Schwelm is situated in the southeast of the "Ruhrgebiet", the Ruhr district of Germany, between Westphalia and the "Bergisches Land". Schwelm is commonly known as the "Pforte Westfalens".
Schwelm is called the "town of neighbourhoods". It is made up of the following 13 neighbourhoods:
Aechte de Muer
Brunnen
Fronhof
Linderhausen
Loh
Möllenkotten
Oberstadt
Oehde
Ossenkamp
Parliament
Rote Wasser
Winterberg
Zur alten Post
History
The history of Schwelm can be traced back to the ninth century, where it is first mentioned as "Suelmiu". The city of Schwelm was officially established in 1496 and became seat of the Ennepe-Ruhr district in 1929. According to its area, Schwelm is the smallest town in North Rhine-Westphalia. Additional information on the history of Schwelm is available on the website.
Language/dialect
A Westphalian variety of high German is spoken in Schwelm. The Westphalian dialect belongs to the low Saxon dialects, which is a part of the family of low German dialects. Compared to other German regions the dialect does not have a strong influence on the everyday speech. Especially the elderly population is still able to speak Schwelm's original Westphalian tongue, called Schwelmer Platt, which is quite different from standard high German and bears a certain resemblance to Dutch.
Points of interest
Schwelm has got a historical town center with many old houses, some of which date back to the 18th century. The Altmarkt is a historical market placelying in front of the tall Christuskirche, the town's principal Protestant church. From the Altmarkt, the decorative street Kölner Strasse leads uphill and is part of the former road to Cologne. Until 2011, Schwelm was home to the Brauerei Schwelm, the "Schwelm Brewery", one of few remaining private breweries in North Rhine-Westphalia. Established in 1830 by Haarmann & Kathagen, the brewery was one of the first worldwide to switch from wooden to metal storage containers. The original administration building, the Rietz'sche Haus built in 1701, is an appealing house in the town center. Most of the brewery's historic production site, however, was torn down in 2012. The oldest piano manufacturer in the world is located in Schwelm. Since 1794, Rud. Ibach Sohn has been building pianos and, until 1904, organs in Schwelm. Europe's biggest fair-trade organisation "GEPA" was founded in Schwelm in the 1970s, but is now located in Wuppertal. A historical Jewish cemetery, dating from the late 18th century is located in the countryside about 1.3 km south of the town's center. It is maintained by the municipality and volunteers.
