Castrop-Rauxel

Castrop-Rauxel is located between Dortmund to the southeast, Bochum to the southwest, Herne to the west, Recklinghausen to the northwest, Datteln to the north and Waltrop to the northeast.

Urban Area

The city covers an area of 51.67 km² (19.95 sq mi).[2] The Halde Schwerin (slag heap in the Schwerin district) is marked as the point of highest elevation at 147 m (482.3 ft) above sea level. The lowest point is located on Pöppinghauser Straße (Poppinghausen Street), besides house number 264, with an elevation of 50.2 m (164.7 ft) above sea level.

The city is divided into 15 districts, listed in order from north to south: Becklem, Henrichenburg, Ickern, Habinghorst, Pöppinghausen, Deininghausen, Rauxel, Bladenhorst, Behringhausen, Castrop, Dingen, Schwerin, Obercastrop, Frohlinde and Merklinde.

The total area of the city divided into different uses (31.12.2010):

Surface	in m²	in %
Buildings and open spaces	16.384.832	31,7%
Operating area	1.497.843	2,9%
Recreation area	2.835.924	5,5%
Traffic area	6.191.789	12,0%
Agricultural land	14.116.843	27,3%
Forest land	7.938.248	15,4%
Water surface	1.941.522	3,8%
Other uses	758.372	1,5%
Total area	51.665.373	100%

Population figures for the individual districts (Stand: 2005):

Districts	Population
Henrichenburg	5.333
Ickern	16.650
Habinghorst, Pöppinghausen	9.970
Deininghausen, Dingen, Rauxel	10.056
Bladenhorst, Rauxel-Nord	6.065
Schwerin	6.672
Behringhausen, Castrop, Obercastrop	16.743
Frohlinde	3.509
Merklinde	2.621

Old Town hall

Bladenhorst castle

Castrop-Rauxel town hall

First mentioned in 834 as "Villa Castorpe", the city of Castrop was founded in 1902 by merging the municipalities Castrop, Obercastrop and Behringhausen. On April 1, 1926 Castrop-Rauxel was formed when Castrop merged with 10 other municipalities. During World War II, a plant at Castrop-Rauxel used the Bergius process to produce synthetic (German: Ersatz) oil products.

In 1975, the village of Henrichenburg was annexed and Castrop-Rauxel became part of the Recklinghausen (district). In 1984 the last of 7 coal mines at Castrop-Rauxel ("Erin") closed.

Lord Mayors

• 1926–1933: Mende, Centre Party (Germany) (Mayor, from 1928 Lord Mayor)
• 1933–1945: Richard Anton, NSDAP
• 1945–1946: Arnold Boerboom
• 1946–1948: Hubert Krehe, CDU
• 1948–1971: Wilhelm Kauermann, SPD
• 1971–1975: Hugo Paulikat, SPD

Mayors

• 1975–1989: Hugo Paulikat, SPD
• 1989–1999: Hans Ettrich, SPD
• 1999–2004: Nils Kruse, CDU
• 2004–2015: Johannes Beisenherz, SPD
• since 2015: Rajko Kravanja, SPD

Castrop-Rauxel has access to three major highways, the Emscherschnellweg A 42,the Sauerlandlinie A 45 and the A 2.
There are 3 railway stations within the city. The central station (Castrop-Rauxel Hauptbahnhof) on the Cologne-Minden Railway is located in the suburb of Rauxel. Connecting Castrop-Rauxel to the western Ruhr cities like Duisburg, Oberhausen, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne and in the east to Dortmund and Hamm. The unmanned stations of Castrop-Rauxel South (Castrop-Rauxel Süd) and Castrop-Rauxel Merklinde on the Duisburg-Ruhrort–Dortmund railway have hourly services with trains to Dortmund, Herne and Dorsten. Located in the city centre is the central bus station Muensterplatz. From here passengers can travel to almost all suburbs and to neighboring cities like Herne, Dortmund and Bochum.
The Rhine-Herne Canal runs right through Castrop-Rauxel; Castrop-Rauxel also has a small Yacht club on this body of water.

Castrop Rauxel Square, Wakefield, named after its twin town

Castrop-Rauxel is twinned with:[3]

Castrop-Rauxel has been attempting to change from a former mining city to a city with a modern lifestyle, high recreational value, new economy companies, a 27-hole golf course, and various cultural events.

Metalworking and electronics are the key manufacturing sectors.[4]

The WLT (Westphalian State Theater) is the oldest and most relevant source of theatrical entertainment in Castrop-Rauxel. There is one cinema with two screens in Castrop. Castrop’s history is closely connected to horse racing, the Reiterbrunnen in the very center of Castrop’s market square is a reminder of the race days on the Naturhindernisbahn, now part of the Goldschmieding Park.

• Hedwig Kiesekamp, (1844–1919), singer and writer.
• Heinrich Haslinde, (1878–1938), local poet.
• Josef Hermann Dufhues, (1908–1971), politician CDU) Member of Landtag North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW Interior Minister and President of the Parliament
• Wilhelm Specht, (1910–1986) entrepreneur, businessman and association official
• Heinz Ballensiefen, (1912–† unknown), historian and Nazi functionary who used to investigate the "Jewish question"
• Hermann Paschasius Rettler, (1915–2004), bishop of Bacabal (Brazil)
• Alfred Niepieklo, (1927–2014), German Football Champion in 1956 and 1957
• Josef Reding, (born 1929), writer
• Erwin Weiss, (1934–2008), singer
• Friedhelm Wentzke, (born 1935), canoeist
• Dietrich Berke, (1938–2010), musicologist and publishing editor
• Paul Reding, (born 1939), painter, sculptor and writer.
• Werner Trzmiel, (born 1942), athlete
• Friedhelm Ost, (born 1942), journalist and politician.
• Klaus Fichtel, (born 1944), footballer
• Gabriele Sikora, (born 1950), politician (SPD), 1995–2010 Member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Lawrence Schlieker, (born 1951), abbot of Benedictine Gerleve
• Udo Helmbrecht, (born 1955), former President of the BSI (Federal Office for Information Security) and Managing Director ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency)
• Mathias Schipper, (born 1957), footballer
• Hans-Peter Villis, (born 1958), manager
• Inge Blask, (born 1959), politician (SPD), since 2012 Member of Parliament
• Wolfram Wuttke, (1961–2015), football player
• Dieter Hecking, (born 1964), football coach
• Bernd "Bernie" Blume, (born 1964), tech entrepreneur
• Michael Ostrzyga, (born 1975), composer and conductor
• Marcel Sieberg, (born 1982), cyclist
• Barış Özbek, (born 1986), footballer
• Marc-André Kruska, (born 1987), footballer
• Eskimo Callboy, (2010–present), metalcore band

Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Castrop-Rauxel.