page_title: History of the Ruhr
section_title: Second half of the 19th century – industry booms
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Ruhr / Second half of the 19th century – industry booms
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Altes Schiffshebewerk Henrichenburg
context_page_description: The actual boundaries of the Ruhr vary slightly depending on the source, but a good working definition is to define the Lippe and Ruhr as its northern and southern boundaries respectively, the Rhine as its western boundary, and the town of Hamm as the eastern limit.
  In the Middle Ages, local power was vested primarily in the counts of Berg, Mark and Cleves. The left bank of the Rhine was held by the Archbishop of Cologne. The Hellweg was an important trade route crossing the region from Duisburg to Dortmund and beyond as far as the rivers Weser and Elbe. The most important towns of the region were concentrated along the Hellweg.
  As a result of the Congress of Vienna the entire area came under the control of Prussia. This event was almost concomitant with developments which would eventually make the region one of the most important industrial areas in the world.
  In 1946 the state of North Rhine-Westphalia came into being, centred on the Ruhr. Nowadays, its hitherto important coal and steel industries have drastically declined and the region is in a state of re-adjustment.
context_section_description: The advances made in the first half of the century were built upon, producing a significant advance in production. In 1850, the district produced 2 million tonnes of coal, by 1913 it produced 114 million tonnes. Likewise, in 1850 it produced 11,500 tonnes of cast iron which rose by 1913 to 8.2 million tonnes. Coal production moved northwards as steam engine technology allowed the exploitation of deep coking coal seams (the earlier mines, generally nearer the River Ruhr, had tended to be drift mines exploiting the anthracite lying nearer the surface). 'Vertical' concerns came into being, with collieries, cokeries and ironworks under common ownership, and it was not uncommon to have all constituents located on the same site or close together.
  1854 – In Hattingen, the Henrichshütte is founded. Initially, ore is available in the immediate neighborhood. Later  the Ruhr Valley Railway transported  ore and coal to the works. In Hörde a blast furnace using coke was also employed for the first time. It was meant to work with the local Kohleneisenstein, a mixture of Eisenstein with clay and coal.
  1855 – Under the supervision of William Thomas Mulvany the sinking of the first shaft of the Hibernia Mine in Gelsenkirchen is begun. As a technical innovation, tubbings was used for the shaft lining. In the following years, Mulvaney had a hand in the opening of several mines in the Emscherniederung, among them  the Shamrock Mine in Herne und the Erin Mine in Castrop. The money came from Irish and Belgian financiers. Their coal was transported over the Cologne-Minden Railway.
  1856 – A railway along the right bank of the Rhine connects Oberhausen with Arnhem in the Netherlands.
  1857 – The economic crisis of 1857 leads to a drop in sales for coal and steel, with ensuing social effects for employees.
  1858 – The Association for Mining Interests in the Head Mining Office District of Dortmund, in short – the mining association, based in Essen, is founded on 17 December.
  1862 – The Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft inaugurates their Witten/Dortmund–Oberhausen/Duisburg railway between Witten/Dortmund and Oberhausen/Duisburg as the second important connection between East and West based in the South of the  Ruhr.
  1862 – In Mülheim an der Ruhr a factory opens for the production of coke briquettes at the Wiesche Mine. It is the first installation of this type in the Ruhr.
  1867 – August Thyssen with several relatives founds das Eisenwerk "Thyssen-Foussol & Co." in Duisburg. (This is dissolved in 1870 and a new company founded in Müheim in 1871. Thyssen was involved in several organizations which were only later unified under one holding company)
  1869 – The industrialist Alfred Krupp starts building the Villa Hügel  in Southern Essen. In the  'Grundbuch der Stadt' he enters the  estate as a family house with garden. Four years later, the building is finished.
  1870–1871 – The Franco-Prussian War is won by the united German states. Founding of the German Reich.
  1871–1873 – The so-called Gründerjahre. The French reparations lead to a building boom. In the Ruhr, numerous mining companies are founded with the help of the capital flowing in from France.
  1873 – Crisis (Gründerkrise) – because of speculation by German investors, capital from the French reparations flowed into Ruhr mining companies, without the additional capital requirements from the mine share certificates being covered. Steel production in the Ruhr dropped by 13%.
   1882 – On 24 February 1882 fifteen Rheinish and Westfälish steelworks formed themselves into a cartel to protect themselves from competition.
  1889 – A mass strike of miners spreads from Bochum to encompass the entire Ruhr. The workers demand a share in the profits of the companies whose production was stabilising after the years of the Gründerkrise. In the same year, the first  permanent miners' union, the "Alten Verband" was founded in Dortmund-Dorstfeld. In 1894, a Christian union was also founded and in 1902 a Polish miners' union.
  1892 – The Grillo Theatre is opened in Essen.
  1893 – Formation of the Rhenish-Westphalia
caption: Schiffshebewerk (Boat Lift) on the Dortmund-Ems Canal
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