Ferdinand-Weyrer-Straße, a small road between Hallerstraße and Arzlerstraße, is home to the Arbeiterwohnhaus und dem Weyrerareal two building complexes that set the stage for both of Innsbruck's industrial revolutions. The best way to enter the Weyrer area is from the Mühlau village square with the village fountain, which already points to industrialisation. Passing the baroque manor house with its chapel, you reach the square in front of the workers' housing. A sign above the passageway shows three workers and bears the inscription: "Honour the work and respect the worker". Directly underneath, a metal plaque certifies the United Cloth Factories Baur-Foradori Part of the Tyrolean Adler quality brand to be and Genuine Tyrolean Loden to be built. The unadorned façade of the residential building is a well-preserved relic from the time of the turn-of-the-century tenements in which the workers lived. If you are lucky enough to find the entrance unlocked, you can admire the remarkable cast-iron staircase in the inner courtyard.

The energy-generating Mühlbach stream flows lively between the buildings, which made this place so suitable for early industrialisation. The Zeughaus and Büchsenhausen have been Innsbruck's early industrial areas since the 15th century thanks to the metalworking factories. Under the Tyrolean Prince Sigmund, a metal industry was established in Mühlau. Armour was produced in the plating workshop, allowing noblemen to present their military merits and skills in a fashionable way. However, as requirements grew, these two areas became too small. As early as 1511, master builder Nicolas Türing erected a foundry on the site of the workers' residence. The lively babbling Mühlaubach stream and the location on the main road were perfect for the foundry, which produced the figures for Maximilian's tomb in the Hofkirche, among other things. In the adjoining Bilderhaus wurde eine Säulenhalle errichtet, in der die fertigen Figuren untergebracht wurden. Als die Arbeit an den Schwarzen Manndern abgeschlossen war, wurde die Betriebsanlage, die strategisch gut am Ostende der Stadt lag, zum Münzwalzwerk umfunktioniert. Die Gusshalle des ehemaligen Bilderhauses samt Kreuzgewölbe und Säulen wurde saniert und ist bis heute erhalten.

The second industrialisation began in the 19th century. Like everywhere else in the world, the driving force was the textile industry. Johann Weyrer founded a woollen cloth factory in 1790. He soon had competition within the town. Daniel Friedmann and Franz Baur also produced for the growing local demand. In 1838, the Weyrers, who had come under pressure, moved to Mühlau, where there was space and energy for a modern factory. In 1875, Ferdinand Weyrer (1842 - 1892) took over the sheep's wool factory that his grandfather had built up. Much of Weyrer's career is reminiscent of the Epp family, whose villa and factory were located in Pradl. Both men epitomise the image of the bourgeois, hard-working entrepreneur with a public spirit. The entrepreneur, who was popular with the workers, was the founder of the fire brigade and mayor of the then independent village of Mühlau. In order to have his private residence close to the factory, he had the southern section fitted with a flat roof.

In 1889, the city's third large textile company also relocated Franz Baur & Sons from the business premises in Sillgasse to what is now Ferdinand-Weyrer-Straße 9. The northern part of the building was converted into a residential building by the Baur family. Workers who had moved to the city from the surrounding countryside lived in this building. The social change brought about by the changing world of work can also be seen in buildings like this one. Those who moved from the countryside to the city not only changed their address, but their entire lifestyle.

1890 und 1900 entstanden die Gebäude mit den Nummern 7 und 11. Ein Kesselhaus, eine Fabrikhalle und sogar ein eigenes kleines Elektrizitätswerk waren dort untergebracht. Im Obergeschoss befanden sich Wohnungen. Auch die Villa Baur, das Privathaus der Familie, befand sich in diesem Komplex. In den 1920er Jahren wurde der Betrieb nochmals erweitert. Das Haus Ferdinand-Weyrer-Straße 5 wurde vom bekannten Tiroler Architekten und Designer Clemens Holzmeister entworfen. Nachdem 1943 der Bau nochmals erweitert wurde, verlagerte sich nach erneutem Platzmangel 1955 ein Teil des Betriebs in die Reichenau. In den 1970er Jahren wurde die Baur´sche Produktion am Weyrerareal endgültig aufgelassen. Seither wird das Areal, teils liebevoll renoviert, von unterschiedlichen Kleinunternehmen besiedelt.

