We begin our bike tour on the 3,000-year-old Westenhellweg, which was a trade route from the Meuse to the Memel and was also used for salt production. Then we ride to the Freistuhl, which has appeared in Dortmund's historical sources for 1,000 years. From here, we go along Hansastraße to the KrügerPassage, where stock exchange activities and many events took place until 1943.
We will circle the venerable Protestant St. Reinoldi Church via Kampstrasse. Here you can not only hear a lot about Dortmund's financial and commercial history, you can see it. The beginnings of the Brückviertel district in front of us date back to the time of Charlemagne (768-814). Only the name remains of the Burgtor, the nearby royal court. We read the place name Gnadenort. An older name from 1610 is “Quaden Ort” or “Quaemort.” This means something like “nasty, swampy, gloomy, bad place.”
As early as the 9th century, Brückstrasse was the main thoroughfare for Dortmund due to its convenient location as an intersection between Hellweg and a major north-south trade route. The street market previously held there moved to the market square on Trisselgasse, now known as the Old Market, due to space constraints. Dortmund was faced with the problem that all the roads were often under water, and “bridges” and planks were laid to allow the merchants' wagons to pass. Balkenstrasse was first mentioned by name in 1342 as “Lohus (Lohhaus) subter Trabes” (under the beams), and at the end of the 14th century, in addition to the name “Balkenstrate,” it was also called “Gruetstrate.” This name was derived from the Grüttehaus, the Ratsbrauhaus opposite. Balkenstrasse used to be a log dam for the merchants' wagons, hence the name Balkenstrasse. After all, the name of Dortmund means “Throtmanni”: settlement on the gurgling waters.
Our first tour leg ends at the old market on Trisselgasse: Fraud during market trading was visibly ostracized here:
The fraudulent market trader was “getrieselt,” i.e., placed in a visible cage, the Trissel. From here, the tour continues by bike to the Ostfriedhof, where successful Dortmund businessmen were buried. Individual graves are discussed.
After that, we turn our attention to current and modern commercial buildings in Dortmund by cycling down the B1, the busiest federal highway in Germany, to the university campus. Here, we admire the latest technology companies that are attracting worldwide attention. We will cycle back to the starting point of our tour via the developed bike paths to the Freistuhl opposite Dortmund Central Station.