“Flößort oder Schwemmort?” Someone might ask. That is what Plauen means. We are now in Plauen in Dresden. It is a district in the southwest of Dresden. Plauen is also the namesake of the Dresden district. The district includes other parts of the city.
Plauen’s history is quite interesting. The village of Plauen came about before the 13th century. It sits at the exit of the Weisseritz valley. The valley is called Plauenschen Grund. Plauen was first mentioned on March 31 1206. This was in the same document as Dresden. The name comes from the old Sorbian word “plawen”. It means a place where things were washed up. The nearby Weisseritz River helped in building many mills.
Let’s talk about a mysterious resident of Plauen. Countess Auguste Charlotte von Kielmannsegge lived near the Weisseritz. People thought she was a spy for Napoleon. She was also a painter. She had close ties with Professor Josef Grassi from the Dresden Academy.
Plauen saw a boom during industrialization. Gottlieb Traugott Bienert moved here. He turned the old Hofmühle into a large mill. It brought economic growth and social improvements. He set up a school and a kindergarten. In the mid-19th century the Albertsbahn railway was built. Plauen got its own train station. Factories and grand buildings replaced Plauen’s village look.
Plauen became part of Dresden on January 1 1903. After the city districts were dissolved Plauen belonged to the Südvorstadt area. In 1996 the office moved to Plauen Town Hall. Since 2018 it is called Stadtbezirk Plauen.
Plauen’s old boundaries have stayed mostly the same over the years. It was mainly a farming village for centuries. The village had an upper and lower part. The Unterdorf was on Wassergasse. Wassergasse is now Hofmühlenstrasse. The Oberdorf was near the village pond. That pond is now Chemnitzer Platz. The Oberdorf was the older part of Plauen.
As industry grew Traugott Bienert expanded the Hofmühle. This changed the old village. More workers were needed. The farmland was built on. From the late 19th century the Dresdner Westend company built eastward from the Oberdorf core. After World War I the southern slope was developed. The Westend area has many townhouses and villas. These were not bombed in 1945. Examples include Villa Grüber Villa Hohe Strasse 139 and Villa Westendstrasse 21. After 1920 Hohenplauen was built. It features cooperative buildings from the late 1920s and early 1930s. The Plaut-Haus on Coschützer Strasse is notable.
Many street names in Plauen changed on January 1 1904. This was to avoid duplicates in Dresden. Street names were not needed before 1865. The village was too small. The first full numbering of houses happened that year.
Fichtepark is in a prominent location. It opened as Westendpark on September 26 1891. The Dresdner Westend company provided the land for free. A tower was opened here on September 2 1896. It was named Bismarck Tower. In 1937 Westendpark was renamed Johann-Gottlieb-Fichte-Park. The tower was renamed Fichteturm in 1954.
F.-C.-Weiskopf-Platz serves as a town center. Here you can find the Müllerbrunnen. There are shops restaurants and Plauen Town Hall. Today the town hall houses a bank and the Plauen district office.
After the Weisseritz flood in 2002 a project was started. It helped rebuild homes and businesses.
Plauen has been a protected area since January 21 2000. It is a “well-preserved example of the planned transformation of Dresden’s suburbs”. This happened during the industrialization of the late 19th century.
The Bienertmühle Museum is at the Plauen S-Bahn station. It is in an old building of the Bienert mill. Gottlieb Traugott Bienert’s company made Plauen famous.
Now as we conclude our visit to Plauen remember that this district is more than just a place on a map. It is a vibrant tapestry of history industry and community spirit. From its humble beginnings as a village to its transformation into a bustling urban district Plauen has always been a place of innovation and resilience.