Wenden is a municipality in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It belongs to the Olpe district in the

Sauerland The Sauerland () is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited. The Sauerland is the largest tourist region in ...

. It lies south of Olpe and northwest of

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly sho ...

Geography

Location

Wenden lies at the southernmost tip of the

, an area of low mountain ranges. The Bigge and its tributaries, which feed into Biggesee, rise near Wenden. To the southeast a ridge separates the municipality from the adjoining Siegerland. In the southwest the municipal area borders

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Neighbouring communities

Bordering on Wenden are Olpe and

Drolshagen Drolshagen is a town belonging to the district of Olpe in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Arnsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, lying roughly 5 km west of Olpe. Geography Location Drolshagen lies in the heavily wooded ''Naturpark E ...

, which like Wenden lie in the Olpe district,

Friesenhagen Friesenhagen is a municipality in the north of the district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in Western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most p ...

’s Altenkirchen district, Kreuztal, Freudenberg and

(all in Siegen-Wittgenstein), and also

Reichshof Reichshof is a North Rhine-Westphalian municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis in Germany, about 40 km east of Cologne. It is a health resort, known for its good climate. History While sources on the early history of the area are scarce, ...

in the

Oberbergischer Kreis The Oberbergischer Kreis ( ksh, Boverbärjische Kreiß) is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Ennepe-Ruhr, Märkischer Kreis, Olpe, Altenkirchen, Rhein-Sieg, Rheinisch-Bergischer ...

Constituent communities

The community consists of the following centres: Altenhof, Altenwenden, Bebbingen, Brün, Büchen, Döingen, Dörnscheid, Eichertshof, Elben, Gerlingen, Girkhausen, Heid, Hillmicke, Hoffnung, Hünsborn, Huppen, Löffelberg, Möllmicke, Ottfingen, Römershagen, Rothemühle, Rothenborn, Scheiderwald, Schönau, Schwarzbruch, Trömbach, Vahlberg, Wenden, Wendenerhütte and Wilhelmstal.

Climate

Wenden's climate is very wet. West winds bring clouds that form over the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and they rise as they pass over the

and Wenden, which in turn brings rain. The coldest month is January. July is the warmest month. During winter fog forms frequently out of the moist air.

History

The origins of the name Wenden are not known for certain. Probably it has to do with the location because at the turn of the first millennium within its area the lands of two Germanic people, the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

and the

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

met. There is no knowledge as to when the area was first settled. The names of some villages like Girkhausen, Bebbingen, Döingen, Gerlingen and Ottfingen as well as the names of lost villages and homesteads offer some clues. Most likely settlement must have taken place no later than around 900 to 1000 AD. Perhaps the area knew settlements even earlier as the names of local brooks and streams like Elbe, Albe, Wende, Bigge, Benze and Binse hint. The first documented record of Wenden dates back to 1011. By that time a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

had been founded in

Herford Herford (; nds, Hiarwede) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford (district), Herford. Geography ...

and given land in ''Wendenne'', which is said to mean Wenden. At the beginning of the 14th century a chapel ''Wendene capella'' is mentioned in a copy of a much older tax register of the

Archdiocese of Cologne The Archdiocese of Cologne ( la, Archidioecesis Coloniensis; german: Erzbistum Köln) is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. History The Electorate of Cologn ...

. Watersheds have been Wenden's limits for centuries. In the southeast and east these watersheds marked the boundary with the territory of

Nassau-Siegen Nassau-Siegen was a principality within the Holy Roman Empire that existed between 1303 and 1328, and again from 1606 to 1743. From 1626 to 1734, it was subdivided into Catholic and Protestant parts. Its capital was the city of Siegen, found ...

, in the south to the land of the counts of Wildenburg and in the south and southwest to 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. The name of the county lives on in the modern ...

. All of the municipal area was part of the

Electorate of Cologne The Electorate of Cologne (german: Kurfürstentum Köln), sometimes referred to as Electoral Cologne (german: Kurköln, links=no), was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. ...

. Following the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

they remained

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

while their neighbours to the southeast, south and southwest converted to

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

. By the end of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

people in the Siegerland fenced off their territory with a combination of trenches, earthworks and dense hedgerows. That part which touches the district of Olpe is called the "Kölsches Heck" ("''Cologne hedge''"). The "Kölsches Heck" also marks a boundary between two languages

High German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...

and

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle L ...

. After the Reformation it came to mark the border between areas of different faiths. In 1803 the municipal area of Wenden was transferred to the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt and in 1816 it was annexed to

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. Some years later in 1850 the municipalities of Wenden and Römershagen were joined to form the new municipality of Wenden (''Amt Wenden'').

