Institut für Stadtgeschichte 
Karmeliterkloster, Frankfurt am Main

The Peace of Frankfurt, concluded between Bismarck and the French foreign minister Jules Favre at Zum Schwan (The Swan) on May 10, 1871, marked the end of the Franco-Prussian War. On this occasion Bismarck expressed his hope that the Peace of Frankfurt would also be peace with Frankfurt. The mayor of the city, Johann Heinrich Daniel Mumm, launched a generous modernization program with a large number of prestigious buildings.

As before, many Frankfurt citizens continued to show a public spirit during the time of the German empire. In 1874 Dr. Joseph Hoch bequeathed a million marks to the city to set up a conservatoire for the "promotion of music". After the death of Robert Schumann his widow, Clara, accepted a lectureship at the Hoch Conservatoire. She continued to live and work in Frankfurt until her death in 1891. In 1887 Hannah Louise von Rothschild founded a public library in memory of and named after her father, Mayer Carl von Rothschild.

In 1880 Johann Miquel became mayor of Frankfurt. On October 20, in the presence of Emperor William I, the Frankfurt Opera House was opened with Mozart's Don Giovanni. A number of important major projects were completed during Miquel's term of office. 1886 saw the official opening of the new Frankfurt harbour, the Westhafen. This was accompanied by the construction of the Main canals, with the completion of five locks between Mainz and Frankfurt. Frankfurt's central railway station (Hauptbahnhof) was opened in 1888, consisting of 18 platforms in three halls. The old railway stations at Taunusanlage were demolished.

In 1890 Miquel was appointed Prussian Minister of Finance. The new mayor, Franz Adickes, turned Frankfurt into an elegant metropolis with an international reputation. Frankfurt itself began to expand through the incorporation of many surrounding towns and villages. Residential and industrial estates were created, as well as parks, a green belt and a number of spacious ring roads and radial roads. In the east of the city a further harbour, called Osthafen, was officially opened in 1912. Within a few decades the population of Frankfurt grew more than fivefold. In 1867 it was about 78,000, and by the beginning of the First World War it had increased to about 437,000.

The general economic boom during Germany's industrialization enabled Frankfurt to flourish. During this time there were numerous exhibitions and mass events, such as the International Cookery Exhibition of 1894, the Second and Third Singers' Contests of 1903 and 1909, the 11th German Gymnastics Festival of 1908 and the 17th German Shooting Competition of 1912. (Frankfurt's major technical exhibitions during this period are mentioned elsewhere on this site.)

The introduction of economic freedom in 1864 added increasing momentum to industrialization. The Adler Company, founded by Heinrich Kleyer in 1880, rapidly developed into a leading manufacturer of bicycles, typewriters and cars. In 1914 every fifth car on German roads was an Adler. In 1881 the private company Philipp Abraham Cohen, under the management of Wilhelm Merton, became a shareholding company called Metallgesellschaft (The Metal Company). In 1894, Leopold Cassella & Comp. and Frankfurter Anilinfarbenfabrik (Aminobenzene Dye Company) merged to form Farbwerke (Dye Manufacturers) Cassella Mainkur, which achieved global fame under Leo Gans and Arthur and Carl von Weinberg.

Frankfurt also achieved considerable successes in the areas of culture and science. An Academy of Social and Commercial Studies was opened in 1901, founded by the City of Frankfurt and the Institut für Gemeinwohl (Institute for the Common Good), with the participation of the Chamber of Commerce and the Polytechnic Society. In 1907 Paul Ehrlich, head of the newly created Institute for Serum Research and Experimental Therapy discovered a chemotherapy compound called Salvarsan, for which he received the Nobel Prize. The medicine was first produced in 1910. Finally, on October 18, 1914, the University of Frankfurt was opened on the initiative of the mayor, Franz Adickes, as a combination of old and new foundations and institutions. It was the climax of Frankfurt's great tradition of endowments, and it was indeed the first endowment university in Germany. It has been called Johann Wolfgang Goethe University since 1932.

During the First World War, in 1917, Frankfurt became the target of eleven air raids with 109 bombs. 21 people died and 49 were injured. During the last two years of the war, in particular, Frankfurt's population suffered from a shortage of food and fuel.

© Helmut Nordmeyer, Translation: Hugh Beyer