A colossal steel skeleton pierces the Essen sky. This is the Modell Förderturm Zeche Carl Funke. Its presence a stark reminder of a bygone era. An era defined by coal and the tireless hands that extracted it.
Before you stands a silent giant. This is not just a tower. It’s a monument to the Zeche Carl Funke coal mine. For over a century this structure witnessed the relentless rhythm of industry. The clang of machinery. The rumble of coal cars. The echoes of countless workers’ lives interwoven with the mine’s history.
The Zeche Carl Funke’s story begins long before this imposing tower. It traces its roots back to 1773 to the Hundsnocken mine. A humble operation of tunnels and sloping shafts. For years it operated sporadically. Napoleon’s troops intermittently disrupted its work. Then a significant discovery transformed its fortune. The rich Mausegatt seam was found. Coal production soared to an astonishing 30000 tons annually. Two mine buildings were constructed. This small operation began to thrive.
In 1841 deep mining began. A shaft was sunk. The shallow workings could no longer sustain the mine’s needs. The Hundsnocken mine was consolidated with neighbouring mines in 1870. This became the Heisinger Tiefbau. But Heisinger Tiefbau struggled to compete with its more successful neighbors. This changed with Carl Funke.
Carl Funke’s arrival as mine manager at the Vereinigte Pörtingssiepen mine marked a turning point. His systematic expansion included the Gottfried Wilhelm and Heisinger Tiefbau mines. The Heisinger Tiefbau mine was on the brink of collapse. Carl Funke transformed it. The mine was reorganized as the Rheinische Anthracitkohlenwerke AG. A new era of planned expansion began. A new shaft named Friedrich Wilhelm replaced the old one. A railway connection to Kupferdreh station ensured efficient transportation.
In 1906 Heisinger Tiefbau was renamed Zeche Carl Funke. A powerful processing plant and a briquette factory were built. The mine’s annual output reached 200000 tons. Even after World War I despite the crisis in the Ruhr coal mining industry the mine continued its expansion. A second shaft was added. A unique feature was the addition of a Tomson hoist. This was salvaged from the abandoned Zeche Victoria mine in Kupferdreh.
A third shaft was later connected. This signaled a major expansion of the mine. The mines were linked by connecting passages. They operated as separate mining facilities. The link to the Zeche Gottfried Wilhelm mine was completed in 1943. Production at Gottfried Wilhelm ceased. Zeche Carl Funke’s production hit its peak at 630000 tons annually.
After World War II the mine continued to grow. In the 1950s a new briquette factory was built. A fourth shaft was added further expanding the mine eastward. This shaft was equipped with a modern hoisting gear. An ambitious experiment in hydromechanical mining was conducted. The mine also expanded by incorporating shafts from the abandoned Vereinigte Dahlhauser Tiefbau mine.
In 1967 Zeche Carl Funke merged with Vereinigte Pörtingssiepen forming a larger operation. This lasted until 1973. Then the mine closed. The site lay abandoned for a decade. Then most of the above-ground structures were demolished. This tower and a few other structures remain as industrial monuments.
Today the Zeche Carl Funke site is partly a community garden. The Förderturm stands as a poignant testament to Essen’s industrial heritage a reminder of the sweat and toil of generations. A visible symbol of a significant chapter in the history of the Ruhr region.