Image Copyright: Stadt Norderstedt

Norderstedt was founded in 1970, through combining the communities Friedrichsgabe, Garstedt, Glashütte and Harksheide.

Norderstedt came about by a resolution of the county government on the 1st of January 1970. Even though Norderstedt is a young city, but history of the four original communities was determined by the close proximity to Hamburg and the location on or at the Harksheide, until the 19th-century, Hostein's largest heather and moor area.

Garstedt

Garstedt is the oldest of the four communities and economically the strongest. Located at the fringe of the Harksheide it has the better soil. Garstedt was always an independent farming village in the dominion Pinneberg.
With the interlinking in 1789 the village extended into the Garstedter Feld (area Ochsenzoller Straße / Kohfurth).
In 1887 a windmill was built in today's Möhlenbarg.
In 1906 the village got their own church that was also responsible for Harksheide.
In 1900 Garstedt had already 1.327 inhabitants and grew until 1939 to 4.869.

Norderstedt, Harksheide
Harksheide belonged to the Estate Tangstedt until 1876. Tangstedt was an outlying estate of the Amt Tremsbüttel until it became an independent estate in 1693. Part of the estate Tangstedt were apart from Harksheide and Glashütte also Wilstedt, Dorf Tangstedt, Duvenstedt as well as Lemsahl-Mellingstedt. Due to belonging to the Estate Tangstedt, Harksheide was not able to develop its own village centre, which resulted in a scattered settlement structure.
In the middle of the 19th-century, Harksheide was mentioned as a district only. Apart from agriculture, peat extraction and selling the peat to Hamburg, had great economical importance. Because of the difficult economic conditions on the Harksheide and the high contributions to the manor, the population sank at the end of the 19th-century and only increased again with the construction of the subway.

Norderstedt, Glashütte
Glashütte underwent a similar development as Harksheide, as it also belonged to the Estate Tangstedt. This was expressed also in the name: until 1896, the village carried the name 'Tangstedter Heide'. In the 17th-century, the Tangstedter Heide, part of Harksheide, was populated.
In 1741, the Tangstedt manor constructed a glass factory, which became later, the name giver for the community. Apart from agriculture, Glashütte, also extracted peat and sold it to Hamburg.

Friedrichsgabe

Friedrichsgabe was founded in 1821 as poor people's�colony by the merchant and manufacturer Johann Daniel Law�tz from Altona. By order from the Danish King Frederik VI�Law�tz received the neccessary estates at Pinneberger Harksheide. To commemorate this the poor people's colony received the name Frederiksgabe, Germanised Friedrichsgabe. 20 poor families were settled along today's Quickborner Stra�e. They were meant to earn their living through agriculture as not to be a burden to the alms purse any longer.
Soon the dweller of Friedrichsgabe had to resort to side jobs like peat harvesting and sale to survive due to meagre crop yield.
In 1873 the poor people's colony was abolished and the Prussian country community Friedrichsgabe accrued.
In 1900 Friedrichsgabe had 400 citizens.

Image Copyright: sepi.city-map.de

Norderstedt's twin towns
Norderstedt has put the 'Europe idea', into practise as many other cities as well. Partnerships contracts were concluded with Maromme (France), Oadby and Wigston (England), Zwijndrecht (Netherlands) and Kohtla-Järve (Estonia). Lots of inhabitants of our city participate in the understanding between the nations in Europe. Annually, an extensive exchange programme takes place. Thus, numerous friendships have developed in the course of time. Originally, the twin towns were selected in a way to be suitable in development and structure for Norderstedt. All towns are located in close proximity to large cities.

Photos and text with the kind support by Hans-Peter Sparr