Religion

The great majority of the community dwellers adhere to the

Catholic faith The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. With the exception of Möllmicke and Rothemühle, each of the community's bigger centres has a Catholic

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

at its disposal. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

many Germans driven out of the lost territories in the east moved into what was then the ''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

'' of Wenden; they settled mostly in the centres of Vahlberg and Rothemühle. Thus arose the

Evangelical Church Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

of Rothemühle in the 1950s. In the 1980s there came a community centre in Wenden's main town which quickly outdid the church in Rothemühle. In 2006, a resolution was handed down by the Evangelical parish of Olpe, to which Wenden belongs, to abandon the church in Rothemühle. The Rothemühle chapel building club thereupon took over financial responsibility for the church, guaranteeing its continued existence for the time being. In the 1960s, many

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s and

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...

Christians also came to the community of Wenden. For a few years, a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

has been maintained in Wenden's main centre. A regionally important

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

centre for Catholics is the Dörnschlade, found in the middle of the woods between the centres of Hünsborn, Wenden and Altenhof. According to legend, a

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

stolen from the Wenden church was found there. A chapel is used by many believers for worship. Among others, the regional ''Katholische Arbeitnehmer-Bewegung'' (“Catholic Employees’ Movement”, KAB) uses the Dörnschlade for its yearly pilgrimage.

Amalgamations

The community of Wenden came into being in 1969 in the course of municipal restructuring in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is coëxtensive with the former ''Amt'' of Wenden, which itself consisted of the communities of Wenden and Römershagen.

Politics

Mayor

*1994–2015: Peter Brüser, CDU *2015–incumbent: Bernd Clemens, CDU

Town partnerships

A partnership came about as a result of German unity with

Dingelstädt Dingelstädt is a town in the district of Eichsfeld in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the upper course of the river Unstrut, south of Leinefelde-Worbis and northwest of Mühlhausen. The former municipalities Helmsdorf, Kefferhausen, ...

in the former

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. The partnership was at first actively pursued, for instance through administrative employees’ exchanges, and continues today at a lower, but constant, level. For example, Dingelstädt's mayor is a regular guest at the great yearly event known as the Wendener Kirmes. Currently, groundwork is being laid to build a partnership with the Hungarian town of Lepsény. The packaging firm SiBO maintains branch offices in both Wenden and Lepsény. Owner Bernd Hesse blazed the trail for this budding partnership.

Culture and sightseeing

Theatre

The Sauerland-Theater Hillmicke is a successful

amateur theatre Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as f ...

, and performs every November in the Wenden school centre's

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

Museums

The

Wendener Hütte Wendener Hütte is a retired Industrial Age ironworks and hammer mill located near Wenden, Germany. The complete site, supported and run by Museumsverein Wendener Hütte e.V., is open to visitors from April to October. History The birth of a ...

is a technological cultural monument and one of the oldest still preserved

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

furnace works in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

-speaking world. It can be viewed free during opening hours.

Music

The community of Wenden is well known for its great number of

concert band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

s, music clubs, bands and

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

s. Almost every centre has a concert band and several choirs at its disposal. The ''Spielmannszug Wenden'' (band) celebrates its centenary in 2008, holding a great festival weekend on 18–20 April.

Buildings

The Dörnschlade pilgrimage chapel was built in the mid 19th century and is found near Altenhof. It can easily be reached by the road running between Hünsborn and Wenden. On the Sundays after the Festivals of the

Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Town ...

(2 July) and the

Nativity of Mary The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of Mary, the Marymas or the Birth of the Virgin Mary, refers to a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of Mary, mother of Jesus. The modern canon of scripture does not record Mary's bir ...

(8 September), a procession from Altenhof and Wenden to the Dörnschlade takes place, which is then finished with a church service there. The St. Severinus parish church was built about 1750. The

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

s and most holy figures already adorned the forerunner church, from which also came the bulky tower, the new church having been built over the old one, which was then only knocked down after construction on the new one was well under way. The holy objects were all transferred to the new church. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

, the Resplendent Madonna and the organ, however, were acquired new in 1755. The new church's namesake may have been St. Severin's Church in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. The last thorough renovation was done between 1986 and 1988, with the church being made over as far as possible to look as it did when it was built in the 18th century.

Natural monuments

The source of the river Bigge lies near Römershagen. The stream, where it rises is still only very small, runs for 16 km, then filling one of Germany's biggest

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

s, the Biggesee.

