Elberfeld
|
|
Elberfeld is a district of the German town Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929.
The town was first documented in 1161 and received its town charter in 1610.
In 1726 Elias Eller and the pastor Daniel Schleiermacher founded a Philadelphian society. They later moved to Ronsdorf in the Duchy of Berg, becoming the Zionites, a sect of visionary fanatics.
In 1826 Friedrich Harkort, a famous German industrialist and politician, had a type of suspension railway built as a trial and ran it on the grounds of what is today the tax office at Elberfeld. In fact the railway, the Schwebebahn Wuppertal, was eventually built between Oberbarmen and Vohwinkel and only runs through Elberfeld.
In 1888 the municipality of Sonneborn was incorporated into Elberfeld. In 1929 the towns of Elberfeld, Barmen, Cronenberg, Ronsdorf and Vohwinkel became "Barmen-Elberfeld"; in the same year, the new community's town councillors decided to rename the town "Wuppertal". This took place in 1930. Today Elberfeld is the largest district in Wuppertal.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Johann Peter Lange Protestant theologian
- Julius Plücker, mathematician and physicist
- Sigurd Rascher an American saxophonist of German birth