In 1960, i.e. sixty years ago, the Kattwyk Coking Plant prepared a special
medal in memory of William Lindley. On the obverse there is a bust of William
Lindley with the inscription:
HAMBURGERGAS (Gas of Hamburg, in the upper part) and WILLIAM LINDLEY, ERBAUER DES ERSTEN
HAMBURGER GASWERKS (W.Lindley, constructor of the first gasworks in Hamburg, in in the lower part). There is a large inscription on the
reverse: HGW KOKEREI KATTWYK 1960 (Hamburger Gasworks, Coking Plant, Kattwyk 1960).
Collection: Societas Lindleiana
The commemoration involved the opening of a new coking plant in an industrial
district of Hamburg, opened in 1960. The new coking plant was short-lived. It
was extinguished in 1981 and was demolished a year later.
In August 1844, the foundation stone laying ceremony for the construction of the first gas coking plant at Grasbrook was held. A year later, the first public gas lanterns to illuminate Hamburg's main streets with coal gas were introduced. In the fall of 1845, there was such a large flood that the new gas facilities were unusable. A new building was needed. “It was taken over by the English engineer William Lindley, who was also responsible for building a modern water supply in Hamburg. The gas lanterns burned again at the end of 1846: 2020 in numbers. The brightness of the streets made the gas plant so popular that its image adorned the backs of playing cards, "writes Sasha Disko-Schmidt in the text Gasversorgung für die moderne Stadt (Gas supply a modern city).
Source:https://geschichtsbuch.hamburg.de/epochen/industrialisierung/gasversorgung-fuer-die-moderne-stadt/
Kattwyk, together with Altona, found itself within borders of Hamburg in 1937. Currently, this name is connected with the unusual Kattwykbrücke drawbridge over the southern Elbe for rail and road traffic. A 290-meter-long bridge connects Moorburg with the eastern Kattwyk peninsula, which belongs to the Elbe Hohe Schaar and Wilhelmsburg islands.
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The Family on the Lindleystreet in Frankfurt on Main. From l. to r.: Hanna Żelichowska, Karin Deubner, Ma Neubauer, Ursula Caspar, Beatrice Caspar, Alexander Caspara and Eugen Deubner
Day one – 30 August (Thursday)
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From that day on we followed a master plan prepared by Eugen Deubner. We visited HESSENWASSER, MAINOVA and the municipal SEF (Stadtentwässerung, FFM), which supply the water, power and sewage respectively to the population of Frankfurt. Dr. Rödel, historian and retired monument preserver, gave us some information about civil engineering in Frankfurt between 1806 and 1914, as well as interesting information about the biographies of the Lindley’s in Frankfurt. Presentation took place in Goldstein Waterworks, where William and William H. Lindleys worked on the first modern water supply system for Frankfurt.
The same day was to the combined heating and power plant, Heizkraftwerk WEST. Extensive tour was conducted by a passionate man Mr. Joachim Siebenhaar. And there was a lot of history as well. William H. Lindley built his first electric power plant in Frankfurt (1892-1896), with Oskar von Miller.
Day two – 31 August (Friday)
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On all locations we were treated with great esteem and were able once more to realize how important the Lindleys were also for this city.
After the tour we went to the city and met Mr. Volker Harms-Ziegler, an historian from the City Archive, who gave us brief historical tour of Römer and Zeil.
Day three – 1 September (Saturday)
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This day was organized by Ryszard Żelichowski. We went to Evangelical Reformed Church - West (Deutsch Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche) on Freiherr vom Stein Strasse No. 8, (former Church of England) founded by William Heerlein Lindley. It was very disappointing since the church is gone and replaced by a big modern religious center of Evangelical Reformed Church. However, the commemorating stone has been preserved and exposed in front of a new religious center.
Next we went to former Blittersdorffplatz 29. It was another disappointment. The historical place is gone and the square is now called François-Mitterrand-Platz (he became a honorary citizen of Frankfurt a.M. in 1986).
We gave up walking through the Neue Mainzer Strasse (to No. 51, where the Getz family used to live). There was nothing to see either. The number 51 is incorporated into huge new Frankfurter Sparkasse and the street has become mainly a brick-canyon for the mass city traffic.
Later we took tram No. 11 to Lindleystrasse, and it was rewarding. It has been built-up with many decent houses and the East Harbour (Osthafen) has been renovated and decorated with a monument dedicated to the city-mayor Franz Adickes (1890-1912), under whose authority W.H. Lindley worked until 1896.
Departures, 2 September (Sunday)
Afteer the breakfast we went to our own destinations. We have planned next family-reunion for 2014 in England. Full report on the family-reunion you can see : E-library on this page |