Essen

Essen, a town in Rhenish Prussia, 22 miles by rail NE. of Düsseldorf, stands in the midst of a rich coal and iron district. It possesses numerous establishments for manufacturing iron, chief among them being the celebrated Krupp works and cannon-foundries, which employed 74 men in 1848 (see KRUPP, CANNON), and now 25,000; there are in the works 1500 furnaces, 110 steam-hammers—some of great size—300 boilers, and 420 steam-engines, 2500 tons of coal and coke being used, and nearly 600 tons of iron produced in the works daily. Besides this great establishment, there are also manufactures of tobacco, walking-sticks, and vinegar, with dye-works and breweries. Pop. (1875) 54,852; (1890) 78,706. Although the industrial activity of Essen is recent, the town itself dates from the foundation of the Benedictine nunnery in 873. One of the churches of the place, also founded in the same year, presents several architectural features of interest.