Route of Industrial Heritage
Few people think of the region's industrial heritage when they hear the term "Rhine-Main". Yet world-famous companies have worked here and left their mark - especially in Offenbach with companies such as MAN Roland and numerous smaller companies and factories in the leather industry.
On this page
Around 1,000 sites of local and national importance make up the Rhine-Main Industrial Heritage Route. From port and industrial facilities to bridges, railroad stations, sewage treatment plants, workers' housing estates and technology parks - the project brings the many living testimonies of the region's manufacturing industry back into the public eye.
These are places that are important as exemplary industrial facilities for production methods or products, that radiate spatial and urban qualities due to their location in relation to the river, the city and the landscape, that represent important architectural and engineering achievements in terms of building history or technology, that convey the functioning of the city and region or that bear witness to significant historical events and special socio-political experiments in building and industrial history.
Local route guide for download
The stations of the Route of Industrial Heritage
"Lost places"
The evidence of Offenbach's industrial past traced above only gives a rudimentary idea of how close together large and small businesses were here, how their activities shaped life in the city - in factories and backyards - and how far the name Offenbach radiated as an industrial location.
The close proximity of the numerous, sometimes highly specialized leather processing companies or companies supplying the leather industry around Ludwigstrasse and Luisenstrasse, for example, was the reason why this area of the city was known as the "Portefeuiller Viertel". However, there were also some larger companies in other sectors that are no longer visible today: Of particular importance, for example, was the Dick & Kirschten wagon factory, which - while still a craftsman's workshop - enjoyed a worldwide reputation. Collet & Engelhard, Hartmann, Mabeg, Markomat, Sachs and Schlesinger were among the many metalworking tool, machine and automaton factories where thousands of Offenbachers worked. The company Stahlbau Lavis left behind some impressive bridge constructions in the region - only a trolley (see no. 38) remains as a reminder. The Weintraud & Co. company, widely known under the brand name Rowenta, gave its name to a street in Offenbach. Nothing remains of the Hammonia stearin factory today, while the Kappus soap factory, whose historical headquarters in Luisenstraße no longer exist, still produces in the city - now in modern factory buildings. The Frankfurt-based Glockenbäckerei bakery has also left no trace of its founding location in Offenbach in the cityscape. This also applies to the fur processing company Thorer & Co. or the Kaiser-Friedrich-Quelle, which was once the starting point for a spa in Offenbach.