Ladbergen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

🇩🇪 Ladbergen is a municipality in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated near the Dortmund-Ems Canal, approximately 25 km south-west of Osnabrück and 20 km north-east of Münster.

Geography The municipality is situated in the Tecklenburg country in the middle between the cities Münster and Osnabrück. Because of its central location between these two cities Ladbergen is well accessible by the Autobahn (motorway/freeway) A 1 (Ladbergen junction) and the Bundesstraße (federal highway) B 475. The Dortmund-Ems Canal (canal port Ladbergen) situated on the western municipal border and Münster Osnabrück Airport (FMO) are located a few km from the centre of Ladbergen. Unlike the name part of "bergen" suggests, Ladbergen offers no mountainous or hilly landscape, but is situated at a relatively uniform level between 48.1 m (158 ft) and 55.5 m (182 ft) with a mean elevation of 51.8 m (170 ft) above sea level. Two streams flow through Ladbergen, the Ladbergen Aa and the Ladbergen Mühlenbach that both flow eventually into the Glane stream.

The municipality Ladbergen is subdivided in the village(centre) and the surrounding rural areas Hölter, Wester and Overbeck.

Neighboring municipalities and towns Ladbergen borders on: • Tecklenburg • Lengerich • Lienen • Ostbevern • Greven • Saerbeck

Population Ladbergen is the second smallest independent municipality in the district of Steinfurt (just before Laer). The camping facilities offer about 700 more people a second home in Ladbergen.

Regarding religion the largest part of the population is Protestant (Lutheranism), a smaller part is Roman Catholic.

History Because of graves found, it is assumed that the territory of the municipality Ladbergen was already populated in the Bronze Age. Ladbergen got mentioned first in 950 in a certificate of the Freckenhorst monastery.

In the year 1149, the municipality was assigned as an independent parish by the Diocese of Münster. In 1170 the parish was taken over by the Diocese of Osnabrück.

In 1246 the Ladberger Marktbund (Ladbergen Marketfederation) was founded by representatives of the cities Münster, Osnabrück, Minden and Herford. This was a precursor of other forms of cooperation in Westphalia and the Hanseatic League.

Around 1400, the western parts of the community were lost to the Diocese of Münster. As a result, the population of Ladbergen until after World War II remained religiously almost exclusively Protestant (Lutheranism).

In the year 1650 Ladbergen gained political autonomy for the first time. In 1707 Ladbergen with the entire Duchy of Tecklenburg got incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia. After 1816 Ladbergen belonged to the Landkreis Münster and was later assigned to the Landkreis Tecklenburg.

In 1855 Ladbergen lost its political autonomy, and was administratively unified with the village Brochterbeck. This situation remained unchanged up to 1907, when Ladbergen was assigned to Tecklenburg.

During World War II the vicinity of Ladbergen was heavily bombed. Allied bombers tried to destroy the Dortmund-Ems Canal aqueducts near Ladbergen, where the canal passes over the Mühlenbach to render the canal useless for extended periods.[To defend the canal there were two heavy 105 mm Flak locations in Ladbergen, supported by smaller anti-aircraft guns. Batteries of 105 mm guns were usually left to defend major cities. This indicates the importance of the canal to the overall German war effort. Besides bombs and downed airplanes shrapnel fell onto Ladbergen during the air raids causing loses in property and lives. The air raids did not result in the destruction of the targeted aqueducts, but Tallboy bombs dropped by Avro Lancaster bombers of No. 617 Squadron RAF did breach the canal banks on 23/24 September 1944.

In September 1949 Ladbergen regained its political autonomy. In January 1975 Ladbergen was transferred from the then dissolved district of Tecklenburg into the newly founded district of Steinfurt.

Noticeable facts • About 37% of the population of the village emigrated during the 19th century. This was the highest emigration rate in Germany during that era. • Peasants from Ladbergen often gained extra income by working in the Netherlands for extended periods. • Many families from Ladbergen have family names, which in the recent past only existed in Ladbergen – such as Gehde, Rahmeier, Schoppenhorst, Wibbeler, Wiethaupt and Wiethölter. • The predominant spoken language in Ladbergen was up to the 1930s almost exclusively Ladbergen Platt, a variant of the established Low German dialects. A 2009 survey concluded that just over 700 of the original inhabitants (11% of the population) still can speak this local dialect, though actively speaking the dialect is mostly reserved to the over-70-year-olds. • Since the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany in the year 1949, Ladbergen is one of the "strongholds" of the Free Democratic Party in the Münsterland and throughout Germany.

Economy For centuries the economy of Ladbergen was based on agriculture. The introduction of fertilizer in the 20th century enabled the local peasants – who up to that moment had to deal with infertile sandy soil that yielded modest harvests – to escape from poverty. The infrastructural improvements and urbanization of the village after World War II and the West German Wirtschaftswunder created new jobs in trade, industry, transport, tourism and the service sector and commuters settled in Ladbergen. These developments diversified and boosted the economic development of Ladbergen. The last decades the municipality itself also profited from the establishment of new successful businesses and companies in Ladbergen and general prosperity amongst its citizens, by a steady increase in local taxes revenues. This enabled the municipality to invest in the local infrastructure, education and (social) services for its citizens.

Energy supply In 2005 a wind farm consisting of three REpower MM82 wind turbines was erected on the outskirts of Ladbergen. Each of these MM82 wind turbines has a 80.0 m (262.5 ft) hub height and 82.0 m (269.0 ft) rotor diameter giving a total sweep of 5,281 m2 (56,844 sq ft) and an average power capacity of 2.050 kW. The power output is controlled by varying the pitch of the rotor blades which can operate at 8.5–17.1 rpm rotor speed. Together with the two anaerobic digestion plants that went into operation in 2006, the community - mathematically - can fulfill its energy needs. Another quite large power plant producing annually 50 million kWh electricity and 60 million kWh/216 million MJ of heat and process steam from renewable raw materials built by ME Münsterland Energy GmbH went into production in 2007. This wood pallets-fired combined heat and power gasification plant and accompanying district heating station at the Ladbergen canal harbor on the site of the old oil mill produces electric power for about 15,000 households, a multiple of the Ladbergen household's electric energy needs. The thermal power generated in the cogeneration process is used to supply industrial customers near the power plant location itself and also for residents in the nearby Airport Park of Münster-Osnabrück Airport.