Expansion and „conversion“ of the Neuhaus grain mills

Trade & Craft

With the conversion and expansion of the fulling mill into a two-stream grain mill (1828/42), Neuhaus now had two larger grain mills at the beginning of the 1850s, which were located on the same mill lane as the upper and lower mill. Due to the increased need for grinding, presumably caused by the population growth in the village itself, the Paderborn mill owner Sander had been planning the construction of a third Neuhaus grain mill since the end of the 1840s. This „Weizenmühle“ (wheat mill) was to be built on the plot of land that the Neuhaus innkeeper and postal forwarding agent Adolph Scherpel had acquired from the state governor Freiherr Alexander von der Lippe (*1765 +1837).[1]

In place of the old waterworks building, which had been erected at the end of the 16th century over a connecting ditch about 1.20 metres wide, the new two-stream wheat mill was to be built.[2] Only after fierce resistance from the competing mill owners Franz Tüllmann, Louis Gockel (both fulling mill) and Friedrich Müller (royal grist mill), who trickily tried to prevent the new settlement, did their new building stand in 1855 at the latest.[3] Three years earlier, in May 1852, the local master bakers and other citizens had emphatically spoken out in petitions for the settlement of a third grain mill.[4] A year later, Minden granted the necessary concession (1853).[5] Master miller Friedrich Müller, who had previously opposed Scherpel’s plans, soon took over the new wheat mill on the Wasserkunstpader. For the year 1875 Müller is also entered in the Neuhaus cadastre as the successor to Louis Gockel, the previous tenant of the fulling mill.[6] In the same year the Jewish mill owner Abraham Rosenthal founded the „Neuhäuser Mühlenwerke“ (1875).[7] Müller’s rye and wheat mills probably passed into the possession of this distinguished family in the 1880s. A contemporary pen and ink drawing of Rosenthal’s mill ensemble records the architectural situation on Neuhäuser Schloßstraße.[8]

Along with the Paderborn master carpenter Franz Schwarzendahl, the Rosenthals were among the first mill owners in the district to rely on the use of water power to generate electricity. In 1897, the Rosenthals had their living, working and storage rooms in the „Neuhäuser Mühlenwerke“ electrically lit.[9] In 1902, the outdated water wheels at the „Weizenmühle“ (wheat mill) were dismantled and replaced by a 28 hp turbine.[10] This was followed in 1908 by the modernisation of the „Roggenmühle“ (rye mill) with the installation of a 58 hp turbine.[11] In order to secure the water supply in the village itself, milling was stopped in the upstream fulling mill in 1913 and its water wheel dismantled.

In 1936, Messrs Schöningh and Hovestadt bought the „Neuhäuser Mühlenwerke“,[12] but they did not survive the heavy shelling in the spring of 1945 unscathed. In addition, the ““Weizenmühle“ was completely destroyed by shelling when the Allies marched in; it was not rebuilt after the war.[13] Instead, a tall, box-shaped silo building was erected on the former mill site, which was to dominate the Neuhaus townscape from then on. [14] The „Roggenmühle“, on the other hand, which was also damaged in the war, was rebuilt on the old site together with a warehouse and office building.[15] The grinder and drive of the rye mill were modernised with new turbine technology in 1951 and 1966. In 1967, the prominent „Mühlenenge“ on Schloßstraße, including Scherpel’s house, finally fell victim to a road widening project.[16]

Schloss Neuhaus, storage and office building of the rebuilt rye mill, 1960s (Stadt- und KreisA Pb, S-M4D, No. 2876 (File W6/55))

Neuhaus, "Mühlenenge" at the „Paderborner Tor“, 1911 (Stadt- und KreisA Pb, picture postcard M1)

References and bibliography

[1] On the history of the Scherpel house and family, see Santel, Georg G: “vornehm einfach – eingeschossig massiv”. On the building history of the Scherpel house in Schloßstraße in Schloß Neuhaus, in: Die Residenz 52/122 (2012), p. 39-57.

[2] Cf. Report of the district commissioner on mills to the district government of Minden on the „projected mill facility of Sander zu Neuhaus“, 10 September 1849. LA Detmold, M 1 I U, Nr. 660, unfol.

[3] Cf. a. o. Report and expert opinion of the royal building inspector to the district government of Minden, 6 April 1853. LA Detmold, M 1 I U, Nr. 660, unfol.

[4] Cf. „Eingabe der Eingesessenen zu Neuhaus“, 22 May 1852 as well as „Gesuch der Bäkermeister“ to the district government of Minden, 21 May 1852. LA Detmold, M 1 I U, Nr. 660, unfol.

[5] Cf. Judgment with reasons of the „Königliche Generalkommission“ of 28 October 1870, StadtA Pb, A 3323, fol. 168v.

[6] Cf. Art. 208, Mutterrolle, Bd. 1 (1867), LA Detmold M 5 C, Nr. 5371.

[7] Cf. Middeke, Bild der Heimat, p. 7.

[8] Friendly hint by Mr Gregor G. Santel, November 2019. Cf. corresponding newspaper clipping in the „Neue Westfälische“, 16/17 August 2003.

[9] Cf. Hüser, Von der Reichsgründung, p. 122f.

[10] Cf. Middeke, Bild der Heimat, p. 7.

[11] Cf. Schäfers, Standorte, pp. 84.

[12] Cf. Middeke, Bild der Heimat, p. 7.

[13] Cf. Schäfers, Standorte,pp 87.

[14] Cf. a, o. aerial photograph from the year 1962, StadtA Pb, M5-20, Nr. 127.

[15] Cf. Middeke, Bild der Heimat, p. 1.

[16] Cf. Santel, Baugeschichte des Hauses Scherpel, p. 56; Middeke, Bild der Heimat, pp. 1.

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