Sport

*The ''Vereinigte Sport-Vereine Wenden 1930 e. V. '' in Wenden-Schönau (

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

) played in the

Verbandsliga The Verbandsliga ( en, Football Association League) is usually a tier-six football league in the German football league system, covering the area of a '' Bundesland'' or a regional part of such Bundesland.Landesliga. They have an artificial-turf pitch at their disposal. *The DAC 01, Wenden plays

skittles Skittles may refer to: * Skittles (confectionery), a brand of fruit-flavor chewy candy, distributed by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company *'' Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical'' * Skittles (sport), the game from which bowling originated * Skittles (ch ...

in a Landesliga at the ''Bundeskegelbahn Gasthof Wurm'' (“Bützers”) in Schönau. *The SG Wenden already boasts various successes in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

, among them Simon Huckestein, sixth in the 2005 German Championship over 800 m. The club was built up significantly by squad trainer Egon Bröcher's work, and by Kunibert Rademacher (currently the chairman for district athletics). The club organizes the traditional Südsauerlandlauf (“South Sauerland Walk”) which draws up to 800 participants. It is held every year on the first weekend in November. Training is done on the

Tartan track Tartan Track is a trademarked all-weather synthetic track surfacing made of polyurethane used for track and field competitions, manufactured by 3M. It lets athletes compete in bad weather without serious performance loss and improves their resu ...

at the Gerlingen sporting grounds and at the gymnasium at the Wenden school centre.

Regular events

*The ''Wendsche Kärmetze'' ( Kirmes) is held on the third Tuesday in August as well as on the Saturday and Sunday before that. On Tuesday there is an animal show with prizes awarded to animals in various classes. Another thing that sets the ''Wendsche Kärmetze'' apart is that throughout the time when it is being held, there is a market at which the most varied things are for sale. Besides the many market dealers, many

amusement ride Amusement rides, sometimes called carnival rides, are mechanical devices or structures that move people especially kids to create fun and enjoyment. Rides are often perceived by many as being scary or more dangerous than they actually are. This ...

operators bring their

carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

s and other attractions. The Wenden Kirmes is the biggest event of its kind in the South Westphalia area. *The ''Schönauer Karneval'' is a high point at

Carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

time in South Westphalia celebrated with, besides the ''Prinzenproklamation'' (about 11 November), ''Altweiber'' (“Old Women’s Day”), ''Prunksitzung'' (a sitting of the “Elves’ Council” – actually a revue) and ''Rosenmontagszug'' (“Shrove Monday Parade”) also with three further events under marquees. Elaborate

float Float may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Albums * ''Float'' (Aesop Rock album), 2000 * ''Float'' (Flogging Molly album), 2008 * ''Float'' (Styles P album), 2013 Songs * "Float" (Tim and the Glory Boys song), 2022 * "Float", by Bush ...

s and many groups on foot on

Shrove Monday Shrove Monday, sometimes known as Collopy Monday, Rose Monday, Merry Monday or Hall Monday, is a Christian observance falling on the Monday before Ash Wednesday every year. A part of the English traditional Shrovetide celebrations of the week b ...

combine to form a miles-long

lindworm The lindworm (''worm'' meaning snake), also spelled lindwyrm or lindwurm, is a mythical creature in Northern and Central European folklore living deep in the forest that traditionally has the shape of a giant serpent monster. It can be seen as a ...

that wends its way through Schönau's streets watched by 15,000 onlookers in this centre of only 1,400 souls. The Schönau carneys’ battle call goes ''“Schönau Helau”''. The club song begins with the lines ''“Von Schönau bis Bockenbach – da wird geschunkelt und gelacht”'' (roughly “From Schönau to Bockenbach – there will be swaying to and fro and laughing”), Bockenbach being a neighbouring place in the Siegerland. Over more than 40 years, the Schönau-Altenwenden Carnival Club has established itself very firmly in South Westphalian Carnival life. Its two dancing guards, the ''Rote'' and ''Blaue Funken'' (Red and Blue Sparks), represent the club at many regional and national events. *The ''Ottfinger Schützenfest'' (“Ottfingen Shooting Festival”) is traditionally held on the third weekend in June and is the biggest of its kind in the community of Wenden. The festival begins with a parade through the village, with the new King and Queen being determined thereafter in a bird-shooting contest. The high point is the joint celebrating in the marksmen's tent on Saturday evening. *The ''Südsauerlandlauf'', a traditional walking event that held its 30th edition in 2005 is usually held on the first weekend in November by the Sportgemeinschaft Wenden (“Wenden Sport Association”). In past years, the event has even welcomed successful walking aces such as

Sabrina Mockenhaupt Sabrina Mockenhaupt (born 6 December 1980 in Siegen) is a German long-distance runner who specialises in track events and the marathon. She is a two-time winner of the Cologne Marathon and has also won the Frankfurt Marathon and the Berlin Half ...

in 2005. There are the ''Bambinilauf'' (500 m), ''Schülerläufe'' (2 km for schoolchildren), ''Volkslauf'' (5 km for the general public), Hauptlauf (the “main” walk of 10 km) and Nordic Walking (9 km) which draw up to 800 participants, making it the biggest walking event in South Westphalia. It has been integrated as a walking event into the ''Ausdauer-Cup''.

