Ilseder Hütte

52°15′39″N 10°12′50″E / 52.260731°N 10.213906°E / 52.260731; 10.213906

Aktiengesellschaft Ilseder Hütte
Company type	Joint-stock company (Aktiengesellschaft)
Industry	Steel industry
Predecessor	Bergbau und Hüttengesellschaft zu Peine
Founded	1858
Founder	Fritz Hurtzig, Carl Haarmann
Defunct	1970
Fate	merged
Successor	Salzgitter AG
Headquarters	Ilsede , Germany
Products	steel

The Ilseder Hütte is a former ironworks in Ilsede (district of Peine) in Lower Saxony, Germany

History

Funded by the bank Ephraim Meyer & Sohn^[1] Carl Hostmann founded an Ironworks based on supposed both coal- and orefields in this area. Though there were then found no sufficient coal fields, the company, named "Bergbau und Hüttengesellschaft zu Peine" was established in 1853. This company ended in insolvency during an economical crisis in 1858.

Under Fritz Hurtzig and Carl Haarmann on September 6, 1858 the "Aktiengesellschaft Ilseder Hütte" was taking over the assets, and in 1861 the production started. Despite the site's unfavorable geographical situation, the factory prospered and rapidly expanded its business.

In the era of the German Empire, the company became a major player in Germany's coal and steel industry. In 1872 a rolling mill was added and in 1879 a third blast furnace started work.

In 1928 the Ilseder Hütte took a 10 billion US-$ loan from the National City Bank of New York.^[2]

In 1929 the opening of the Mittelland Canal reduced the transport's costs.

World War II caused no damage and the company expanded up to 1970s economic crisis.

Mergers

In 1970 the company merged with the state-owned Salzgitter AG. The ore mining ended in 1978 and in 1983 the last blast furnace was shut down.

In 1989 the company became part of Preussag^{[N 1]} Preussag stopped in 1995 the remaining productive parts such as coking plant, power plant and by-products.

The area became an industrial park. The blowing engine building is in use for various events whereas the steam production building was torn down in spring 2010.

Former blowing engine building of Ilseder Hütte, in front a Ljungström turbine
Remains of a bridge in industrial park Ilseder Hütte, 2008
Former steam production building Ilseder Hütte, 2008
Site near the steam production building of Ilseder Hütte, 2008

Literature

Wilhelm Treue (1960). Die Geschichte der Ilseder Hütte (in German). Peine, München: Ilseder Hütte.
Rudolf Apel, Kurt Schoenfeld, Manfred Vorberg (2004). Die Ilseder Hütte 100 Jahre Industriegeschichte (in German). Erfurt: Förderverein Haus der Geschichte Ilseder Hütte. ISBN 3-89702-736-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Notes

^ The Preussag, at this time was an industrial holding company that changed later on its business field to tourism

References

^ Peter Schulze. Bankhaus Ephraim Meyer & Sohn (in German). Stadtlexikon Hannover. p. 47..
^ Handbuch der deutschen Aktiengesellschaften. Vol. 2 (1932 ed.). p. 1954.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ilseder Hütte.

"Industriepark Ilseder Hütte mit Gebläsehalle" (in German).
Documents and clippings about Ilseder Hütte in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
This article is a translation from the German Wikipedia. The version used can be found under the following link: [1], The original authors of the German-language version can be found here [2]. German-language version can be found here [3].