Standort Enser Straße
Enser Tor
At first Korbach had five town gates. The "Enser Tor", "Dalwigker Tor" and "Tränketor" belonged to the old town, the "Lengefelder Tor", "Berndorfer Tor" and "Tränketor" to the new town. The "Tränketor" of the new town did not lead outside, it connected old and new town. After the union it was not used any longer and crumbled away, so it was demolished later. In the middle ages it was also called "wüstes Tor" (waste gate).
Between 1831 and 1860 the city gates were pulled down in order the create space for the traf-fic. Only a rest of the outer gate of the Enser Tor with a round tower remained. The merchant Friedrich Wilhelm Müller (1810 - 1876), who owned the adjacent estate, purchased the gate. He came from an old merchants´ family from Korbach. The tower was turned into a summer house, a staircase and a terrace were added.
The gatekeeper lived in the gate house near or on top of the tower. He opened the gate in the morning and locked it in the evening. Originally the tower also served as defensive bastion for armed citizens. The gates served to control the traffic. The "Enser Tor" was the last part of the city wall to be completed in 1414. It received its name, because the arterial road led to Ense (today Nieder-Ense).
When more modern technologies began to make the old city fortifications unnecessary, city walls and gates represented an annoyance for a growing city. The installations decayed more and more and caused considerable maintenance costs and traffic problems. It was not unusual that vehicles got stuck in the narrow gates.
In 1831 the "Tränketor" was torn off, in 1836 the "Lengefelder Tor" followed, in 1838 the "Berndorfer Tor" and in 1843 the "Dalwigker Tor". After that the removal of the Enser Tor began. When the rest was about to be removed in 1858, fortunately F.W. Müller purchased it. Thus at least one part of the middle age city wall could be conserved.
In memory of the completion of the common wall of old and new town a rectangular coat of arms of the municipality stone and the year date 1414 were placed. Since 1995 members of the Schützengilde 1377 e.V. (rifle club) have taken care of the maintenance of the tower.
© Timon Schmidt /M. Möller
Literatur:
Hans Osterhold: Meine Stadt. Korbacher Bauten erzählen Stadtgeschichte, hrsg. vom Magistrat der Kreisstadt Korbach, 3. Aufl., Korbach 2004.
Ein Rundgang durch die alte Stadt, bearb. von Ursula Wolkers, hrsg. vom Wilhelm Bing Verlag und Magistrat der Stadt Korbach mit Förderung der Sparkassenstiftung Waldeck-Frankenberg, Korbach 1999.
Marie-Luise Lindenlaub: Korbach steckt voller Geschichte(n). Reiseführer in die Vergangenheit einer Stadt, Korbach 2008.