 Origins
3 History
4 Garath today
5 Infrastructure
6 References

[edit] Geography

Garath lies on the fertile low Rhine area. It is near Urdenbach, Hellerhof and Benrath. The city of Hilden, belonging to the district of Mettmann and the town of Monheim, belonging to the City of Langenfeld are also nearby.

Garath has about 20,000 inhabitants and an area of 3.64 km².

[edit] Origins

Garath is named after the Garath Castle (Schloss Garath), a manor, from which the local disposer ruled the surrounding area.

[edit] History

The first extant written mention of Garath dates from July 2, 1271. The Knight Bruno von Ganderode, local ruler in Garath, was witness for a contract between the convent Dünnwald near Cologne and the Knight Hermann von Betzendorf. The Knights of Ganderode stayed as local rulers until the 14th century. At the end of the 14th century the Knights of Kalkum became local regents. From the 16th century on, there were many local rulers.

At the end of the 19th century the ruler Rittmeister von Burgsdorff founded the Garather Hühnerfarm, the largest chicken farm in the world at that time.

On May 23, 1929 Garath became a part of Benrath. On July 31, 1929 Garath became - together with Benrath - a quarter of Düsseldorf.

In the 1950s the administration of Düsseldorf began a program of massive residential construction in Garath, for the people who had no real place to live because of the destruction of World War II. In the 1970s Garath got a lot of high-rise residential buildings.

[edit] Garath today

In the 1970s Garath got a lot of high-rise residential buildings, especially for lower-income residents. Thus many people from lower social classes went to the south of Garath, especially immigrants, and Garath has developed into a middle-class area in the north and west and a problem district in the south. The unemployment rate is high. So the south of Garath became an urban problem area.

[edit] Infrastructure

Garath has a direct connection to the motorway A 59 and its own S-Bahn Station. A highway connects Garath to the central district of Düsseldorf.

There are three Gymnasiums (Grammar schools) in Benrath and Garath. The fire station of Garath is one of the largest in Düsseldorf. The fireman school of Düsseldorf works in that building.