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Schneidemühl's bygone days

bahnhof

An early view of the railway station, mid-19th century, before its enlargement.
Schneidemühl's position on the rail line Berlin - Königsberg facilitated much commerce.
In years to come Schneidemühl became an important railway hub and a strategic target which,
during the last phases of the Second World War, caused intense fighting.



brieger's
                               
1900 — fin-de-siècle Schneidemühl — the Jewish owned Brieger's elegant hotel,
theater and concert house, located on Neuer Markt 10 was one of the oldest venues
of this type in Schneidemühl and a favorite watering hole for Jewish and Gentile clientele alike.
During the war years of 1914-18 the hall served as emergency hospital.





  
Hotel de Rome on Neuer Markt 21 was owned by Eduard Zander in the 1890s.
Although less than the pretentious name conjures up,
this was another of Schneidemühl’s favorite meeting places.





zeughausstr.  
 
Facing the viewer is the old Zeughaus, the armory, where Posenerstrasse ended
to make a sharp turn to the left before the street was extended in the late 1880s.  
Hill’s Hotel
on the right, owned by Lesser Hirsch in the 1890s,
was a popular venue for the local military at the turn of the 19th century.





One of the many old town mills on Mühlenstrasse 22, built in 1804
in the same locale where there used to stand a mill since days immemorial.
This house was torn down in 1928 and, the only reminder
of Schneidemühl's raison d'être was the name of the street — Mühlenstrasse.





Mühlenstrasse corner of Wasserstrasse, a scene of ca. 1870 that breathes
village peace and quiet. The house in the foreground, built of clay and timber,
used to be owned in 1896 by the city's well-known photographer
Oskar Merkel.

                                                              

firstcar 
                                                                                                                                                                            
The first automobile in Schneidemühl, ca. 1895,
aroused much excitement, curiosity, rejection and, fear.
The proud owner was Schneidemühl's popular
painter and photographer
Theophil Graszynski.
               




             








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