Former Dortmund-Eving hard coal colliery whose listed 62-metre Hammerkopfturm over Schacht IV now serves as a landmark office building in the Neue Mitte Eving commercial and services quarter.
Zeche Minister Stein was a hard coal colliery in the Dortmund district of Eving, founded in 1856 and named after the Prussian statesman and reformer Karl Freiherr vom Stein from 4 April 1871. After the completion of a Malakowturm, annual output exceeded 100,000 tonnes by 1878. Following the Gründerkrise of 1873–74, a consortium led by Friedrich Grillo acquired the colliery; it merged with the neighbouring Zeche Fürst Hardenberg as Vereinigte Stein & Hardenberg, with the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG as new owner.
Between 1923 and 1926 the colliery was expanded to a four-shaft installation. The steel Hammerkopfturm erected over Schacht 4 in 1926 — 62.4 metres tall and the first in Germany designed for two simultaneous equal-weight windings — became a model for all subsequent double-winding towers in the Ruhr. A firedamp explosion on 11 February 1925 killed 136 miners.
Following the commissioning of Schacht 6 in 1941, Minister Stein became the largest colliery in the Ruhr with 3.67 million tonnes output and 6,820 workers. The colliery closed on 31 March 1987 as the last producing colliery in Dortmund. Most surface structures were subsequently demolished.
In 1989 Schacht 4 was backfilled and the Hammerkopfturm listed as a Baudenkmal. In 1999 the former colliery land was redeveloped as the Neue Mitte Dortmund-Eving service and commercial quarter under the IBA Emscher Park programme; the Hammerkopfturm was converted to office use.
The colliery was established on 4 November 1856 by the investors Theodor Sprenger, a merchant in Essen, and Heinrich Grimberg, an innkeeper in Bochum. It received the name Minister Stein on 4 April 1871, honouring Karl Freiherr vom Stein, the Prussian statesman and reformer. The first Malakowturm and the associated surface installations were completed, and by 1878 annual production had already exceeded 100,000 tonnes.
In the Gründerkrise of 1873–74 a consortium under Friedrich Grillo — who also owned the neighbouring Zeche Fürst Hardenberg — acquired the colliery. The two collieries were fused as Vereinigte Stein & Hardenberg, with the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (GBAG) as the new owner. Between 1923 and 1926 the colliery was rebuilt and expanded to a large multi-shaft installation with four shafts in total.
Schacht 4, which was given the name Emil Kirdorf after the long-serving coal industry leader, was sunk beginning in 1923. Over it in 1926 was erected the Hammerkopf-Förderturm, 62.4 metres tall. This was the first steel tower headframe in Germany designed to serve two equal and simultaneous windings, with both winding machines housed in the enlarged head of the tower above the shaft; it became the model for all later double-winding Hammerkopftürme in the Ruhr.
On 11 February 1925, during the expansion works, a firedamp explosion killed 136 miners and left only 8 survivors; it was one of the worst mine disasters in Dortmund history. A memorial was erected in 1927 on the Nordfriedhof, designed by the Dortmund sculptor Friedrich Bagdons. After the commissioning of Schacht 6 in 1941, the colliery with 3.67 million tonnes output and 6,820 workers became the largest colliery in the Ruhr.
During the Second World War the colliery was severely damaged by several air raids. In 1945 the combined installation Vereinigte Stein & Hardenberg was divided back into the separately working Zeche Minister Stein and Zeche Fürst Hardenberg, while the legal consolidation was maintained. Production at Minister Stein could not be resumed until autumn 1946.
After the liquidation of the GBAG the colliery came in 1953 to the newly founded Dortmunder Bergbau AG, which later became part of the Ruhrkohle AG. In 1958 Förderschacht 7 was brought into service, reaching a final depth of 730 m. In 1959 the Zeche Fürst Hardenberg was connected to Minister Stein; Fürst Hardenberg's coal production had already been halted in 1960 and the coal ran underground to Minister Stein.
Post-war output at Minister Stein ranged between 2 and 2.7 million tonnes per year. At the nationwide wave of wildcat strikes in September 1969 Minister Stein and Fürst Hardenberg were the first striking collieries in the Ruhr. In 1985 large volumes of water from the overburden entered the workings through Schacht 6; although the installed pump capacity was at times exceeded, the situation was eventually brought under control.
The last coal was raised in 1987 and the colliery closed formally on 31 March 1987, making it the last producing colliery in Dortmund. In 1988 demolition of the coke works and the colliery surface installations began. In 1989 Schacht 4 was backfilled and the Hammerkopfturm was listed as a Baudenkmal in the Denkmalliste der Stadt Dortmund.
The planned conversion of the abandoned workings into an underground waste disposal facility was blocked by extensive public protests and not realised. The large gasometer, which had served as a Eving neighbourhood landmark, was demolished by controlled explosion on 10 May 2005. In 1999, under the IBA Emscher Park programme for Neue Mitte Dortmund-Eving, the former colliery land was redeveloped as a service centre and commercial area, incorporating the surviving industrial monuments into the new uses.
A cantilevered office building was erected below the Hammerkopfturm in the form of the former pit-top (Hängebank). The Hammerkopfturm itself was subsequently converted into office premises. The surviving Waschkaue and administration buildings also remained.
A blockheizkraftwerk powered by colliery gas operates at the edge of the site.