Coat of arms

The coat of arms has been in use in its present form for about 750 years. It shows the markish chessboard ("märkischen Schachbalken") in red and silver on a golden field. Originally it was the founders' coat of arms, i. e. the Counts of Mark. The chessboard and the colours are often displayed in the coats of arms of further towns founded by that family line. Similarly, the colours of the city are red and white.

Overview

The name Ham means "corner" in the old Low German dialect spoken at that time. In the old times the name thom Hamme would be used, which evolved slowly into its modern form Hamm. The name derives from the description of the Hamm's location in the corner of the Lippe river and the narrow Ahse affluent, where it was founded on Ash Wednesday in March 1226 by Count Adolf I of the Mark.

Pauluskirche former St.Georg, main church of Hamm

"Gründungsprivileg" Town rights of Hamm

Hamm railway station hall

• 1350 The Black death killed nearly all of the citizens. Only seven families survived.
• 1469 Hamm became a member of the Hanseatic League. It was one of the most powerful towns in the region, while the large cities of the today's Ruhr area still were only tiny villages.
• 1614 The Treaty of Xanten ends the conflict about the heritage of Cleve-Mark, the Electorate Brandenburg (later Prussia) inherited the Ducal Cleve and the counties Ravensburg and Mark (with Hamm)
• 1618-1648 Thirty Years' War, Hamm was taken several times by different armed forces and had to endure changing garrisons. Almost all buildings were destroyed, except for the main church St. Georg (today: Pauluskirche) and St. Agnes church.
• 1657 Establishment of the Gymnasium illustre (later named Gymnasium Hammonense) with three faculties (theology, jurisprudence and philosophy).
• 1753 Establishment of the regional court (Landgericht)
• 1767 "Märkische Kammerdeputation" established
• 1769 Brewery Isenbeck founded
• 1787 Changing of the "Märkische Kammerdeputation" into the "Märkische Kriegs- und Domänenkammer" by the Prussian "Generaldirektorium".
• 1818 Hamm has 4,688 inhabitants.
• 1820 The regional appeal court moves from Cleve to Hamm.
• 1847 First train stops at the main station Hamm
• 1853 Westfälische Union (later Thyssen Draht AG) was founded
• 1856 Westfälische Draht Industrie was founded (later Klöckner Draht GmbH, today Westfälische Draht Industrie (WDI))
• 1901 30,000 inhabitants, the district Hamm is split up into the urban district of Hamm (City) and the district of Unna.
• 1901 Coal-mine de Wendel in Herringen starts mining (later Heinrich-Robert, now Bergwerk Ost) (first coal output 1904)
• 1902 Coal-mine Maximilian in Werries/Ostwennemar starts mining (first coal output 1907)
• 1905 Coal-mine Radbod in Bockum-Hövel starts mining (first coal output 1905)
• 1912 Coal-mine Sachsen in Heessen starts mining (first coal output 1914)
• 1914 Datteln-Hamm-Canal is completed including the new city port
• 1938 The A2 (motorway) reaches Hamm
• 1939-1945 55 air raids destroy nearly 60% of the old city and leave only a few historical buildings.
• 1944 Coal-mine Maximillian closes after several problems with water drainage of the hole mine (completely flooded in 1914).
• 1945 First meeting of the city council after the war
• 1946 Establishment of the industrial court and the industrial court of appeal by the Allied Control Council.
• 1953 Windsor Boys' School opens for the children on British Service personnel
• 1956 Sport airfield founded in the Lippe meadows.
• 1965 A1 (motorway) reaches Hamm.
• 1976 Coal-mine Sachsen closes
• 1983 Windsor Boys' School closes - View the Virtual Tour of the Windsor School / Windsor Boys School Hamm, Germany

Sri Kamadchi Ampal Temple Hamm

• 1984 First Landesgartenschau (horticultural show of the federal state) of North Rhine-Westphalia is held in Hamm. The old area of the coal-mine Maximillian was used for this purpose. The world largest glass elephant (Glaselefant) is built as the main attraction and until today is one of the major landmarks of the city.
• 1990 Coal-mine Radbod closes.
• 2002 Consecration of the Sri Kamadchi Ampal-Temple
• 2005 Establishment of the university of applied sciences "SRH Fachhochschule Hamm"

Population development

Until 1833 any population is an approximation, in later times the population was counted or updated by the local government or other institutions of the government.

