Löbtau was first mentioned in 1068, 138 years before Dresden. The Salian King Henry IV gave Liubituwa, which meant “lovely meadow”, to the Meissen Monastery. In fact, little had changed over many centuries. In 1834 the village still had 163 inhabitants. The somewhat derogatory name for the place probably came from this time. Well, right next to Kuh-Löbte was Frosch-Kotte, not far from the pot holder district in Friedrichstadt, not to mention Fxxx-Pieschen…
Largest rural community in Saxony
During the course of the 19th century, the rapid growth of the residential city of Dresden also spread to the surrounding rural communities. In 1900 Löbtau was supposed to have 39,000 inhabitants. Within a human lifetime, the population had grown 240 times(!). The village was now considered the largest Saxon rural community, ranking sixth among the communities in the kingdom after Dresden, Leipzig, Chemnitz, Plauen and Zwickau!
The cows in Löbtau had long been left behind. But in contrast to Strehlen or Striesen, mainly poor people lived here. Today’s quality of life is thanks to Dresden’s urban planning standards. As early as 1863, the city – ahead of all other German cities – aimed for a green, open-plan city in a general development plan. The cube houses in Löbtau, sometimes referred to as “coffee mills”, are not villas in this sense, but rather high-quality rental houses for poor people. Compared to Berlin’s working-class districts of the time with four or five backyards, this was undoubtedly a forward-looking development!
In 1896 Löbtau began building a representative town hall on what is now Tharandter Straße. The claim was no small one – the Dresden office Schilling & Graebner was responsible for the Dresden Christ Church and the Imperial Palace on Pirnaischer Platz. However, the building did not have a good star: four weeks before the planned inauguration, the devastating Weißeritz flood caused the building to largely collapse on July 30, 1897. At least the town hall was inaugurated in October 1898.
Incorporation of the Dresden area
Five years later, the city of Dresden eagerly reached out to the surrounding area. In 1903 it incorporated Cotta, Naußlitz, Wölfnitz, Plauen, Trauchau, Mickten, Übigau and Kaditz. First and foremost, however, was Löbtau, with almost 40,000 residents the largest municipality in the history of Dresden.
In February 1945, the Löbtauer town hall and the “Dreikaiserhof” opposite were destroyed. After the war, a snack bar was built in the hotel, or rather a ruin of it. The workers there liked to hiss a Molle after work, which gave the place the name “Huschhalle”. After it was demolished in 1970, the establishment moved into an old bus stop opposite.
Regardless of the war damage, Kesselsdorfer Straße underwent a surprising development after 1945. In view of the complete destruction of the city center, the importance of sub-centers such as Schillerplatz, Oschatzer or Warthaer Straße – and above all “Kellei” – grew to unimagined heights. The reputation of the consumer department store and the many small shops reached as far away as the GDR capital! That’s a thing of the past, but these days the renovated residential buildings from the Wilhelminian era are particularly popular with young “New Löbtauers”.
2023-12-26 23:04:14
#KuhLöbte #big #city #Dresden