One of the most important figures in the town's history was Wilhelm Greil (1850 - 1923). From 1896 to 1923, the entrepreneur held the office of mayor, having previously helped to shape the city's fortunes as deputy mayor. It was a time of growth, the incorporation of entire neighbourhoods, technical innovations, new media and previously unimaginable social and political upheavals.

The second half of the 19th century was characterised by a political struggle between liberal and conservative forces. Unlike in the rest of the Tyrol, the conservatives had a hard time in Innsbruck, whose population had been in favour of liberal ideas since the Napoleonic era. Each side not only had politicians, but also associations and their own newspapers. Taxes, social policy, education, housing and the organisation of public space were discussed with passion and zeal. Due to an electoral system based on voting rights via property classes, only around 10% of the entire population of Innsbruck could go to the ballot box. Relative suffrage applied within the three electoral bodies, which means as much as: The winner takes it all. Mass parties such as the Social Democrats were unable to assert themselves until the electoral law reform of the First Republic. Mayors like Greil could rely on 100% support in the municipal council, which naturally made decision-making and steering much easier.

Greil belonged to the "Deutschen Volkspartei", a liberal and national-Great German party. What appears to us today as a contradiction, liberal and national, was a politically common and well-functioning pair of ideas in the 19th century. Pan-Germanism was not a political peculiarity of a radical right-wing minority, but rather a centrist trend, particularly in German-speaking cities of the Reich, which was important in varying forms through almost all parties until after the Second World War. Whoever issues the liberal Innsbrucker Nachrichten of the period around the turn of the century, you will find countless articles in which the common ground between the German Reich and the German-speaking countries was made the topic of the day.

Greil was a skilful politician who operated within the predetermined power structures of his time. He knew how to skilfully manoeuvre around the traditional powers, the monarchy and the clergy, and how to come to terms with them. The period leading up to the First World War was characterised by a general economic boom. This gave him a great deal of room for manoeuvre. Under him, the city purchased land with foresight in the style of a merchant in order to make projects possible. Under Wilhelm Greil, Innsbruck expanded at a rapid pace. The politician Greil was able to rely on the civil servants and town planners Eduard Klingler, Jakob Albert and Theodor Prachensky for the major building projects of the time. Infrastructure projects such as the new town hall in Maria-Theresienstraße in 1897, the Hungerburg railway in 1906 and the Karwendelbahn were realised. Other milestones included the renovation of the market square and the construction of the market hall.

Much of what was pioneered in the second half of the 19th century is part of everyday life today. For the people of that time, however, these things were a real sensation and life-changing. The four decades between the economic crisis of 1873 and the First World War were characterised by unprecedented economic growth and rapid modernisation. The city's economy boomed. Businesses were founded in Pradl and Wilten and attracted workers. Tourism also brought fresh capital into the city. At the same time, however, the concentration of people in a confined space under sometimes precarious hygiene conditions also brought problems. The outskirts of the city in particular were repeatedly plagued by typhus.

His predecessor, Mayor Heinrich Falk (1840 - 1917), had already contributed significantly to the modernisation of the town and the settlement of Saggen. Since 1859, the lighting of the city with gas pipelines had progressed steadily. Between 1887 and 1891, Innsbruck was equipped with a modern high-pressure water pipeline, which could also be used to supply flats on higher floors with fresh water. Wilhelm Greil arranged for the gas works in Pradl and the electricity works in Mühlau to be taken over into municipal ownership. The street lighting was converted to electric light.

Greil was able to secure Innsbrucker Renaissance on patrons from the town's middle classes. Baron Johann von Sieberer donated the old people's asylum and the orphanage in Saggen. Leonhard Lang donated the building, previously used as a hotel, to which the town hall moved from the old town in 1897, in return for the town's promise to build a home for apprentices.

Even before the First World War, there were changes in everyday politics. The first free elections within the k.u.k. Monarchy to the Imperial Council for all male citizens in 1907 changed the social rules of the game. In his final years in office, Greil accompanied Innsbruck through the transition from the Habsburg Monarchy to the Republic, through years characterised above all by hunger, misery, scarcity of resources and insecurity. He was 68 years old when Italian troops occupied the city after the First World War and Tyrol was divided at the Brenner Pass, which was particularly bitter for him as a representative of German nationalism.

In 1928, former mayor Greil died as an honorary citizen of the city of Innsbruck at the age of 78. Wilhelm-Greil-Straße was named after him during his lifetime.

