Elevation 68 m (223 ft) Area 26.89 km² Population 45,963 (31 Dec 2010) | District Mettmann Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Local time Sunday 1:52 PM Postal code 40699 | |
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Weather 15°C, Wind SE at 19 km/h, 31% Humidity | ||
Erkrath is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Contents
Map of 40699 Erkrath, Germany
Geography
Erkrath is situated on the river Düssel, directly east of Düsseldorf and west of Wuppertal, close to the famous Neandertal. It has two stations, Erkrath station, which is served by Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn line S 8, and Erkrath Nord station, which is served by S-Bahn line S 28, both at 20 minute intervals.
History
In that part of Neandertal, which is located in Erkrath, in the summer of 1856, quarry workers discovered the fossilised remains of what became known as the Neanderthal man or Homo Neanderthalensis in Feldhof cave. The name Erkrath was first mentioned in 1148. Erkrath received town rights in 1966. In 1975, the municipality of Hochdahl was incorporated into Erkrath. As well its former borough Unterbach was incorporated into Düsseldorf. Only a part of Unterbach called Unterfeldhaus remained as now a borough of its own with Erkrath. Erkrath today has three local parts: Erkrath, Hochdahl and Unterfeldhaus.