Station: [2] Farming and Industry

F: A plow, a hand cart, a large milk can, cart wheels – for centuries, life in Dotzheim was shaped by agriculture. In the area around the village, farmers grew grain, fruit and grapes.

M: But by 1889, when the village was linked up to the railroad network, the factories arrived in Dotzheim. An industrial zone grew up around the railroad station, with furniture factories and engineering works. Carl Bender’s business produced a famous mousetrap called “Capito”, and several capsule factories made aluminum caps for wine, beer and lemonade bottles. For example, after the turn of the century, the “Georg Pfaff Metal Capsule and Tinfoil Factory” produced and embossed tens of thousands of bottle caps a day and shipped them to the beverage companies.

F: November 15, 1921 is still remembered as a dark day that saw a devastating accident in the industrial zone. At the Fauth Oil Mill, which produced edible oils, a fuel tank exploded and brought down the building. Seven bodies were recovered from the wreckage, and there were 150 injured workers at the oil mill and the neighboring timber and sheet metal processing plant owned by Carl Bender. It was Dotzheim’s worst-ever industrial accident.

M: If you’d like to find out more about that explosion, about industry in Dotzheim and the local trades, take some time to flip through the large frames mounted to the wall on the left of the windows.