Mobility – from horse-drawn carriages to electric vehicles

For centuries, horse-drawn carriages were the main means of mobility in rural Gescher.

From 1849 a passenger mail coach ran from Coesfeld to Vreden. It stopped at Grimmelt's post office (“Hotel zur Krone”), which had been established in 1839. When, in 1904, the railway line from Borken to Coesfeld opened, that service was discontinued except for the short stretch between the village and the station. From 1925 postbuses served the line from Coesfeld to Vreden.

Although cars had been around since the beginning of the 20th century, carriages were a common sight on the streets of Gescher until the end of the 1950s, especially on Sundays when farming families used their carriages to go to town and attend church.

While forwarding companies used large trucks from the 1940s onwards, commercial transport by horse and cart was not uncommon until the middle of the 20th century. The handcart remained the means of transport for many families for a long time. Only a handful of well-to-do families could afford their own car. Most people owned a bicycle, some a moped, scooter or, later on, a motorbike.

Besides the postbuses mentioned above, buses were also operated by German Rail and ran between Coesfeld and Bocholt from the 1970s. In Gescher they only stopped at the train station.  

Motorisation increased steadily from 1950. If you did not own a car, you could use the services of the numerous bus companies in town and in the region to get to work, e.g. to the Ruhr area, or on private outings.

Initially, fuel was only available at the petrol station of Thesing’s garage on Hauskampstrasse and at Linsen’s on the corner of Inselstrasse and Hauptstrasse.  Outside town, fuel was available at the so-called “Gabelpunkt”. The first charging station for electric cars was installed in 2012.

As to rail transport, the last scheduled passenger train stopped at Gescher in 1974. East of Gescher, the route of motorway A31 was planned and built. This motorway opened in 1986 in the Gescher area. Since 2005 the entire route from Bottrop to Emden is open to traffic. Today, the A31 is the most important supra-regional connection in the region. It has been supplemented by an efficient network of federal and country roads offering fast connections, also to the Netherlands.

Cycling remains popular. Many locals and guests ride their bike - electric or not - every day, both for getting around town or on the cycling routes in the countryside. The so-called “Pättkes” or small paths are extremely popular also for touring through the lovely Munsterland park landscape.

Around 2,000 people live in Hochmoor, which forms part of Gescher and is situated about 7 km to the south of this station.  The village is surrounded by the broad landscape of the White Fens.

The fenland used to extend between Gescher, Velen, Coesfeld and Reken on an area of roughly 1,200 hectars in the Westphalian Lowland. For some time this marshy land was the largest raised bog area in Westphalia.

The White Fens formed around 3,500 B.C. Over the centuries, a peat layer up to five metres thick developed in the subsoil of the largely untouched area.

This changed when, between 1906 and 1908, the Klasmann peat factory was built on the western edge of the White Fens. It was the start of the industrial extraction of peat deposits, which lasted until 1959.

In 1909, the first housing estate was built for workers employed by the peat factory, comprising 14 identical, modest houses. A school was built a few years later, in 1912. All children were taught by one teacher in one classroom.

As early as in the 1930s, the wide marshland was drained and roads were built. More so when peat cutting slowly came to an end after World War II. New farms settled in the area and began to farm the land.

A housing boom set in in the 1950s, also due to large numbers of families arriving from the former German territories in the east. This construction boom increased in the 1960s and 1970s when public facilities, several local supply stores and the industrial park in the south were added.

Along with it, a wide variety of new associations and groups were established. Then and now, their contribution to social life is outstanding. The History Society of Hochmoor is worth mentioning for its numerous activities and also for running the museum in the old village school.

Today the White Fens are considerably reduced in size. Yet the nature reserves are well worth visiting and attract many nature lovers and holiday-makers.

Further interesting facts, figures and stories can be discovered at Station O in the village green of Hochmoor.