History
Dating to the 12th century as Wiesdorf, the Leverkusen area was rural until the late 19th century.
- Chemical facility
- In 1860, Wiesdorf was chosen by the apothecary Carl Leverkus for establishing a dye factory. The factory was taken over by the Bayer company in 1891. The company moved its office to Wiesdorf in 1912, turning the town into the centre of German chemical industry. In World War II, the Bayer (Standard Oil/IG Farben) plant was bombed on August 22, 1943, and during the Battle of Berlin (air) on November 19/20 and December 10/11, 1943. The predominance of Bayer could easily classify Leverkusen as a German monogorod.
Leverkusen was founded in 1930 by merging Wiesdorf, Schlebusch, Steinbüchel and Rheindorf. In 1975, Opladen (including Quettingen and Lützenkirchen since 1930), Hitdorf and Bergisch Neukirchen joined. The present city is made up of several villages, originally called Wiesdorf, Opladen, Schlebusch, Manfort, Bürrig, Hitdorf, Quettingen, Lützenkirchen, Steinbüchel, Rheindorf and Bergisch-Neukirchen.
Read more about this topic: Leverkusen
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“What would we not give for some great poem to read now, which would be in harmony with the scenery,—for if men read aright, methinks they would never read anything but poems. No history nor philosophy can supply their place.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Indeed, the Englishman’s history of New England commences only when it ceases to be New France.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out.”
—G.M. (George Macaulay)