History
On 1 March 1862 the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company opened the section of the Witten/Dortmund–Oberhausen/Duisburg railway between Bochum and Mülheim an der Ruhr. The station that developed into Essen Hauptbahnhof, but was known until 1897 as Essen BME station, was opened on this line. It was not the first station in Essen. In 1846 Berge-Borbeck station (known since 1914 as Essen-Bergeborbeck) was opened on the Duisburg–Dortmund railway of the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME) as the first station in the current city of Essen. In 1847, the CME opened the then major station of Essen CME (now Essen-Altenessen station) on the Duisburg–Dortmund railway (part of its trunk line).
The first wooden station building of 1862 was replaced by a substantial station building designed by the architect Fritz Klingholz, built under the direction of the Prussian building inspector Alexander Rüdell (6 September 1852–14 December 1920), with the rail tracks grade separated from the streets. Construction began in 1900 and the station was opened at the end of 1902. The building was damaged beyond repair by bombing during the Second World War, so it was replaced in the postwar era with a new building in the typical style of the 1950s, in which the architects Bernd Kurt and Rasenack Figge were involved. Indicative of this new building was that the entrance hall completed on 15 November 1959 no longer exists, but lies under the railway tracks. The west wing of the north entrance was adorned with a distinctive cafe in a glass rotunda, which was originally occupied by the station cafe and was most recently a travel agency. A curved roof allowed light to fall on the northern entrance hall. However, this was replaced later by a larger, pre-fabricated flat roof. As a result, combined with the subsequent installation of additional shops, the station has lost its former generosity and openness.
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Essen BME station, 1862–1901
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Station in 1928
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Around 1916, from the west
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Around 1920, from the south
Read more about this topic: Essen Central Station
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“It’s not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)