Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-21
|GROWTHOF HANOVER
Rapid Increase in the PopuIa-
ton of German City.
NEARLY 100000 PEOPLE
Artistic Taste Brings Beauty Out Of
Ugly Typographical Situation.
SOME FINE OLD-TYPE MANSIONS
Natural Forest of Six Hundred
Acres Near City Serves as
Place Of Recreation.
SOME FINE OLD.TYPE MANSIONS
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

/ Herald.
Although it is so old, and in several re-
spects SO Anticipated, Hanover is one of
the most enterprising cities in Germany
and is growing as rapidly as some Of the
| doomed cities of the United States. The
population in 1910 was 27,OOO in 1850 it
was $1,000. in 1880 it was 1O6,667, in 1900
it was 266,OOO and the census of 1910
| showed 299.7J3 inhabitants, an increase
| of $4,000 during the last ten years, or
an average Of 5000 a year.
Most Of the newcomers are from the
country districts, being attracted to the
| city by it's commercial, social and indus
| trial advantages. Almost every industry
| is represented among the factories. and
| the energy and enterprise Of the popula-
| ton has been recognized for hundred
years. Hanover was the first town in
Europe to use gas; it was one OF the
| first to use electricity: it was the second
to run street cars, and the second to
adopt asphaltum for pavements.
The business section Of the city is built
up closely with fine large blocks OF mod
ern buildings. The residence portion will
compare favorably with any other city
in Germany. but 1t is a question whether
the people are prouder of the modern
palaces and the broad streets upon which
they stand or of the old part Of the city
with it's Anticipated architecture and It's
narrow, crooked, lane-like thorOughfares.
In the old town you can see where the
ford was from which the city derived
it's name. Six highways running from
different parts of Germany concentrated
at shallow place in the Leine river-the
Hohen Ufer. as 1t was called, phrase
that was gradually corrupted into HAN
over.
Trend of Artistic Taste.
These sturdy Germans are not decora-
tive in their persons or in their dress.
You will see as many plain men and
women clad in questionable garments
on the streets of Hanover as you could
count in the same population anywhere
in the world, and the shop windows in
dictate very plainly that the Hanoverans
are not up-to-date In the styles. Few
picture hats, few hobble skirts. few DASH
ing equipages and no dudes can be seen
upon the streets. but the artistic taste
applied to making the ugliest Topographic
cal situation you can imagine one OF the
most beautiful. The river Leine, which
flows through the old part of the city,
has been utilized for the expression OF
the refined taste of the people until 1t is
one of the most attractive spots in all
Europe. The bridges. the banks, the
dwellings, which rise Immediately out of
the water, are like drop curtain In a
theater in their color and design. In
stead of being a nuisance. that sluggish
little stream is a thing of beauty and a
joy forever, and any great city in the
universe would be willing to pay millions
for 1t simply as an ornament
The same artistic spirit and sense of
beauty have been expressed in window
gardens, in flower beds, in cases of
foliage and flowers that occupy every
little vacant space between the asphalt
sidewalks and the pavements of cobble-
stones. At the junction Of every street
is a flower and in the summer every
open space is ablaze with bloom. The
railway station, itself an imposing build
ing, has been handsomely decorated, and
the plaza in front OF 1t Is gem OF land
scape gardening. with a statue Of Ernest
Augustus presiding from the back of his
horse. He was next but the last Kine
of Hanover, who began his reign in 1887,
and died in 1851.
In no other city in Germany or else
where is there such q display Of flowers
and window gardens.
Natural Forest Of 600 Acres.
Eilenriede. the town forest, is a natural
woods of coo acres. mostly beeches and
birches growing densely. and interspersed
with drives. bride and bicycle paths and
and Saturday afternoons There are
numerous beer gardens and cafes where
the burghers lunch and dine with their
families and consume vast quantities of
beer. although / have been told that the
consumption OF that beverage is rapidly
falling or in Hanover, as it il in every
other part OF Germany. and that the tea
and coffee habit Is growing among the
people. King George III once issued a
proclamation forbidding his subjects tc
drink coffee. because, he said. it would
injure their nerves. He was quite as
Of opium and impure foods. but gossipers
who kept diaries in those days explained
that his majesty was financially inter-
ested In several breweries. which natural
ly prejudiced him against new drinks.
The women bring their knitting. en-
broidery and crochet to the beer gardens
and the cafes and sip their beer between
stitches to the music of band. They
visit from table to table and are very
serious and sedate: a single glance
will convince a visitor that they do not
go to the Eilenriede to show their clothes
There are many beautiful villas, par
ticularly in the neighborhood of the
Eilenriede. Some OF them are designed
after the conventional Italian villa. with
pergolas covered with vines, and are
surrounded with rose gardens. but the
most attractive houses in the modern
! part Of the city are those which have
been built after the old Saxon and leu
| tonic designs. with notifications to sup
ply the conveniences required by the
| present generation. There are several
| very effective limitations OF fifteenth and
/ sixteenth century architecture. with
| wooden beams and panels. overhangins
| balconies. high pointed roofs. decorated
| friezes with carvings and inscriptions In
| antique German text.
Examples Of the Old Mansions.
All mankind owes an obligation to the
people OF Hanover for preserving some
| of the old mansions. and while you dc
not find as many here as in the neighbor-
ing city OF Hildesheim, those that re.
main are particularly fine examples. and
have been perfectly preserved or re.
i stored.
| The most notable-and it is q glorious
specimen of sixteenth century German
architecture-was the home of Baron
| Gottfried Wilhelm Won Leibnitz the ia
nous chemist. philosopher and mathe-
matician. He was a native Of Leipsic
| d646). where his father was professor. OF
i law the univqrcity h ole In.