Bennighaus: the First Sole Owner @museum.de

Things had grown quiet in Thale – until 1772, when the plant was re-established. Then, in 1820, the metallurgist Johann Carl Bennighaus took over the works on a leasehold basis. He’d realised that he wouldn’t be able to concentrate exclusively on iron production, so he turned his attention to processing, in other words, manufacturing a range of different and innovative metal products.

In around 1830, he was producing wrought-iron carriage axles – the first of their kind anywhere in Prussia. Carriages and horse-drawn vehicles generally were now less likely to break down – especially in view of the poor road conditions of the period. They were also able to carry much heavier loads.

Another innovation followed in 1835; the founding of the first Metal-Punching and Enamelling plant in the German-speaking world, perhaps even in the whole of Europe. Sheet steel and enamel are two materials that are difficult to combine. But Thale’s enamellers were successful. They manufactured mass-produced articles and household enamel that was eventually exported to every continent. Around the turn of the century, ten percent of the enamelware sold worldwide originated ... in Thale!

The blue lidded pot with a handle was made some time between 1870 and 1880. It is the museum’s oldest exhibit. If you look closely, you can see that the handle was riveted to the body. But before long, in around 1900, the processes were upgraded. The handle of the white cup on the shelf below was welded on.

Another innovation arrived in Thale in 1862: the railway! The "Harzbahn" line was originally meant to serve tourists looking for easy access to the Bode Valley. But the plant’s supervisory board brought some pressure to bear, and from 1874, the railway was extended all the way to the factory grounds – just in time for the period of rapid industrial expansion in Germany and the attendant boom. The ironworks got its own railway siding. Raw materials such as coal could now be brought in from more distant regions and the finished products dispatched all over the world.