Hameln

Hameln, a town and formerly a fortress of Hanover, occupies a commanding position on the Weser, 25 miles SW. of Hanover. It presents a quite medieval appearance, having many houses and buildings surviving from the Gothic and Renaissance periods of architecture. The chain-bridge which here crosses the Weser was completed in 1839, and is about 840 feet in length. The chief employments of the people are machine-making, iron-founding, wool-spinning, fish-breeding, brewing, and the manufacture of leather, paper, artificial manure, and chemicals. In the earliest times Hameln belonged to the Abbey of Fulda, and was a member of the Hanseatic Confederation. It suffered severely during the Thirty Years' War. Pop. (1885) 11,831. With this town is connected the well-known legend of the Piper (or Ratcatcher) of Hameln, who in 1284 freed the town from rats through the mystic charm of his pipe; but, when the people refused to pay him the promised reward, he exercised the power of his music upon the children of the place, and drew them away into the heart of an adjoining hill, which opened to receive them, and through which he led them to Transylvania. The story is familiar from Browning's 'Pied Piper of Hameln.'