Haan () is a town in the district of

Mettmann Mettmann () is a town in the northern part of the Bergisches Land, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the Mettmann (district), district of Mettmann, Germany's most densely populated rural district. The town lies ...

, in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is situated at the western edge of the

Bergisches Land The Bergisches Land (, ) is a low mountain range in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, east of the Rhine and south of the Ruhr. The landscape is shaped by forests, meadows, rivers and creeks and contains over twenty artificial lakes ...

, 12 km southwest of

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

and 17 km east of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. In 1975, Gruiten was incorporated into Haan.

History

Haan's origins date back to around 2200 BC. At that time, a hail-shaped settlement was founded in today's city center, which is equipped with a rampart, palisade fence and hedging strips. Accordingly, the name "Haan" should be derived from Hagen, with a reorganization analogous to grove. From 718 AD Haan was close to the

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

n border running between Sonnborn and

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...

(both today in

). Since today's Kaiserstrasse was a route for the

n troops to the east, a marketing system (

sutler A sutler or victualer is a civilian merchant who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp, or in quarters. Sutlers sold wares from the back of a wagon or a temporary tent, traveling with an army or to remote military outposts. Sutler wa ...

s) was created in Haan to supply the soldiers. Even before the early

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

, Haan belonged to the Archdiocese of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

together with

Hilden Hilden () is a town in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is situated in the Mettmann (district), District of Mettmann, west of Solingen and east of Düsseldorf on the right side of the Rhine. It is a middle sized industrial town ...

and, even after the formation of the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

and later the

Duchy of Berg Berg () was a state—originally a county, later a duchy—in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed as a distinct political entity from the early 12th to the 19th centuries. It was a member state of the Holy Roman Emp ...

, was initially one of the enclaves within this territorial area. Already around 850, a pre-Romanesque chapel or church was built on the old church square, which

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Wichfried von Köln consecrated in 935. At that time this church was subordinate to the main church in Hilden. In 1386 the road from Hilden via Haan to Elberfeld, today's federal road 228, was first mentioned in a document. The first evidence of the grinding and weaving trade, which was widespread in Haan until the 20th century, can be dated back to 1589 and 1724 respectively. In the second half of the 16th century the church of Haan was reformed by the Evangelicals. Until 1806, Haan, Obgruiten and Gruiten belonged to the Amt

Solingen Solingen (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr. After Wuppertal, it is the second-largest city in the Bergisches Land, and a member of ...

, Ellscheid to the Amt

within the Duchy of Berg. In 1808, the towns of Haan, Ellscheid, Millrath (today Erkrath), Gruiten, Schöller and Sonnborn (both today Wuppertal) came under French rule and were united to form "Mairie Haan". In 1815 this Mairie was placed under

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n administration and rededicated to a Prussian mayor's office. At that time, the Mayor's Office (no real office, in German: Bürgermeisterei) of Haan included the following seven special household parishes: Parish Haan, Honschaft Ellscheid, Honschaft Millrath, Honschaft Gruiten, Honschaft Schöller, Honschaft Obgruiten and Kirchspiel Sonnborn. In 1841, with the completion of the Elberfeld — Gruiten — Düsseldorf railway line, Haan was connected to the ever-expanding rail network. Another connection followed in 1867 with the Ohligs-Gruiten line. In the same year, Sonnborn retired from the Haan mayor's office (Bürgermeisterei). In 1894, Haan left the mayor's office and Millrath, Gruiten and Schöller henceforth formed the mayor's office which later included Amt Gruiten. In 1899 Haan got connection to the tram connection from Benrath (today to Düsseldorf) via Hilden to Vohwinkel (today to Wuppertal). City rights were granted to Haan in 1921. At the turn of 1944/1945,

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

left visible traces in the cityscape when residential areas in Upper and Middle Haan were bombed on New Year's and

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

. 70 people were killed. On April 16, 1945, US-American troops entered Haan, which were replaced by British forces in July 1945. In 1956, the Catholic parish replaced its neo-Gothic church from 1869 with the modern St. Chrysanthus and Daria church. Since July 14, 2017, Haan has had the addition of the name "Garden City" to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in accordance with section 13 (3) of the municipal code. The city had previously described itself as a “garden city”. In the 19th century, deep garden areas were assigned to the residential buildings; Seed trading played an important role in the urban economy.

Population development

(each on December 31) *1996: 28,996 inhabitants *1997: 29,213 inhabitants *1998: 29,452 inhabitants *1999: 29,525 inhabitants *2000: 29,677 inhabitants *2001: 29,607 inhabitants *2002: 29,518 inhabitants *2003: 29,472 inhabitants *2004: 29,370 inhabitants *2005: 29,325 inhabitants *2006: 29,411 inhabitants *2007: 29,323 inhabitants *2008: 29,149 inhabitants *2009: 30,074 inhabitants *2010: 29,149 inhabitants *2011: 30,257 inhabitants *2012: 29,848 inhabitants *2013: 29,985 inhabitants *2014: 30,811 inhabitants *2015: 31,137 inhabitants *2016: 31,230 inhabitants *2017: 31,265 inhabitants

Twin towns – sister cities

Haan is twinned with: * Eu, France (1967) *

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

, England, United Kingdom (1982) * Bad Lauchstädt, Germany (1990) * Dobrodzień, Poland (2004)

Economy

Companies

*Emerson Electric Company *Discher Technik GmbH *Anlagenbau Stampfer *Ostermann Furnitures *

Rockwell Automation Rockwell Automation, Inc. is an American provider of industrial automation and digital transformation technologies headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its brands include Allen-Bradley, FactoryTalk software and LifecycleIQ Services. Rockwell ...

*Bohle Group *Unipol Haan * Daimler Truck AG * Verder Scientific

Notable people

* Günter Breithardt (born 1944), cardiologist, pioneer of catheter ablations, professor at

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

* Jonas Carls (born 1997), footballer from

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, ...

* Rahul Peter Das (born 1954), Indologist, professor for South Asian studies at University of Halle-Wittenberg * Melanie Hoffmann (born 1974), former footballer for SGS Essen * Walter Huppenkothen (1907–1978), lawyer, high-ranking Nazi official, SS member, SD staff * Anna Kraft (born 1985), sport journalist and former athlete at TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen * Nicole Struse (born 1971), former table tennis player who won several national contests

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Mettmann (district)