Oelde () is a town in the district of

Warendorf Warendorf (, Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Warnduorp'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and capital of Warendorf (district), Warendorf District. The town is best known today for its well-preserved medieval town centre, for eq ...

, 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 located near Beckum.

Geography

Division of the town

Oelde consists of 5 districts: * Oelde * Stromberg * Lette * Sünninghausen * Kirchspiel (with farming communities) ** Keitlinghausen ** Ahmenhorst ** Menninghausen

Neighbouring places

The neighboring municipalities and cities are clockwise, starting in the north: *

Beelen Beelen is a municipality in the district of Warendorf, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 30 km south-west of Bielefeld and 35 km east of Münster. Mayors * 1989–1991: Siegbert Elsing (FWG) * 1991–1994 ...

Herzebrock-Clarholz Herzebrock-Clarholz is a town in the Gütersloh (district), district of Gütersloh in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 10 km west of Gütersloh. Adjacent towns *Bredeck *Harsewinkel *Gütersloh *Rheda ...

Rheda-Wiedenbrück Rheda-Wiedenbrück (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Raie-Wienbrügge'') is a city in the Gütersloh (district), district of Gütersloh, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography The twin community lies within the valley of the river E ...

* Langenberg *

Wadersloh Wadersloh () is a municipality in the district of Warendorf, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 10 km north-west of Lippstadt Lippstadt () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest town ...

* Beckum *

Ennigerloh Ennigerloh () is a town in the district of Warendorf, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 25 km northeast of Hamm and 30 km southeast of Münster. The town, located in an agricultural area and with a well- ...

International relations

Oelde is (not officially) twinned with: *

Niesky Niesky (; Polish and Sorbian: ''Niska'' ; ) is a small town in Upper Lusatia in eastern Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 9,200 (2020) and is part of the district of Görlitz. Historically considered part of Upper Lusatia, it was a ...

(

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

)

History

The name Oelde was first mentioned in a document around 890 as "Ulithi im Dreingau" in the Urbar of the Werden monastery. In 1457 a conflagration destroyed the city. In 1498, after the reconstruction, Oelde had 750 citizens. Another fire raged in 1605 and destroyed a total of 18 houses, barns and the town hall. In 1939, Oelde was given its own exit when the motorway A 2 was built. In the 1950s and 1960s, a high number of visitors came to Oelde when diplomats accepted the invitation of the Federal Presidents Heuss and Lübke to hunt small game in the state forest "Geisterholz". These events were commonly known as "diplomatic hunts." In 2001 Oelde hosted one of the most important

flower shows Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants (angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, mo ...

ever organized in Westphalia with more than 2.2 million visitors. Since then, the city garden, included in the exhibition grounds and embellished for the occasion, has been commercially exploited under the name "Park of the four seasons" (Vier-Jahreszeiten-Park).

Economy

Oelde is a centre of metal and lumber production,

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

, and also higher education through its nursing college. It is also home to the headquarters of GEA (Westfalia Separator), a manufacturer of centrifuges and dairy machines and the headquarters of Haver & Boecker, a manufacturer of wire weaving.

Transport

Roads

Oelde is connected to the

Bundesautobahn 2 is an autobahn in Germany that connects the Ruhr area in the west to Berlin in the east. The A 2 starts at the junction with the Bundesautobahn 3, A3 near the western city of Oberhausen, passes through the north of the Ruhr valley, through ...

Railways

The

Hamm–Minden railway The Hamm–Minden Railway is an important and historically significant railway in Germany. It is completely quadruple track. It is a major axis for long distance passenger and freight trains between the Ruhr and the north and east of Germany. ...

connects Oelde station to the

German rail network Rail transport in Germany is provided predominantly by ''Deutsche Bahn'' (DB, ). , the railway network in Germany (DB only) had a length of , of which were electrified and were double track. About are high-speed railway lines. Germany has the ...

. The line is served by the

Rhein-Weser-Express The Rhein Weser Express (RE 6) is a Regional-Express service route in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, connecting some of the most important cities in Westphalia (among others Minden, Bielefeld and Hamm) with the Ruhr (especially Dort ...

and the

Ems-Börde-Bahn The Hellweg net consists of the four Regionalbahn lines in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia: RB 50 (Münster – Lünen – Dortmund), RB 59 (Dortmund – Unna – Soest), RB 69 (Münster – Hamm – Bielefeld) and RB 89 (Münster – ...

every hour.

References

External links

Official site

Vier Jahreszeiten Park Oelde

European Garden Heritage Network
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