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 district of Mettmann, Germany's most densely populated rural district. The town lies east of Düsseldorf ...

, 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 state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

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 betwee ...

. It is situated at the western edge of the

Bergisches Land The Bergisches Land (, ''Berg Country'') is a low mountain range region within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, east of Rhine river, south of the Ruhr. The landscape is shaped by woods, meadows, rivers and creeks and contains ...

, 12 km southwest of

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and tow ...

and 17 km east of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

. In 1975, Gruiten was incorporated into Haan.

History

Haan's origins date back to around 2200 BC. Dated 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 ( 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 ...

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper ...

n border running between Sonnborn and

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the 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 in a doc ...

(both today in

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

n troops to the east, a marketing system ( sutlers) 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 that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

, Haan belonged to the Archdiocese of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

together with

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

and, even after the formation of the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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. The name of the county lives on in the modern ...

, was initially one of the

enclaves An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

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 archdio ...

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 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 expe ...

. Until 1806, Haan, Obgruiten and Gruiten belonged to the Amt Solingen, 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 French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

rule and were united to form "Mairie Haan". In 1815 this Mairie was placed under

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 e ...

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, later 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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

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 New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...

. 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 re ...

, England, United Kingdom (1982) *

Bad Lauchstädt (until 1925 ''Lauchstädt''), officially Goethestadt Bad Lauchstädt, is a town in the district Saalekreis, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, 13 km southwest of Halle. Population 8,781 (2020). Lauchstädt was a popular watering-place in the 18th ce ...

, Germany (1990) *

Dobrodzień Dobrodzień (German: Guttentag, szl, Dobrodziyń) is a small town in Olesno County, in Opole Voivodeship, Poland. Located in the historical region of Upper Silesia, it is the administrative seat of Gmina Dobrodzień. As of December 2021, the t ...

, Poland (2004)

Economy

Companies

*Emerson Electric Company *Discher Technik GmbH *Anlagenbau Stampfer *Ostermann Furnitures * Rockwell Automation *Bohle Group *Unipol Haan

Notable people

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

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 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 stud ...

* Jonas Carls (born 1997), footballer from

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

* Rahul Peter Das (born 1954), Indologist, professor for South Asian studies at

University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university ...

* Melanie Hoffmann (born 1974), former footballer for

SGS Essen SGS Essen are a German multi-sports club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was founded in 2000 from the merger of ''VfB Borbeck'' and ''SC Grün-Weiß Schönebeck''. It is most renowned for its women's football team, which plays ...

* 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 A tab-separated values (TSV) file is a simple text format for storing data in a tabular structure, e.g., a database table or spreadsheet data, and a way of exchanging information between databases. Each record in the table is one line of the te ...

* 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)