“What stories could these walls tell?” I wonder, gazing upon the König Friedrich August-Hütte. This Saxon ironworks holds a significant place in the region’s mining and economic history. The König Friedrich August-Hütte stands as a testament to Saxony’s industrial past.
Let’s journey back to 1789. Hammerschmied Johann Gottfried Ulbricht from Stolpen acquired land here. By 1794, he had an iron hammer in operation. A year later, the Hammermeister’s house was built. It later became the Hüttenschänke.
In 1821, two Dresden master craftsmen purchased the works. In 1822, they built a slag, steel, and iron bath for treating gout and rheumatism. By 1826, they were licensed to serve and lodge bathers. The König Friedrich August-Hütte was evolving.
Carl Friedrich August Dathe von Burgk, a well-known mining entrepreneur, acquired the hammer mill in 1827. His Freiherrlich von Burgker Steinkohlen- und Eisenhüttenwerke. It had experienced rapid growth in previous years. Dathe von Burgk recognized the potential. This combination of coal mines and ironworks was innovative. As early as 1823, his plant began experimenting with coking the extracted coal.
Immediately after acquiring the Dölzschen iron hammer, he started renovations. The company was renamed “Freiherrliches von Burgk’sches Eisenhüttenwerk”. In 1828, an iron foundry with a cupola furnace went into operation. By 1835, a machine factory began its work. Dathe von Burgk doubled iron processing from 5,000 to 10,000 centners between 1835 and 1840.
Dathe von Burgk succeeded in commissioning a coke blast furnace in Saxony for the first time in 1842. He received a state premium of 25,000 talers for this achievement. The coking coal came from the von Burgkschen Steinkohlenzechen in Plauenschen Grund. The plant obtained the smelted ores from Berggießhübel. Dathe von Burgk had acquired several magnetite mines there since around 1840. Only a little later, also in 1842, the first coke blast furnace of the Königin-Marien-Hütte in Cainsdorf near Zwickau was started up.
King Friedrich August II of Saxony visited the plant in March 1846. On the occasion of this visit, it was renamed Freiherrlich von Burgksche König-Friedrich-August-Hütte. The König Friedrich August-Hütte had received royal recognition.
The coke quality of the Burgker Steinkohlenzechen did not allow permanent smelting. Transporting the iron ores from Berggießhübel to Dölzschen proved too expensive in the long run. The blast furnace was shut down again in 1849. The plant continued to operate as a foundry and mechanical engineering workshop. In the 1860s, it manufactured steam engines and boilers, cast and wrought iron machine parts. Water wheels, screw presses, and machine tools were also produced.
After Dathe von Burgk’s death in 1872, the plant passed to Deutsche Bank in 1873. From 1882, it was run as a public limited company. The company was modernized. The slag bath, established in 1822, had to give way to the plant expansion in 1873. In 1897, the factory premises were flooded by the Weisseritz.
During the First World War, the König Friedrich August-Hütte became involved in armaments production. The economic decline after the end of the war led to the takeover by Sächsische Maschinenfabrik Chemnitz in 1922. The Hütte had previously been an important supplier. In 1928, the Hütte was spun off from Sächsische Maschinenfabrik as an independent public limited company. In the early 1930s, the mechanical engineering business was abandoned. It continued to operate as an iron foundry. In 1935, the casting of light metal was started.
During the Second World War, it was again involved in armaments production. From 1942, the employment of forced laborers has been proven. Up to 110 forced laborers had to work 60 hours a week. The König Friedrich August-Hütte was part of the war effort.
In 1993, former employees took over the privatized company in a management buy-out. The plant traded as EHD Eisenhammer Dresden GmbH & Co. KG. It specialized in the production of manhole covers. The plant went into insolvency in 2013 and was dissolved. The areas are now partially re-let as an industrial park.
Of the historical buildings, the Hammerherrenhaus, built in 1795, has been preserved. The Hütte, or rather what remains of it, serves as a reminder of Saxony’s industrial prowess.