Development of the „Benediktinerinsel“ into a public baths and sanatorium (until 1842)

As early as the 16th century, the commercial use of six springs in the area between the Pader and the Rothebach is documented, which was called an „island“ early on due to its confinement by both bodies of water. On the one hand, the springs were said to have a healing effect, on the other hand they fed several fish ponds and thus contributed to the nutrition of the regional population. The physician and natural scientist Jakobus Theodorus Tabernaemontanus described the „Roderbrunn bey der Statt Baderborn“[1] (Roder well near the town of Paderborn) as a spring containing an „Erdbechisch Wasser“[2] (earth brook water) in his book “New Wasserschatz” (New Water Treasure), the widely used standard work on healing springs in German lands at the time.

Reliable information about the ownership and concrete use of the land between the Pader and the Rothebach has only been available since the early 18th century. It is known that the so-called „island“ was owned by the von Kanne family around 1700. The cathedral chaplain Baron von Kanne sold it to the Abdinghof monastery during the tenure of Abbot Pantaleon Bruns (1709 1727) for 1300 Taler. The area, henceforth called „Benediktinerinsel“ (Benedictine island) or „Möncheteich“ (Monks’ pond), was used by the monks as a summer retreat and for horticulture. For this purpose, they built a two-storey garden house with a large hall and a stone bridge that served as an entrance.

After the Paderborn land had fallen to the Kingdom of Prussia in the course of secularisation in 1802, the royal Prussian domain administration put the Benedictine island up for lease on 6 April 1803. It is not known whether a lease agreement was actually concluded. As a result of the Napoleonic Wars and the reorganisation of Europe, the island passed into the possession of the Kingdom of Westphalia before it was awarded to the Kingdom of Prussia again in 1813.

On 20 July 1815, Wilhelm Anton Möller purchased the 6.74-acre property[3] from the Royal Prussian Domain Administration. The purchase price was 644 Reichstaler plus an annual payment of 30 Reichstaler. For the first time, there are now references in the documents to a coffee house where public festive events were held.