Antique map - Elberfeld 1910

Monumental-Plan of Elberfeld, now Wuppertal, in 1910 : the Wupper valley in relief, before the merger of 1929, with its hills, its railway stations and its zoo.

This “Monumental-Plan der Stadt Elberfeld”, published in 1910 by the Verkehrs-Verein Elberfeld (the city’s tourist office), shows the city in the Wupper valley, with the surrounding hills drawn in relief. At the time, Elberfeld was a Prussian city in the Rhineland province and had been an independent city (Stadtkreis) since 1861. It had a population of 167,382 in 1905. Today, it forms the largest district of Wuppertal, in North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen).

The name Elberfeld disappeared in 1929. An act of 29 July 1929 united Elberfeld, Barmen, Cronenberg, Ronsdorf and Vohwinkel into a single city, initially called Barmen-Elberfeld. It was renamed Wuppertal, “the valley of the Wupper,” in 1930. The map, however, still shows Elberfeld and its neighbour Barmen as two separate cities on the right edge of the map.

Places and districts shown:

• Barmen, the neighbouring city - the map labels the “Gemeinde Barmen” on the right. This is where Friedrich Engels was born in 1820 and where Friedrich Bayer and the dyer Johann Friedrich Weskott founded the company that became Bayer in 1863. Aspirin, patented by Bayer in 1897, was born in the valley.
• A city of textiles and social innovation - Elberfeld and Barmen together received a monopoly on thread bleaching for the entire Berg region in 1527, an industry that made the valley wealthy. In 1853, Elberfeld established a municipal system of poor relief that remained famous as a model in many countries.
• The Schwebebahn - Wuppertal’s suspension railway, the world’s first electric suspended monorail, opened in 1901 and connected Oberbarmen to Vohwinkel, passing over the Wupper and through Elberfeld. However, the map’s legend only indicates the electric tramway (Elektrische Strassenbahn), shown in red.
• The railway stations - the map labels the Elberfeld-Steinbeck station south of the Wupper and notes that the Prussian state line had previously been operated by the Bergisch-Märkische company. It also shows the stations at Varresbeck, Mirke and Ottenbruch.
• The hills and parks - the map labels the Hardt-Anlagen, a park on the hill east of the city, the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Hain in the north, and the Hasenberg, Kiesberg and Zoologischer Garten in the southwest.
• The coat of arms - in the cartouche, Elberfeld’s coat of arms shows a red lion surmounted by a mural crown.

Cartographic feature: this plan is a perspective view, drawn and coloured in bright colours, showing the hills of the valley rather than a flat plan. It was printed by Eckstein & Stähle, an art firm to the royal court in Stuttgart. A grid of letters (from A to H) and numbers (from 1 to 10) allows each location to be identified. The legend indicates the tourist association’s information office (“Auskunftsstelle des Vereins für Fremdenverkehr”), which published the map, with a red star.

In short: for anyone with ties to Wuppertal or the Bergisches Land, or an interest in the Schwebebahn, the beginnings of Bayer or the textile industry, this map shows Elberfeld as it was nineteen years before it ceased to exist as a city in 1929.

What area does this map of Elberfeld cover? It covers Elberfeld and its surroundings in the Wupper valley: the city centre, the railway stations, the hills and parks, the zoo and the boundaries of the neighbouring municipality of Barmen.

In what year was this map published? This map dates from 1910, the year inscribed in its cartouche. It was published by the Verkehrs-Verein Elberfeld.

Reproduction of the “Monumental-Plan der Stadt Elberfeld,” published in 1910 by the Verkehrs-Verein Elberfeld and printed by Eckstein & Stähle in Stuttgart.

Printed on 200 g/m² textured art paper. Landscape orientation, sizes 50x70 and 70x100: easy to frame.