The year 1848 occupies a mythical place in European history. Although the hotspots were not to be found in secluded Tyrol, but in the major metropolises such as Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Milan and Berlin, even in the Holy Land however, the revolutionary year left its mark. In contrast to the rural surroundings, an enlightened educated middle class had developed in Innsbruck. Enlightened people no longer wanted to be subjects of a monarch or sovereign, but citizens with rights and duties towards the state. Students and freelancers demanded political participation, freedom of the press and civil rights. Workers demanded better wages and working conditions. The omnipotence of the church was called into question.

In March 1848, this socially and politically highly explosive mixture erupted in riots in many European cities. In Innsbruck, students and professors celebrated the newly enacted freedom of the press with a torchlight procession. On the whole, however, the revolution proceeded calmly in the leisurely Tyrol. It would be foolhardy to speak of a spontaneous outburst of emotion; the date of the procession was postponed from 20 to 21 March due to bad weather. There were hardly any anti-Habsburg riots or attacks; a stray stone thrown into a Jesuit window was one of the highlights of the Alpine version of the 1848 revolution. The students even helped the city magistrate to monitor public order in order to show their gratitude to the monarch for the newly granted freedoms and their loyalty.

The initial enthusiasm for bourgeois achievements was quickly replaced by German nationalist, patriotic fervour in Innsbruck. On 6 April 1848, the German flag was waved by the governor of Tyrol during a ceremonial procession. A German flag was also raised on the city tower. Tricolour was hoisted. While students, workers, liberal-nationalist-minded citizens, republicans, supporters of a constitutional monarchy and Catholic conservatives disagreed on social issues such as freedom of the press, they shared a dislike of the Italian independence movement that had spread from Piedmont and Milan to northern Italy. Innsbruck students and marksmen marched to Trentino with the support of the k.k. The Innsbruck students and riflemen moved into Trentino to nip the unrest and uprisings in the bud. Well-known members of this corps were Father Haspinger, who had already fought with Andreas Hofer in 1809, and Adolf Pichler.

The city of Innsbruck, as the political and economic centre of the multinational crown land of Tyrol and home to many Italian speakers, also became the arena of this nationality conflict. Combined with copious amounts of alcohol, anti-Italian sentiment in Innsbruck posed more of a threat to public order than civil liberties. A quarrel between a German-speaking craftsman and an Italian-speaking Ladin got so heated that it almost led to a pogrom against the numerous businesses and restaurants owned by Italian-speaking Tyroleans.

The relative tranquillity of Innsbruck suited the imperial house, which was under pressure. When things did not stop boiling in Vienna even after March, Emperor Ferdinand fled to Tyrol in May. According to press reports from this time, he was received enthusiastically by the population.

"Wie heißt das Land, dem solche Ehre zu Theil wird, wer ist das Volk, das ein solches Vertrauen genießt in dieser verhängnißvollen Zeit? Stützt sich die Ruhe und Sicherheit hier bloß auf die Sage aus alter Zeit, oder liegt auch in der Gegenwart ein Grund, auf dem man bauen kann, den der Wind nicht weg bläst, und der Sturm nicht erschüttert? Dieses Alipenland heißt Tirol, gefällts dir wohl? Ja, das tirolische Volk allein bewährt in der Mitte des aufgewühlten Europa die Ehrfurcht und Treue, den Muth und die Kraft für sein angestammtes Regentenhaus, während ringsum Auflehnung, Widerspruch. Trotz und Forderung, häufig sogar Aufruhr und Umsturz toben; Tirol allein hält fest ohne Wanken an Sitte und Gehorsam, auf Religion, Wahrheit und Recht, während anderwärts die Frechheit und Lüge, der Wahnsinn und die Leidenschaften herrschen anstatt folgen wollen. Und während im großen Kaiserreiche sich die Bande überall lockern, oder gar zu lösen drohen; wo die Willkühr, von den Begierden getrieben, Gesetze umstürzt, offenen Aufruhr predigt, täglich mit neuen Forderungen losgeht; eigenmächtig ephemere- wie das Wetter wechselnde Einrichtungen schafft; während Wien, die alte sonst so friedliche Kaiserstadt, sich von der erhitzten Phantasie der Jugend lenken und gängeln läßt, und die Räthe des Reichs auf eine schmähliche Weise behandelt, nach Laune beliebig, und mit jakobinischer Anmaßung, über alle Provinzen verfügend, absetzt und anstellt, ja sogar ohne Ehrfurcht, den Kaiaer mit Sturm-Petitionen verfolgt; während jetzt von allen Seiten her Deputationen mit Ergebenheits-Addressen mit Bittgesuchen und Loyalitätsversicherungen dem Kaiser nach Innsbruck folgen, steht Tirol ganz ruhig, gleich einer stillen Insel, mitten im brausenden Meeressturme, und des kleinen Völkchens treue Brust bildet, wie seine Berge und Felsen, eine feste Mauer in Gesetz und Ordnung, für den Kaiser und das Vaterland."