¹ "Volkszählungsergebnis" counted population

Significant minority groups
Nationality	Population (2022)
Turkey	9,309
Poland	3,255
Bulgaria	2,034
Ukraine	1,927
Syria	1,744
Serbia	1,563
Romania	1,143
Iraq	871
Morocco	795
Croatia	743
Italy	631
Russia	583
Afghanistan	504
Sri Lanka	386
Hungary	313

Mayor

The current Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) of Hamm is Marc Herter of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) since 2020. The Mayor is directly elected for a five year term. Prior to the 1999 local administration reform in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Oberstadtdirektor was the chief executive of the city, and was chosen by the city council.

The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows:

City council

Results of the 2020 city council election.

The Hamm city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:

Party		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	25,992	37.1	2.0	22	2
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	23,385	33.4	9.2	19	6
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	8,925	12.7	5.5	7	3
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	3,575	5.1	1.0	3	1
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	3,274	4.7	4.0	3	3
	Pro Hamm (WG Pro)	2,555	3.6	0.8	2	±0
	The Left (Die Linke)	2,068	2.9	1.4	2	1
	The Right (Die Rechte)	213	0.3	0.6	0	1
	Free Voters (FW)	122	0.2	0.2	0	±0
Valid votes		70,109	98.4
Invalid votes		1,163	1.6
Total		71,272	100.0		58	±0
Electorate/voter turnout		136,561	52.2	0.7
Source: State Returning Officer

Incorporations

In 1939, 1968 and 1975 Hamm incorporated several towns and municipalities: in 1939 the village Mark (which the Counts and the county took the name of) and in 1968 the villages of Berge and Westtünnen. In the reorganisation of 1975, the following towns and municipalities were incorporated into the City of Hamm:

1. The town of Bockum-Hövel, Lüdinghausen district
2. The town of Heessen, Beckum district
3. The municipality of Uentrop, Unna district, formed in 1968, including the municipalities of Braam-Ostwennemar, Frielinghausen, Haaren, Norddinker, Schmehausen, Uentrop, Vöckinghausen and Werries
4. The municipality of Rhynern, (Unna district, without Hilbeck incorporated by Werl), formed in 1968, including the municipalities of Allen, Freiske, Hilbeck, Osterflierich, Osttünnen, Rhynern, Süddinker and Wambeln
5. The municipality of Pelkum, (Unna district), formed in 1968, including the municipalities of Herringen, Lerche, Pelkum, Sandbochum, Weetfeld and parts of Wiescherhöfen.

The number of citizens more than doubles from 83.000 in 1974 to 173.000 in 1975.

City structure

Ascheberg1	Drensteinfurt2	Ahlen2	Lippetal3
Werne4	Hamm (Map of Hamm's quarters)		Welver3
Bergkamen4	Kamen4	Bönen4	Unna4
1 District Coesfeld 2 District Warendorf 3 District Soest 4 District Unna

Hamm has seven quarters (Stadtbezirk), each divided into residential areas like City, which actually means the center of the city around the Pauluschurch or like Hövel-Radbod near the former entrance to the coalmine Radbod in the quarter Bockum-Hövel. The following table shows the situation in 2006. Every quarter is named with the prefix Hamm, like Hamm-Bockum-Hövel or Hamm-Mitte.

The former town Bockum-Hövel today forms the quarter with the largest number of inhabitants, closely followed by the centre of the city Hamm-Mitte. The latter is the smallest quarter by metric size.

