Versmold

Versmold or Vassem in Westphalian Platt is a town in Gütersloh District in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located some 30 km west of Bielefeld.HistoryIn 1096 Versmold was first mentioned in a document, and is thus one of the oldest known settlements in the region. The name "-mold" alludes to "melle", "mal" a location of a court.Situated between the bishoprics Osnabrück and Münster, the possession of Versmold was disputed for a long time in the high Middle Ages. The population tried to protect themselves as well as they could. The St. Petri church was built as a "Wehrkirche" for defense.After 1277, when the counts of Ravensberg acquired possession of the region of Versmold, the situation changed. Versmold formed the western most town of the historic county of Ravensberg with its capital Bielefeld. After the War of the Jülich Succession in 1614 the county came to Brandenburg and later to Prussia. Within predominantly Catholic Westphalia, the county of Ravensberg became Protestant. In 1719 the King of Prussia granted city rights in order to raise more taxes.Until the late nineteenth century the county was poor and subsistence oriented. Only the linen production is worthy to note. Between 1650 and 1914, during the harvest season many people who did not found any other income in the county sought for an additional income in the Netherlands. They were called 'Hollandgänger'. For the same reasons the city saw an extensive emigration to America, especially during the 1850s and 1860s, because of the weak economic situation. Many of them settled in the Midwest, especially in Missouri and Texas.