Economy and infrastructure

The economic development of the area depended mostly on

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

and heavy spar deposits as well as an abundance of wood and water. In 1855 there were 7 smelting works in the district of Olpe, 5 of which lay in the Wenden municipal area. While most smelting works produced

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...

, the ''Wendener Hütte'', a mill founded by Johannes Elmert in 1728, made crude

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

. Like others which fired their blast furnaces with locally produced

, the ''Wendener Hütte'' lost out to the developing

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

-based steel industry in the

Ruhr Area The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

. The ''Wendener Hütte'' closed down in 1866. In the years after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the majority of the local population was working in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. But when farming changed to more

intensive farming Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ag ...

with larger farms specialising in

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

and

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or ...

, most small farmers gave up. People shifted out of farming and sought employment in

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

in neighbouring Olpe and the Siegerland. This all changed when

Bundesautobahn 45 is an autobahn in Germany, connecting Dortmund in the west with Aschaffenburg in the southwest. It is colloquially known as the ''Sauerlandlinie'' (Sauerland line) as it runs through the hilly, rural Sauerland region between Hagen and Siegen. ...

was completed in 1971 and

Bundesautobahn 4 is an autobahn that crosses Germany in a west–east direction. The western segment has a length of , the part in the east is long. Works to continue the A 4 are in progress, but currently no plans exist to fill the gap completely. T ...

opened to traffic in 1976.''Olpe, Geschichte, 20. Jahrhundert''
/ref> With quick access to other areas of Germany, Wenden was able to attract larger operations and build a solid economic infrastructure.

Established enterprises

* CAMCO (professional audio power amplifiers) * Dia-therm (heater factory) * Berker * Elexis-Gruppe with the firms EMG and Drehmo * Prime Drilling GmbH (Horizontal Directional Drilling)

Transport

Roads

The community of Wenden is connected to two

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...

en, the A4 (Aachen–Görlitz, links the area to

in the west) and the A45 (connects Wenden northwards to

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

and the

and southwards to

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

), both with an interchange at Wenden at the Olpe-Süd Autobahn cross. There are, however, no Federal highways (''

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...

n'') running through the community. The main thoroughfares are the highways (''Landstraßen'') L342, L512, L564, L714 and L905. The eastward extension of the A4 in 2006 connects it to the Hüttentalstrasse linking Wenden to Kreuztal and

Bus and rail transport

For local public road transport there are many

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

lines that also join Wenden with neighbouring communities. Operators are the ''Verkehrsbetriebe Westfalen-Süd'' (VWS, “Westphalia-South Transport Services”), whose seat is in Siegen and which is a daughter company of the ''Stadtwerke Bonn'', and the railway daughter company ''Busverkehr Ruhr-Sieg'' (BRS, “Ruhr-Sieg Bus Transport”). Lines R50 and R51 are the most important buslines, running from

and Olpe to Wenden. Nowadays there is no longer any rail transport in the municipal area. There was formerly a rail connection to the ''Biggetalbahn'' (

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

). The stretch running between Freudenberg and Rothemühle, however, was abandoned by 1987, while the Rothemühle-Olpe stretch had its service withdrawn in 2000, and in 2005 it was dismantled.

Public institutions

Education

Wenden has got two secondary schools and several primary schools but no Gymnasium.

Famous people

Sons and daughters of the community

* Johannes Dornseiffer (born 2 February 1837 in Wenden-Gerlingen; died 11 December 1914 in

Eslohe Eslohe is a municipality in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Eslohe is situated approximately 25 km south-west of Meschede. Neighbouring municipalities * Finnentrop * Lennestadt * Meschede * Schm ...

), vicar in Fretter and pastor in Eslohe, founder of the (agricultural) ''Winterschule'' (“Winter School”) in Fretter, stands as cofounder of many savings and loan companies in the Finnentrop-Eslohe area in personal contact with

Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen (30 March 1818 – 11 March 1888) was a German mayor and cooperative pioneer. Several credit union systems and cooperative banks have been named after Raiffeisen, who pioneered rural credit unions. Life Friedrich Wilh ...

. * P. Maurus Kaufmann OSB (born in Elben; died 1948 in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

), first

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

of the Abbey of the Dormition in Jerusalem. * Dr. Kaspar Klein (born 28 August 1865 in Elben; died 26 January 1941 in Paderborn), 1930 - 1941 Archbishop of

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

* Wilhelm Schneider, (born 4 September 1847 in Gerlingen; died 31 August 1909 in Paderborn) Bishop in the Archbishopric of Paderborn.

References

External links

*
Hillmicke

Hünsborn

Ottfingen

Konrad-Adenauer-Gemeinschaftshauptschule Wenden
{{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Olpe (district)