Media

The only daily newspaper of Hamm printed there, is the "Westfälischer Anzeiger". At first, a weekly, newspaper in Hamm was the "Kreis Hammsches Wochenblatt" founded by Heinich Jakob Grote in 1822. Its name was changed in 1848 to "Westfälischer Anzeiger". A second newspaper appeared, founded by the Thiemann family, the "Westfälische Kurier". Both co-existed until the end of the Second World War. After the War both newspapers were combined and named "Westfälischer Anzeiger und Kurier". In the 1960s another name-change made the "Westfälischer Anzeiger". This newspaper is the mantle of several smaller regional newspapers, together they had a total 153,428 copies in 2004. In the 1970s the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung" unsuccessfully tried to establish its own daily newspaper. Two weekly newspapers appear in Hamm the "Stadtanzeiger" from the "Westfälischer Anzeiger" with a total of 384.000 copies and the Sonntags-Rundblick by a medium-sized local company. Since 1990 the local radio station "Radio Lippewelle Hamm" is On Air and number one radio station of the local radios in NRW. On 3 October 1993 the "Offener Kanal Hamm" started broadcasting, it is a small TV project by people for the people, started through the federal state.

Roads

Hamm is linked to three motorways. The Bundesautobahn 1 (BAB 1 or A1, Puttgarden-Saarbrücken) named Hansaline with two connections No.81 and 82., the (BAB 2 or A2, Oberhausen-Berlin) with three connections No.17,18 and 19 and the A445 (Hamm-Arnsberg) which is connected by the B63 until the planned construction between Hamm and Werl is completed. The Kamener Kreuz is situated in the southwest of Hamm. Two "federal roads" (Bundesstrassen) the B61 and B63 intersect in the city centre. Several state roads (Landesstrassen) are connecting Hamm with its neighbouring towns and municipalities.

Railways

Hamm central station

Hamm has three stations, the main railway station Hamm (Westfalen) and two minor stations, one in Bockum-Hövel and the other one in Heessen. The main station is one of the biggest railway hubs in Germany, and connected with one of the largest marshalling yards in Europe, the latter now only partly operating. Notable is the railway station for its Art deco Gründerzeit inspired building styles. Hamm has been connected to the rail since 2 May 1847. Its huge railroad yard—Europe's biggest at the time^[4]—was bombed repeatedly during World War II,^[5][6] as was the city itself (in December 1944 it was hit by eleven raids on one day).^[4]

Buses

The city bus net Hamm is served by the "Stadtwerke Hamm", with 65 buses, and the "Verkehrsgesellschaft Breitenbach". A regional bus service is served by different companies and both nets serve the central bus station, which is situated in front of the main railway station in the centre of Hamm. Hamm is part of the Verkehrsgemeinschaft Ruhr-Lippe. About 12 million people are using the bus net every year, transported by 50 bus lines with 500 bus stops within the city.

Canal

Datteln-Hamm-Kanal

Hamm is the end of the "Datteln-Hamm-Kanal", three ports are situated in the urban district. The city port, the canal end port Uentrop, and the port of "Gersteinwerk". The ports of Hamm are the second biggest canal port by freight transact, 1.4 million tons a year by ships and 0.5 million tons by train. The city port allows for ships up to 110 metres length 11.45 meters width and 2.7 metres draft. It is linked with the railway by a track to the near main railway station and the marshaling yard.

Hamm light airfield

Airfield and Airports

Near city centre, in the meadows of the River Lippe, the sport airfield Hamm is situated. Its runway is 900 m long and 30 m wide. The airfield is operated by the Luftsportclub Hamm e. V.. Hamm is situated in the middle of a triangle of three smaller International Airports, in the north the Münster Osnabrück Airport (FMO) in the south-west Dortmund Airport and in the east Paderborn Lippstadt Airport. The nearest large International Airport is Düsseldorf Airport.

Sport

Jutta Weber, 1973

• Bernard Dietz (born 1948), footballer, captain of the West Germany national football team
• Horst Hrubesch (born 1951), retired footballer
• Josef Kaczor (born 1953), footballer, nicknamed „Jupp",
• Jutta Weber (born 1954), swimmer, bronze and silver medallist at the 1972 & 1976 Summer Olympics
• Michael Lusch (born 1964), footballer and football coach
• Christian Vinck (born 1975), former tennis player
• Anna Bornhoff (born 1981), footballer
• Mike Hanke (born 1983), retired footballer who last played for Guizhou Renhe
• Gina-Maria Adenauer (born 1985), racing driver
• Kevin Mirocha (born 1991), Polish-German racing driver
• Sjoeke Nüsken (born 2001), footballer for the Germany national team