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The Eagle:Germany's first railwayon

Nuremberg's Rise in the 19th Century

After the Thirty Year’s War, Nuremberg’s finances were exhausted. In 1806, the much reduced Free City of the Empire which by then had only 25,000 inhabitants was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria. The city's integration into a bigger state and the spirit of enterprise shown by its middle classes led to a new economic rise.

One of the symbols for this new flourishing was the "Eagle": in 1835, this locomotive, produced in England, ran from Nuremberg to Fürth, Germany's first railway. Pencil and toy production as well as metal processing prospered. Personalities such as the entrepreneurs Theodor von Cramer-Klett (founder of MAN) and Sigmund Schuckert (Siemens-Schuckert) determined the city’s economic life.

South of the railway lines, large industrial areas and housing estates were developed, and in 1881, the number of inhabitants rose above 100,000. “Red” Nuremberg was the largest industrial city in Southern Germany, and a stronghold of the Labour movement. In addition, the Romantic Movement made Nuremberg a byword for a Medieval German city, and Richard Wagner glorified Nuremberg in his 1868 opera "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg".

The Darkest Chapter in the City’s History: the Nazi Era