Memorial stone "Hof Schalke"

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When asked where Schalke is located, Kuzorra is said to have once replied "An'ne Grenzstraße!". But the answer to the question is not quite so simple. Before the industrialist Friedrich Grillo arrived, Schalke was located one kilometre south of the border road. And Schalke was the opposite of an industrial village or a football club, matter of fact.

In the 1890s, the city fathers of Gelsenkirchen had a vision: they envisioned their citizens relaxing in a beautiful, green municipal park after having worked hard at their jobs. For this vision to become reality, however, a large area of land was needed. But free land was a rare commodity. Much of the land in the area had been bought up by Hibernia Colliery and Consolidation Colliery. But the industrialists did not yet own the land a few hundred metres west of the main railway station. This is the place where the farmer August Schalke runs his Schalke farm. But there are rumours that he is planning to give up farming soon. And there is no successor in sight who would be willing to take over the farm. But the land is big enough to be transformed into a beautiful city garden. When the Lord Mayor approaches him in 1896, the old farmer agrees to sell. Only a year later, just in time for the 100th birthday of Kaiser Wilhelm I, the new park is opened on the site of the former Schalke farm.

Originally, Schalke was not a club or a neighbourhood, but an old farming family from the area. The Schalke family lived on the farm, which was later to become the city garden, from 1332. It was located roughly where the two hotel towers rise into the Gelsenkirchen sky today. Since 1996, the memorial stone below the towers has commemorated the former farm and its sale. But why "Schalke" at all? The Schalke family probably got their name because of the location of their farm: The land on which the family settled was very hilly. Its shape was reminiscent of a skull. This is how the farm got the name "Scedeliche", which means "settlement in a skull-shaped area". Over the centuries, "Scedeliche" became the name "Schalke". The farm was located around one kilometre south of the later Grenzstraße. Strictly speaking, the roots of FC Schalke 04 lie not only at Schalke Market, but also in what is now Gelsenkirchen's historic city centre.

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