Frankfort-on-the-Oder

Frankfort-on-the-Oder, a town of Prussia, in the province of Brandenburg, 51 miles ESE. of Berlin, is a handsome, well-built town, with three suburbs, one of which lies on the right bank of the Oder, and is connected with the remainder of the town by a wooden bridge. The university, founded in 1506, was in 1811 incorporated with that of Breslau. Three great fairs are held annually. The principal manufactures embrace machines, hardware, organs, chemicals, stoneware, sugar, tobacco, spirits, leather, and paper. The town has also iron-foundries, tanneries, and breweries. Its situation on a navigable river, connected by canals with the Vistula and the Elbe, has always made it a place of considerable commercial importance. Pop. (1875) 47,176; (1890) 55,738. It was a flourishing member of the Hanseatic League in the 14th and 15th centuries; since then it has been several times besieged and ravaged in war. At Kunersdorf, 4½ miles E. of Frankfort, on August 12, 1759, Frederick the Great suffered a great defeat from the Russo-Austrian forces.