Urban planning development

In the meantime Bonn's urban planning development experienced a brisk upturn. Numerous millionaires took up residence and constructed their villas. The “Südstadt” (southern part of town) that was planned by the Berlin city architect Paul Richard Thomann became the preferred place of residence of the affluent middle classes.

The university was also considerably extended by the new institute buildings near to the castle Poppelsdorf.

The construction of the first Bonn Rhine bridge, which was inaugurated in 1898 was an outstanding event. The people of Beuel who were annoyed because the bridging operation did not take account of their wharf did not contribute a single pfennig towards the structure. Thus the people of Bonn reluctantly paid for the – at that time – largest arched bridge in the world on their own. However, a bridge man was placed on the eastern bridge pier presenting its backside towards the people of Beuel. It fell into the river along with the bridge in the Second World War, was then retrieved but has subsequently been replaced by a copy – its dropped trousers (“Schlotterbotz”) still point towards Beuel that now also belongs to Bonn.

Upon the outbreak of the First World War an age that was peaceful and economically stable in overall terms came to an end. The coming epoch with its dramatic changes and its crises would be in stark contrast to this age.