Industrialisation

Then came the railway, catalyst for Bielefeld’s growth in the late 1800s. The first track, the Cologne-Minden Eisenbahn, which was completed in 1847, brought a massive technological and economic advance into the little town that had just exceeded the 10,000 population mark. The first automated spinnery was founded in 1850, the Ravensberger Spinnery Inc. took up production in 1854, and the first automated weaving mill opened its gates in 1862.
Apart from the production of fabrics, the metal and food industry settled down in Bielefeld. Mainly constructing new machines for the clothing industry (sewing machines etc.), engineers began experimenting with very successful new products like bicycles or cars. The well-known food manufacturer Dr. Oetker started mass production of baking powder in 1898.
The city’s constantly high migration level caused new and unknown problems. Rapidly growing in the last decades of the 19th century, Bielefeld had to build up an enormous amount of infrastructural elements such as gas and power lines, the sewerage system, and last but not least the transport network. The process was very similar to other industry-oriented cities in Germany or England.