Wipperfürth is a municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis of North Rhine-Westfalia, Germany, about 40 km north-east of Cologne, and the oldest town in the Bergischen Land. Wipperfürth lies on the flow Wupper which is designated in the upper reaches to the east of the town Wipper.
Today Wipperfürth has 24,000 inhabitants, half of them living in the town itself, the other half living in the nearby villages and rural communities that belong to the town. There are seven villages surrounding Wipperfürth, such as Egen, Kreuzberg, Ohl, Agathaberg, Thier, Wipperfeld and Hämmern, which have developed some kind of independence as to keeping up their particular traditions. Each of them has a church of its own, a soccer club, a rifle club and, of course, its traditional festivities and fairs.
The economy of Wipperfürth is not only shaped by mainly medium-sized and small enterprises in industry and trade, but also by a productive agriculture. The main employers in town are the Armaturenfabrik Hermann Voss (producing automotive fittings) and the light bulb factory Radium. Commerce has gained great importance, so that shopping is always a pleasure here.
Wipperfürth is often called the “town of schools”, for good reason, as there are all kinds of schools here: more than 5,000 pupils attend eight primary schools, a Hauptschule (secondary school), a Realschule (secondary modern school), two Gymnasien (grammar or high schools), a vocational school, a Höhere Handelsschule (commercial school) and schools for the mentally handicapped and retarded children. For pre-schoolage children the town provides eight kindergartens.
The town is proud to have more than a dozen medical doctors and dentists and a modern hospital. There are also excellent facilities to relax in one’s sparetime or to do sports, e.g. several gyms, an indoor swimming-pool and a huge soccer and athletics stadium.
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