In June, Franz Josef also stopped off at the Hofburg on his way back from the battlefields of northern Italy instead of travelling directly to Vienna. Innsbruck was once again the royal seat, if only for one summer.

In the same year, Ferdinand handed over the throne to Franz Josef I. In July 1848, the first parliamentary session was held in the Court Riding School in Vienna. A first constitution was enacted. However, the monarchy's desire for reform quickly waned. The new parliament was an imperial council, it could not pass any binding laws, the emperor never attended it during his lifetime and did not understand why the Danube Monarchy, as a divinely appointed monarchy, needed this council.

Nevertheless, the liberalisation that had been gently set in motion took its course in the cities. Innsbruck was given the status of a town with its own statute. Innsbruck's municipal law provided for a right of citizenship that was linked to ownership or the payment of taxes, but legally guaranteed certain rights to members of the community. Birthright citizenship could be acquired by birth, marriage or extraordinary conferment and at least gave male adults the right to vote at municipal level. If you got into financial difficulties, you had the right to basic support from the town.

On 2 June 1848, the first issue of the liberal and pro-German Innsbrucker Zeitung was published, from which the above article on the arrival of the Emperor in Innsbruck is taken. The previously abolished censorship was partially reintroduced. Newspaper publishers had to undergo some harassment by the authorities. Newspapers were not allowed to write against the provincial government, the monarchy or the church.

"Anyone who, by means of printed matter, incites, instigates or attempts to incite others to take action which would bring about the violent separation of a part from the unified state... of the Austrian Empire... or the general Austrian Imperial Diet or the provincial assemblies of the individual crown lands.... Imperial Diet or the Diet of the individual Crown Lands... violently disrupts... shall be punished with severe imprisonment of two to ten years."

After Innsbruck officially replaced Meran as the provincial capital in 1849 and thus finally became the political centre of Tyrol, political parties were formed. From 1868, the liberal and Greater German orientated party provided the mayor of the city of Innsbruck. The influence of the church declined in Innsbruck in contrast to the surrounding communities. Individualism, capitalism, nationalism and consumerism stepped into the breach. New worlds of work, department stores, theatres, cafés and dance halls did not supplant religion in the city either, but the emphasis changed as a result of the civil liberties won in 1848.

Perhaps the most important change to the law was the Basic relief patent. In Innsbruck, the clergy, above all Wilten Abbey, held a large proportion of the peasant land. The church and nobility were not subject to taxation. In 1848/49, manorial rule and servitude were abolished in Austria. Land rents, tithes and roboters were thus abolished. The landlords received one third of the value of their land from the state as part of the land relief, one third was regarded as tax relief and one third of the relief had to be paid by the farmers themselves. The farmers could pay off this amount in instalments over a period of twenty years.

The after-effects can still be felt today. The descendants of the then successful farmers enjoy the fruits of prosperity through inherited land ownership, which can be traced back to the land relief of 1848, as well as political influence through land sales for housing construction, leases and public sector redemptions for infrastructure projects. The land-owning nobles of the past had to resign themselves to the ignominy of pursuing middle-class labour. The transition from birthright to privileged status within society was often successful thanks to financial means, networks and education. Many of Innsbruck's academic dynasties began in the decades after 1848.

The hitherto unknown phenomenon of leisure time emerged, albeit sparsely for the most part, and, together with disposable income, favoured hobbies for a larger number of people. Civil organisations and clubs, from reading circles to singing societies, fire brigades and sports clubs, were founded. The revolutionary year also manifested itself in the cityscape. Parks such as the English Garden at Ambras Castle were no longer the exclusive preserve of the aristocracy, but served as recreational areas for the citizens to escape their cramped existence. In St. Nikolaus, Waltherpark was created on the site of the raft landing stage on the Inn.