Ahlen

Ahlen
St. Marien Church
Ahlen
Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Münster
District	Warendorf
Mayor	Benedikt Ruhmöller (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	123.14 km2 (47.54 sq mi)
Elevation	80 m  (262 ft)
Population	54,745  (31 December 2006)
- Density	445 /km2 (1,151 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	WAF
Postal codes	59227, 59229
Area codes	02382, 02388, 02528
Website	www.ahlen.de
Location of the town of Ahlen within Warendorf district
Coordinates: 51°45′48″N 7°53′28″E / 51.76333°N 7.89111°E / 51.76333; 7.89111

Ahlen (German pronunciation: [ˈaːlən]) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is part of the District of Warendorf and is economically the most important town in the district. Ahlen is part of the larger Münster region, and of the historical Münsterland area. The nearby villages of Dolberg, Vorhelm and Tönnishäuschen are part of Ahlen as well. The largest neighboring town is the city of Hamm to the southeast.

Contents 1 Geography 1.1 Neighbouring Towns 1.2 Town Districts 1.2.1 Outlying Villages Making Up Remaining Districts 2 History 2.1 Early Times 2.2 First Industrial Period 2.3 Second Industrial Period 2.4 National Socialism and WWII 2.5 After WWII 3 Politics 3.1 Town Council 3.2 Coat of Arms 3.3 Sister Cities 3.4 Mayors 3.4.1 1809–1945 3.4.2 Honorary Mayors 1946–1996 3.4.3 Full-time Mayors since 1996 3.5 Town Directors/Main Civil Servants 4 Economy and Administration 4.1 Business 4.2 Fire Department 4.3 Transportation 4.3.1 Road Traffic 4.3.2 Air Traffic 4.3.3 Railroad Transport 4.3.4 Bus Transport 4.4 Education 4.4.1 Elementary Schools 4.4.2 Secondary Modern Schools 4.4.3 Junior High School (ages 10 to 16) 4.4.4 High Schools 4.4.5 Comprehensive School 4.4.6 Special Needs School 4.4.7 Vocational Schools 5 Places of Interest 5.1 Buildings 5.1.1 St. Bartholomäus Catholic Church 5.1.2 St. Marien Catholic Church 5.1.3 Residential Buildings 5.1.4 Burgmannshöfe 5.2 Museums 5.2.1 Heimatmuseum 5.2.2 Kunstmuseum 5.2.3 Fritz Winter-Haus 5.3 Clubs 5.3.1 KunstVerein Ahlen 5.3.2 Initiative Bürgerzentrum Schuhfabrik e.V. 5.4 Kino 6 Economy 7 Notable persons 8 References 9 External links

Geography

Neighbouring Towns

jd i love thsi girl and i wat to marry her. Surrounding Ahlen are the towns of Sendenhorst, Ennigerloh, Beckum, Lippetal, Heessen (District of the city of Hamm) and Drensteinfurt.

Town Districts

• Ahlen (downtown) with the farming communities of Borbein, Brockhausen, Ester, Halene, Oestrich and Rosendahl (area of the former town parts of Alt- and Neuahlen) all make up the core of the town.

Outlying Villages Making Up Remaining Districts

• Dolberg
• Vorhelm
• Tönnishäuschen

History

Early Times

The name of the town was first mentioned around the year 850 in the Vita Liudgeri II. The reasoning behind the name Ahlen, which literally means "eels", is unexplained. The decorated eel in the coat of arms is a canting representation of the town's name. The origin of the settlement is possibly due to a crossing over the river Werse, which was also the crossing of two important roads (Hamm–Ahlen–Warendorf and Beckum–Ahlen–Herbern) and the origin of a third road (Ahlen–Münster). In its early centuries, the slow-growing settlement was built around an episcopal court. Within the safe haven of this church fortification, the first settlers were craftsmen and merchants who traded with the local farmers and peasants of the court. Long-distance trading started in the second half of the 12th century - proof being the names of Ahlen merchants found on invoices from merchants in Lübeck. Ahlen was also part of the north German Hanse. During this time a town wall with five towers was built (circa 1271). The removal of the town wall had begun in 1765 and the last remnant had vanished by 1929.

It seems that the town grew very fast in the 13th century. In approximately the year 1285, the population was so high that a new church (St. Marien) was founded next to the old one (St. Bartholomäus). This development leads to the conclusion that Ahlen was one of the 18 largest towns in Westphalia at the time. However, the growth of the town stopped in the 14th century due the Black Death. In the citizen book of 1389 only 63 families were left. In 1454 a citizen list again contained 212 families. Based on this number of families a calculated population estimate of 1300 citizens would be realistic. At this point the town had four quarters which were named after their respective town gates; all four quarters were about the same size. Each town quarter was responsible for the defense of its part of the town wall and gate. In 1454, seven noble families and their attendants lived in the episcopal court.

During the 16th century, there were three plague epidemics in 1505, 1551 and 1592 - leprosy also killed many people. In the year 1571, the mayor and the council decided to build a special hospital for leprosy. Disastrous fires in 1483, 1668 and 1744 were responsible for halting further growth of the town.

