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Hall of the century Bochum

In 1842 Jacob Mayer and Eberhard Kühne set up an industrial company called the "Bochumer Verein". This company was to remain for a long time one of the largest iron and steel businesses in the Ruhrgebiet. In 1844 a crucible steel smelting house was in operation on green meadowland here, and 50 years later the Hall of the Century was erected on precisely the same site. In 1845 the crucible steel factory already employed 50 workers. In 1854 the business was restructured into a joint stock company and the resulting injection of capital brought about a swift expansion, including a new hammer forge, a puddle work, further rolling mills, a wheel-set and an iron turnery. The introduction of the Bessemer process hailed the introduction of rail production in 1865.

Between 1873 and 1890 four blast furnaces were built to produce pig iron. In order to meet the need for coal the Bochumer Verein began buying up collieries in 1858. From now on it considered itself as a completely integrated enterprise with its own coal mines, pig iron production, steel production and steel processing plants.
In 1902 almost 12.000 workers were employed by the Bochumer Verein. In the same year the Bochumer Verein made an appearance at the Trade and Industry Exhibition in Düsseldorf – the national version of the World Exhibition - with a gigantic exhibition hall, now the Hall of the Century. This is an outstanding example of the sort of steel construction that was widely seen in the second half of the 19th century. The specially shaped arched supporting elements were a notable feature. At the Düsseldorf exhibition the hall had been plastered over with a great deal of stucco, culminating in a 70 metre high bell tower. At the end of the exhibition it was dismantled and reassembled in Bochum in 1903, this time without the opulent decorations and the bell tower.

From 1903 onwards the Hall was used as a central gas generating plant. As with other blast furnace sites around the same time, the Bochumer Verein wanted to make maximum use of the stack gas produced in its blast furnaces in order to produce electricity and wind for its industrial operations. During the First World War demand for steel rose to such an extent that the Hall was enlarged by a transverse wing on the east side and an extension to the west. It was later expanded by three further boiler houses and a gas blower engine house, along with further extensions until it reached its present size of 158 metres in length, 34 metres wide and 21 metres high.

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