Bochum Facts and Figures
table of contents
Bochum in Brief / Bochum's Emblem
Bochum was granted a town charter way back in the year 1321. But it was not until the great coal and steel boom in the 19th century that the town achieved more than regional significance.
Hundreds of thousands of people from the poorer German provinces and from Eastern Europe flocked to the Ruhr Valley in search of work, so that in Bochum alone the population increased tenfold from the middle of the century until about 1890. Coal mines and factories sprang up like mushrooms in the town's fields and meadows.
Bochum's last colliery closed down some 30 years ago, and steel production is no longer as important as it was. New industries took their place, and companies like Opel and Nokia set up manufacturing facilities in the city. When the ongoing process of restructuring in Bochum and in the Ruhr area is complete, they too will have lost their major role to the service sector. Already, insurance companies and public adminstration, educational and cultural institutions employ more people in the town than the manufacturing sector.
Increasingly, the universities and the technology centres which evolve around them, are putting their stamp on the location. And where once the working-men's clubs used to have a monopoly on communication, students, actors and all kinds of innovators now meet in rock-cafés, bistros and discos. Sweat is more or less "out" and brain power is "in".
Geographic Location
Bochum is located in the centre of the Ruhr area
Longitude: 7 degrees 13 mins. 34 secs. east of GreenwichLatitude: 51 degrees 28 mins. 21 secs. north
Highest point: 196 m above sea level (Kemnader Straße 302 a)
Lowest point: 43 m above sea level ("Am Blumenkamp" underpass)
Maximum distance from north to south: 13.0 km
Maximum distance from east to west: 17.1 km
Total area: 145.4 sq km
Population density: 2,725 people per sq km
Population
(January 1, 2008)
Total population: 370,149
Of these,
male: 178,759
female: 191,390
Historic milestones
800Charlemagne sets up a royal court at the junction of two important trade routes (today's city centre).
1041
The name Cofbuokheim is first officially mentioned in a document of the archbishops of Cologne.
1321
Count Engelbert II. von der Mark grants Bochum a town charter.
1517
1735
25 "coal pits" are already registered within the district of Bochum.
1816
After the occupation by Napoleon, Bochum becomes the centre of a newly formed rural district of Bochum within the administrative district of Arnsberg; Bochum becomes a new administrative centre in the Prussian province of Westphalia.
1850
Jacob Mayer, founder of the steel company "Bochumer Verein", invents a steel casting process.
1904
Bochum acquires city status following the incorporation of surrounding towns and villages. It has a population of almost 117,000 in 1905. As further towns and villages are incorporated, the figure rises to 321,146 by 1929.
1906
22,844 miners live in Bochum; they produce more than five million tons of coal.
1933/45
Bochum under Hitler's National Socialist reign of terror.
1961
Adam Opel AG sets up its first subsidiary plant in Bochum, providing employment for many of the miners whose jobs were lost through pit closures.
1965
Ruhr University Bochum – the first university in the Ruhr area – is officially opened.
1973
The last of the 17 collieries still operating in Bochum after World War II closes down.
1975
With the municipal reorganisation in North Rhine Westphalia, Bochum and Wattenscheid amalgamate to form the "new" city of Bochum.
1979
The Ruhr Stadium is officially opened.
1980
Lake Kemnade is opened to the public.
1988
Bochum becomes a musical city when Starlight Express starts its momentous run.
1989
The first underground link between two towns in the Federal Republic of Germany is inaugurated. The new U-35 tram line links Bochum and Herne.
1990
Together with Dortmund, Bochum organises the first all-German gymnastics festival in the post-War period (120,000 participants). "Bergmannsheil", the world's first accident hospital, celebrates its centenary.
The local radio station "Ruhrwelle Bochum", now "Radio 98.5", goes on the air.
1993
The towns of Bochum, Hattingen, Herne and Witten join together to form the "Middle Ruhr Region".
1994
The Bochum Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Theatre celebrate their 75-year anniversary.
Ernst-Otto Stüber is elected first full-time Lord mayor of a North Rhine Westphalian city.
Twin towns
Sheffield (England), since 1950Oviedo (Spain), since 1980
Donetsk (Ukraine), since 1987
Nordhausen (Thuringia), since 1990
Xuzhou (China), since 1994 (commercial partnership)
