The LVR-Industriemuseum Solingen was opened in the Gesenkschmiede Hendrichs (Drop Forge) in March 1999. The century-long production of Solingen cutlery for the European market, which expanded to include the world market when overseas trade built up in the 19th century, earned Solingen the name of “Workshop for the World”. This is the economic background against which the two scissor grinders Peter und Friedrich Wilhelm Hendrichs established the Gesenkschmiede Hendrichs (Drop Forge) in 1886. The steadily expanding company Hendrichs, one of the largest companies in Solingen with 33 drop hammers, produced scissor blanks.
The entrepreneur’s villa built on the factory premises in 1896 is an expression of the wealth, which the Hendrichs family had acquired thanks to the flourishing factory. After decades of prosperity, serious economic crises led to the closure of the company in the year 1986. Almost straightaway, the Landschaftsverband Rheinland took over the industrial monument; the refurbishment work to transform it into a museum got underway, in compliance with the preservation regulations.