About 20 documents of witch trials during the time from 1574 until 1652 survived. The hunt for witches started in 1574 with the death of four women. Peter Kleikamp was charged with being a werewolf; he was tortured and burned alive on the pyre. 1616 Christian zum Loe was charged with wizardry; he went insane and died while in jail. The last known case was in 1652 against Anna Sadelers; she was tortured, burned alive on the pyre and beheaded.

First Industrial Period

Second Industrial Period

National Socialism and WWII

After WWII

Politics

Town Council

Party	Result of election
CDU	50,94 % (−1,3 Points)
SPD	35,36 % (−5,5 Points)
Grüne	8,12 % (+3,9 Points)
FDP	5,58 % (+3,0 Points)

Coat of Arms

Sister Cities

Partnerships are set with the following towns:

• Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany
• Teltow, Brandenburg, Germany
• Penzberg, Bavaria, Germany
• Differdange (Differdingen), Luxemburg

Ahlen is member of the Hanse.

Mayors

^[1]

1809–1945

• 1809–1813 Bernard Heinrich Hahues
• 1813–1817 Bernard Anton von Hatzfeld
• 1817–1822 Heinrich Anton Nacke
• 1823–1856 Franz Wächter
• 1857–1863 Theodor von Cloedt
• 1863–1869 Wilhelm Diederich
• 1869–1870 Ludwig Fry
• 1870–1898 Johann Heinrich Hagemann
• 1898–1923 Eduard Corneli
• 1923–1934 Georg Rasche
• 1934–1937 Franz Hackethal
• 1938–1945 Otto Jansen

Honorary Mayors 1946–1996

• 1946–1946 Friedrich Niemeyer
• 1946–1948 Hermann Dreisilker (Waldmann)
• 1948–1950 Hugo Stoffers
• 1951–1957 Heinrich Lenfert
• 1957–1969 Heinrich Linnemann
• 1969–1984 Herbert Faust
• 1984–1996 Horst Jaunich

Full-time Mayors since 1996

• 1996–1999 Günter Harms
• since 1999 Benedikt Ruhmöller

Town Directors/Main Civil Servants

• 1945–1945 Wilhelm Buschhoff (set as mayor from English occupying troops in the function as town director)
• 1945–1951 Wilhelm Kiwit
• 1951–1963 Hugo Stoffers
• 1963–1975 Johannes Baldauf
• 1975–1985 Walter Priesnitz
• 1985–1995 Gerd Willamowski
• 2008 Benedikt Ruhmöller

Economy and Administration

Business

One of the best known companies in Ahlen is Franz Kaldewei GmbH & Co. KG, one of the biggest bathtub manufacturers worldwide. Also well known is LR Health & Beauty Systems, which was bought by Apax Partners in 2004.

Fire Department

Transportation

Road Traffic

Air Traffic

Railroad Transport

Bus Transport

They could not afford any bus transport. tm.

Education

Elementary Schools

• Albert-Schweitzer-Schule
• Augustin-Wibbelt-Schule in the quarter Vorhelm
• Barbaraschule
• Diesterwegschule
• Don-Bosco-Schule
• Freiligrath Grundschule
• Lambertischule in the quarter Dolberg
• Ludgerischule
• Marienschule
• Martinschule
• Paul-Gerhardt-Schule

Secondary Modern Schools

• GHS Bodelschwinghschule
• Overbergschule
• Geschwister-Scholl-Schule

Junior High School (ages 10 to 16)

• Städtische Realschule Ahlen

High Schools

• Gymnasium St. Michael
• Städtisches Gymnasium Ahlen

Comprehensive School

• Fritz-Winter-Gesamtschule

Special Needs School

• Johanna-Rose-Schule

Vocational Schools

• Berufskolleg Ahlen
• Berufskolleg St. Michael [1]
• Fachschulen für Heilerziehungspflege der Caritas-Trägergesellschaft Nord
• Fachseminar für Altenpflege Gemeinnütziges Bildungszentrum GmbH
• Krankenpflegeschule im St.-Franziskus-Hospital Berufskolleg Ahlen

Places of Interest

Buildings

St. Bartholomäus Catholic Church

St. Marien Catholic Church

Residential Buildings

Burgmannshöfe

Museums

Heimatmuseum

Kunstmuseum

Fritz Winter-Haus

Clubs

KunstVerein Ahlen

Initiative Bürgerzentrum Schuhfabrik e.V.

Kino

Economy

Ahlen's economy was dominated by the coal industry for nearly one century.

Notable persons

It is also the birthplace of Valencia CF footballer, Curro Torres.

References

External links

• Official site (German)

v • d • e Towns and municipalities in Warendorf (district) Ahlen | Beckum | Beelen | Drensteinfurt | Ennigerloh | Everswinkel | Oelde | Ostbevern | Sassenberg | Sendenhorst | Telgte | Wadersloh | Warendorf

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