Antique map - Cologne 1917

Pharus-Plan of Cologne (Cöln) in 1917 : the year Konrad Adenauer became mayor, the Hohenzollernbrücke, the Zoo and the roads for motorists.

This Pharus-Plan shows Cologne, Köln in German, in 1917. The city was then Prussian, in the Rhineland province, and the map still spells it “Cöln,” a spelling that disappeared in 1919. Today it is in North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen).

1917 was also the year the Adenauer era began. On September 18, 1917, the city council unanimously elected Konrad Adenauer mayor of Cologne for twelve years. He took office on October 18, at the age of 41, and became the youngest mayor of a major city in the Reich. In 1949, he would become the first chancellor of the Federal Republic, elected in Bonn (see the 1950 map of Bonn). He led the city during the revolution of 1918 and then under British occupation, from December 1918 to January 1926, before making it the metropolis of West Germany. The university, closed in the 19th century, reopened in 1919, and the Cologne Fair in 1924.

Places and neighborhoods shown:

• The Rhine bridges - the river has changed since the 1900 plan. The Hohenzollernbrücke, opened in 1911 next to the cathedral, carries four railway tracks and two roadways, and the Köln-Deutzer Brücke, opened in 1915, would later take the name Hindenburgbrücke.
• The railway stations - the map names five stations in red: the Hauptbahnhof next to the cathedral, the Südbahnhof, the Westbahnhof, the Nippes station and the Deutz station. It also marks the Hauptgüterbahnhof of Gereon, the freight station, and the marshalling yard (Rangierbahnhof) near the Eifeltor.
• The ports - on the Rhine, the map names the Rheinau-Hafen, the Neue Hafen-Anlagen, the Agrippina-Werft, the Hansa-Werft and, on the Deutz side, the Vorhafen and the Deutzer Industriehafen.
• The Zoo and the Flora - a large inscription “Zoologischer Garten” runs along the right side of the map, with a red arrow pointing to Riehl, where the two sites are located. The Zoo, opened on July 22, 1860, is the third oldest in Germany; the Flora, a park designed by Peter Joseph Lenné, opened in 1864 and was combined with a botanical garden in the 1910s. The Affenfelsen, the Monkey Rock, dates from 1914.
• The exit roads - an orange legend marks the “Ausfahrtstrassen für den Automobil- und Radfahrverkehr,” the roads for leaving the city by car or bicycle, with directions to Zülpich, Düren, Aachen, Mönchengladbach, Bonn and Düsseldorf.
• The Ringe and the neighborhoods - the avenues built on the old city walls still surround the center, and the map locates Cöln-Deutz on the right bank, Nippes and Sechzig to the north and northeast, and the Zoo and the Flora further north, in Riehl.

Cartographic reference: this “Pharus-Plan Cöln” belongs to the same series as the 1917 plans of Berlin, Aachen, Bremen, Breslau and Koblenz: the railway stations are in red, and important buildings, such as the cathedral, are drawn in perspective. The Magdeburgische Zeitung banners frame it at the top and bottom. The parks and gardens have a green tint that distinguishes them from the city blocks, while the grid of letters and numbers makes it possible to locate each place.

In short: for anyone with ties to Cologne or the Rhine, interested in Adenauer or perspective plans, this map shows the city in the year he became its mayor, with its new bridges, its cathedral and its zoo.

What area does this map of Cologne cover? It covers Cologne and its suburbs on both banks of the Rhine: the old town and the Ringe, the railway stations, the ports, Deutz, Nippes and Sechzig, as well as the Riehl area, with the Zoo and the Flora.

In what year was this map published? This map dates from 1917. It was published by Pharus-Verlag in Berlin.

Reproduction of the “Pharus-Plan Cöln,” published in 1917 by Pharus-Verlag in Berlin.

Printed on 200 g/m² textured art paper. Landscape orientation, standard 50x70cm and 70x100cm formats: easy to frame.