SCHWELM  , a

town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, situated on the river of the same name, 4 M . E. of Barmen, with which it is connected by an electric tramway, and on the main line of railway, Dusseldorf-Hagen . Pop . (1905) 18,469 . It has three churches and various schools and public institutions . Lying close to the Harkort iron and sulphur mines, and within the populous and rich mineral district on the lower Rhine, it carries on iron-founding, wire-drawing and the manufacture of machinery of various kinds, besides an active trade in iron, steel and brass goods . Scarcely less important are its manufactures of ribbons, damask, cord, pianos and paper . In the neighbourhood is a hydropathic establishment . Schwelm is said to have existed as early as 1085, though it did not receive civic rights until 1590 . See Tobien, Bilder aus der Geschichte von Schwelm (Schwelm,1890) .