The Growth Phase of the 19th Century

That brought many authorities and the people to man them into the township who had been driven out and aggrieved by the long series of foreign occupations. The population doubled during the first half of the 19th century. The economic upswing and increasing wealth of the city's upper and middle classes changed the appearance of the city as a result of the brisk construction activity.

The expansion of the harbor (1837) and the connection to the Palatine railroad network (1847) improved the city's infrastructure. Social and charitable facilities (an Employment and Educational Establishment for Girls, the Benevolent Society of the Jewish community, and a hospital) supported the poorer levels of the population. The educational system embraced all kinds of facilities and oversaw the best developed school system in all of the Palatinate.

The new upper and middle levels of society determined the social and cultural life. That got expressed in the founding of numerous clubs (Harmony Club, Rifle Club, Gymnastics Club, Music Club, and Singing Society).

 The liberal and democratic currents of the pre-March era turned Speyer into a press and newspaper site of nationwide importance (The Advertising Times of Speyer, the New Speyer Newspaper). Among the city's most significant sons during this era are the painters, Anselm Feuerbach (born 1829) and Hans Purrmann (born 1880) and the poet Martin Greif (born 1839).

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