220 
ELBERFELD. 
Elberfeld is one of the principal towns of the Rhineland, and in manufac 
tures and industries it most closely corresponds to Bradford amongst English 
towns. Like Barmen, which it adjoins, it is situated in the Wupper valley, one 
of the larger depressions of the Berg country, stretching roughly from the 
river Ruhr in the north to the Sieg in the south. Its population as enumerated 
at the census of 1905 was 162,853, against 156,966 in 1900, an increase of 
5,887, or 3'7 per cent., against an increase of 12 7 per cent, during the 
preceding five years. Elberfeld does not gain as much as some industrial 
towns of North Germany by immigration : an exceptionally large proportion 
of its population is indigenous. 
The following Table shows the population of Elberfeld at the last seven 
censuses, and also the increase in population in each inter-censal period. 
Census Year. 
1871 
1875 
1880 
1885 
1890 
1895 
1900 
1905 
Population. 
71,384 
80,589 
93,538 
106,499 
125,899 
139,337 
156,966 
162,853 
Increase during Inter-censal Period. 
Persons. 
9,205 
12,949 
12,961 
19,400 
13,438 
17,629 
5,887 
Per cent. 
12- 9 
16-1 
13- 9 
18-2 
10-7 
12-7 
3-7 
Elberfeld is an industrial and trading town pure and simple. It literally 
fills the valley, rising up on both sides of the river in irregular streets and 
terraces ; the houses climb up steep declivities, some of which are rendered 
extremely quiet by the impossibility of vehicular traffic ; the streets are a 
perplexing zig-zag of unrelated lines and curves ; in short, wherever houses 
could be squeezed in, they have been built, and the result is a curious patchwork 
of architecture. Where the hillside has defied the resources of the builder, 
access is obtained to higher levels by flights of stone steps, varying in number 
from a score to a hundred ; in one place there is a sheer ascent of nearly a 
hundred and fifty steps. 
In the older parts of the town the traditional Berg style of domestic 
architecture predominates. The original Berg dwelling was a low structure 
of wood, brick and plaster, or even of straw and mud, and it has many 
representatives in Elberfeld to-day, though the modern builder does not 
perpetuate it. Later came a modification in the form of a facing of black slate, 
by way of protection against the weather, and this form of house is also met 
with in considerable numbers. High gables and large sweeps of roof are 
characteristic of all these dwellings. 
The streets are, for the most part, narrow, and few ot them are well-paved, 
while many are not paved at all. tip to recently the cesspool system of drainage 
was universal, and even now the gutters in many parts of the town receive the 
w^ash-water of the adjacent houses, to the disfigurement of the streets, though 
within several years the costly system of sewerage now in progress will remove 
this deficiency. 
Through the valley there flows the Wupper stream, made black and noisome 
by the in-pourings of trade effluents of every kind, while above it runs the