Hamm, Luxembourg

Hamm's origins lie in the convent of St. Catharine, founded in the 14th century, around which a village developed. The proximity to the Alzette river facilitated the construction of several mills, which formed the basis for spinning and weaving wool from 1835. In the course of the next years, the Godchaux were able to expand their wool production by buying up almost all the mills on the Alzette, which were combined with another factory in Ettelbrück into the „Draperies de Luxembourg“. At their high point, the cloth mills employed up to 2,000 people. Due to the economic boom, Hamm was split off from the commune of Sandweiler in 1873 and received its own administration.

By the law of 20 December 1873, the areas of Hamm, Schleifmühl, Fetschenbour, Haemmerstellgen, Scheidgrund, Scheidhof, Zens, Tavion and Pulvermühl were detached from the commune of Sandweiler and established as the commune of Hamm, with Hamm as its administrative centre.^[4]

This change had been driven by the inhabitants of the electoral wards of Hamm, Schleifmühl and Pulvermühl. Initially, after the strong growth of the drapery industry in Schleifmühl around the 1870s when 800 workers were employed by the Godchaux family, residents had addressed a petition to the mayor of Sandweiler, demanding that the above three wards receive an increased number of councilors.^[4]

Hamm was a commune in the canton of Luxembourg between 20 December 1873, when it was split from the commune of Sandweiler,^[5] and 26 March 1920, when it was merged into the city of Luxembourg, along with Hollerich and Rollingergrund.^[6]