ELBERFELD  , a manufacturing

town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, on the Wupper, and immediately west of and contiguous to Barmen (q.v.) . Pop . (1816) 21,710;•(1840) 31,514; (1885) 109,218; (1905) 167,382 . Elberfeld-Barmen, although administratively separate, practically form a single whole . It winds, a continuous strip of houses and factories, for 9 M. along the deep valley, on both banks of the Wupper, which is crossed by numerous bridges, the engirdling hills crowned with woods . Local intercommunication is provided by an electric tramway line and a novel hanging railway—on the Langen mono-rail system—suspended over the bed of the river, with frequent stations . In the centre of the town are a number of irregular and narrow streets, and the river, polluted by the refuse of dye-works and factories, constitutes a constant eyesore . Yet within recent years great alterations have been effected; in the newer quarters are several handsome streets and public buildings; in the centre many insanitary dwellings have been swept away, and their place occupied by imposing blocks of shops and business premises, and a magnificent new town-hall, erected in a dominant position . Among the most recent improvements must be mentioned the Brausenwerther Platz, flanked by the theatre, the public baths, and the railway station and administrative offices . There are eleven Evangelical and five Roman Catholic churches (noticeable among the latter the Suitbertuskirche), a synagogue, and chapels of various other sects . Among other public buildings may be enumerated the civic hall, the law courts and the old town-hall . The town is particularly rich in educational, industrial, philanthropic and religious institutions .

The

schools include the Gymnasium (founded in 1592 by the Protestant community as a Latin school), the Realgymnasium (founded in 1830, for " modern " subjects and Latin), the Oberrealschule and Realschule (founded 1893, the latter wholly " modern "), two girls' high schools, a girls' middle-class school, a large number of popular schools, a mechanics' and polytechnic school, a school of mechanics, an industrial drawing school, a commercial school, and a school for the deaf and dumb . There are also a theatre, an institute of music, a library, a museum, a zoological garden, tnd numerous scientific societies . The town is the seat of the Berg Bible Society . The majority of the inhabitants are Protestant, with a strong tendency towards Pietism; but the Roman Catholics number upwards of 40,000, forming about one-fourth of the total population . The industries of Elberfeld are on a scale of great magnitude . It is the chief centre in Germany of the cotton, wool, silk and velvet manufactures, and of upholstery, drapery and haberdashery of all descriptions, of printed calicoes, of Turkey-red and other dyes, and of fine chemicals . Leather and rubber goods, gold, silver and aluminium wares, machinery, wall-paper, and stained glass are also among other of its staple products . Commerce is lively and the exports to foreign countries are very considerable . The railway system is well devised to meet the requirements of its rapidly increasing trade . Two main lines of railway traverse the valley; that on the south is the main line from Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne and Dusseldorf to central Germany and Berlin, that on the north feeds the important towns of the Ruhr valley . The surroundings of Elberfeld are attractive, and public grounds and walks have been recently opened on the hills around with results eminently beneficial to the health of the population . In the 12th century the site of Elberfeld was occupied by the castle of the lords of Elverfeld, feudatories of the archbishops of Cologne .

The

fief passed later into the possession of the counts of Berg . The industrial development of the place started with a colony of bleachers, attracted by the clear waters of the Wupper, who in 1532 were granted the exclusive privilege of bleaching yarn . It was not, however, until into that Elberfeld was raised to the status of a town, and in 164o was surrounded with walls . In 176o the manufacture of silk was introduced, and dyeing with Turkey-red in 1780; but it was not till the end of the century that its industries developed into importance under the influence of Napoleon's continental system, which barred out British competition . In 1815 Elberfeld was assigned by the congress of Vienna, with the grand-duchy of Berg, to Prussia, and its prosperity rapidly developed under the Prussian Zollverein . See Coutelle, Elberfeld, topographisch-statistischeDarstellung (Elberfeld, 1853) ; Schell, Geschichte der Stadt Elberfeld (1900) ; A . Shadwell, Industrial Efficiency (London, 1906) ; and Jorde, Fuhrer durch Elberfeld and seine Umgebung (1902) .