Former Dortmund-Huckarde hard coal colliery whose listed 1930 single-storey Vollwandgerüst over Schacht III and machine house survive as an industrial monument in the care of the Stiftung Industriedenkmalpflege, adjacent to the Kokerei Hansa anchor point
Zeche Hansa was a hard coal colliery in the Dortmund district of Huckarde. The colliery was established on 17 November 1855 by the Dortmunder Bergbau- und Hütten-Gesellschaft, which began sinking the first two shafts in 1856–57 but went bankrupt in 1859. Following a forced auction in 1862, the colliery passed through several ownerships before Schacht 1 entered production in 1869.
After further ownership changes and shaft sinkings, the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG acquired the field in 1889. In 1926 ownership passed to the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG. Over Schacht 3 a single-storey Vollwandgerüst (full-section headframe) was erected in 1930, considered one of the earliest headframes of this construction type in the Ruhr.
By the mid-twentieth century Hansa had become a major colliery, incorporating the workings of Zeche Westhausen from 1956 and Zeche Adolf von Hansemann from 1956. The colliery closed in 1980. Mine-water pumping continued from Schächte 2 and 3 until 2014; both shafts were backfilled in early 2016.
The headframe and machine house over Schacht 3 are listed Baudenkmale in the Denkmalliste der Stadt Dortmund, held by the Stiftung Industriedenkmalpflege und Geschichtskultur. The adjacent Kokerei Hansa, built 1927–28, is a separately listed anchor point of the Route der Industriekultur.
The origins of Zeche Hansa lie in the first prospecting for coal in the area of Dortmund-Huckarde, which took place as early as 1840. The colliery was formally established on 17 November 1855 when the Dortmunder Bergbau- und Hütten-Gesellschaft was founded to develop the local coalfields. Sinking of Schächte 1 and 2 commenced in 1856–57.
Strong water inflows made the sinking work extremely difficult and were among the reasons for the bankruptcy of the founding company in 1859. The colliery passed to Gustav Arndt by forced auction in 1862; he sold it in 1866 to the Preußische Bergwerks- und Hütten-AG. Under this new owner the water inflows were brought under control and Schacht 1 entered production in 1869.
After the failure of the Preußische Bergwerks- und Hütten-AG, the Westfälische Grubenverein took over in 1877 and continued the sinking of the shaft. In 1889 the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (GBAG) acquired the field. In 1895 a first coke works with 60 coke ovens was erected on the colliery site, one of the first in the Ruhr, and in 1904 the surface installations were renewed and a further 60 coke ovens were installed.
A second shaft, Schacht 2, was brought into operation several years after the first. In 1910 the colliery was incorporated into the Deutsch-Luxemburgische Bergwerks- und Hütten-AG. In 1926 the colliery, as part of the reorganisation of the German heavy industry sector, passed to the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG and was assigned to its Dortmund group.
As part of the rationalisation of the 1920s under Vereinigte Stahlwerke, the individual smaller coke works associated with several Dortmund collieries — including the earlier Hansa coke works — were replaced by the new Zentralkokerei Hansa, constructed in 1927–28 on an independent site to the north of the colliery. The Kokerei Hansa, designed by the architect Hellmuth von Stegemann und Stein, was among the most technically advanced and largest coke works in the Ruhr at the time, with an initial capacity of two batteries of 65 ovens each. In 1930 the single-storey Einstrebengerüst in Vollwandbauweise (full-section single-braced headframe) was erected over Schacht 3; this is considered one of the earliest headframes of its construction type in the Ruhr to survive.
The associated machine house was rebuilt after the Second World War. On 3 February 1945 the surface installations were almost completely destroyed by Allied bombing and coal production had to be halted. The colliery was subsequently reorganised under Allied oversight: in 1953 Zeche Hansa came to the Hansa Bergbau AG, which was 50% owned by the Dortmunder Bergbau AG.
From 1 April 1956 the Zeche Hansa took over operation of the Schachtanlage Westhausen after its closure. In 1956 an underground connection (Verbund) was also made with the Zeche Adolf von Hansemann, and the combined installation operated under the designation Hansa-Gustav until Adolf von Hansemann was closed in 1967. The 1967 planned closure of Zeche Hansa was deferred following protests by the workforce.
The colliery finally closed in 1980. After the closure, Schächte 2 and 3 continued to serve the mine-water pumping function: from a depth of 715 m, water was pumped until 2014 and discharged into the nearby Emscher. Both shafts were backfilled in early 2016.
The headframe over Schacht 3 and the machine house are listed as Baudenkmale in the Denkmalliste der Stadt Dortmund and are in the care of the Stiftung Industriedenkmalpflege und Geschichtskultur. Access to the Schacht 3 installation is possible only by arrangement with the Stiftung. The Alte Schmiede (old smithy) of Zeche Hansa, dating from 1903, was separately listed as a Baudenkmal in 1991.
The adjacent Kokerei Hansa, built 1927–28, closed on 15 December 1992; since 1995 it has been in the ownership of the Stiftung Industriedenkmalpflege und Geschichtskultur. Since 1998 most of the Kokerei's production areas are listed as Baudenkmale, and the site is an anchor point of the Route der Industriekultur and a proposed major venue for the Internationale Gartenausstellung 2027 in the Ruhr.