We'll start our hike on the 3000-year-old Westenhellweg, which was a trade route from the Maas to the Memel and was also used for salt production. Then we'll walk to the Freistuhl, which has appeared in Dortmund's historical sources for 1000 years. From here, we'll head to the KrügerPassage, where stock market activities and many events took place until 1943.
We'll circle the venerable Protestant St. Reinoldi Church via Kampstrasse. Here you can hear a lot about Dortmund's financial and commercial history from the guide, and, if the church is open, you can also see a lot. The beginnings of the Brückviertel district in front of us date back to the time of Charlemagne (768-814). Only the naming of the castle gate, the nearby royal court, has been preserved. We read the place name Gnadenort. An older name from 1610 is “Quaden Ort” or “Quaemort.” That means something like “nasty, swampy, gloomy, bad place.”
As early as the 9th century, Brückstraße was Dortmund's main thoroughfare, thanks to its convenient location at the crossroads of the Hellweg and a major north-south trade route. The street market that used to be held there moved to the market square on Trisselgasse, now known as the Alter Markt, due to lack of space. Dortmund faced the problem that all roads were often under water and “bridges” and beams were laid to let the merchant wagons pass. Balkenstraße was first mentioned in 1342 as “Lohus (Lohhaus) subter Trabes” (under the beams). At the end of the 14th century, it was also called “Gruetstrate” in addition to “Balkenstrate.” This name came from the Grüttehaus, the Ratsbrauhaus across the street. Balkenstrasse used to be a causeway for merchant wagons, hence the name Balkenstrasse. After all, the name Dortmund means “Throtmanni”: a settlement on gurgling waters.
Our tour ends at the old market on Trisselgasse: Small crimes and fraud during market trading were visibly outlawed here:
Any cheating market trader was “getrieselt,” meaning they were put in a visible cage, the Trissel.