Did you know that the Zeche Kaiser Friedrich Schacht 2 once boasted the world’s largest coke battery? This impressive mining complex in Dortmund’s Menglinghausen district operated from 1871 to 1925. It wasn’t just any coal mine. The Zeche Kaiser Friedrich was a giant. Its shafts 1 and 2 were central to its operations. Other shafts like Sanssouci Henriette Holthausen and Hummelbank were eventually abandoned. The mine itself was the result of a merger the Gewerkschaft Baroper Steinkohlebergwerke. This powerhouse of industry included a massive coke plant and even a benzene factory.
Imagine the scale. The coke battery alone contained 200 ovens. A colossal double-conical slag heap dominated the landscape. This was truly large-scale mining and processing at its peak. The Zeche Kaiser Friedrich’s highest coal output was a staggering 334782 tons in 1913. Around 1500 people worked here then. Sadly this era of prosperity was short-lived.
By 1925 the mine fell victim to the great closure of mines in Dortmund’s south. The shafts were filled. The last vestiges of the Zeche Kaiser Friedrich’s glory days were erased. The massive slag heap itself vanished. During the 1970s it was removed to make way for the construction of the A45 Autobahn the Sauerlandlinie. Today only a flat horseshoe-shaped area remains a silent reminder of the enormous pile of waste.
Even the miners’ housing known colloquially as a Bullenkloster a term reflecting its exclusively male occupants was demolished in 1981 after it was converted into an old people’s home. Only fragments remain. A few sections of the perimeter wall a staircase and some rubble stand in the woods. These are small remnants of a once-mighty industrial complex.
Despite the disappearance of most of the physical evidence street names transformer houses and the few remaining walls help tell its story. The Zeche Kaiser Friedrich Schacht 2 is not what it once was. Yet its legacy still lingers. Its story serves as a testament to the transformative power of industry and the enduring human spirit that powered it. The memory of this once-great mine continues to resonate even if mostly through faint echoes of its presence.