ByNight Tönisvorst (D)

Tönisvorst

Name origin Vorst

vorst (Middle High German, = managed/cultivated forest) --> Vorst

Name origin St. Tönis

osterveerd (Middle High German, = desolate heath) --> Sanct Antonius in der Osterheyde --> St. Tönis

First documented mention Vorst

1131 AD

First documented mention of St. Tönis: 1188 AD

Population: 29,000

Area: 44.34 km²

Federal state: North Rhine-Westphalia

Administrative region: Düsseldorf

District: Viersen

Vehicle registration: VIE, KK

River: Niers (beyond the town limits)

The club ByNight is located at the extreme northwestern tip of the town of Tönisvorst (near the municipality of Oedt, which is a district of Grefrath).

"Don't be daft, drive to Oedt!" is a well-worn saying among the long-standing regulars of the established sauna club (Planet) Happy Garden, which - just like its neighbour ByNight - is based 1.5 km northeast of the nearest village of Oedt. Both clubs, however, sit on the territory of the town of Tönisvorst, right on the boundary with the town of Kempen, which lies 5 km further north, while Oedt belongs to the municipality of Grefrath, 5 km to the northwest. For both Grefrath and Tönisvorst, Kempen - with a population of around 30,000 and its own rail connection - is the nearest compact larger town, known as a popular day-trip destination in the region thanks to its charming, well-preserved old town centre. In this natural landscape of the Lower Rhine, most villages rise up as scattered settlements amid a cosy idyll of sprawling fields, meadows and woods, dotted here and there with individual farmhouses and homesteads. What all these villages have in common is a relatively well-documented history reaching back to the Middle Ages.

Tönisvorst, however, has only existed in its present form since 1970, when the two main towns of St. Tönis and Vorst merged as part of a municipal reorganisation, later being granted town status in 1979. The earliest traces of settlement in the area of today's Butzenstraße, where the Happy Garden is also located, date back to the Stone Age. Between 58 and 51 BC the area was conquered by Caesar. A church is already documented for Vorst as early as 1131, and 200 years later for St. Tönis as well. Both villages initially belonged, as so-called "Honnschaften", to the Amt Kempen and thus to the Diocese of Cologne; in 1449 the Duke of Kleve took over dominance, and in 1758 the area became Prussian.

Tönisvorst is easily reached by car via the A44 motorway, exit Münchheide. Local public transport connections run via bus; the picturesque St. Tönis can also be reached quickly from Krefeld via tram line 041. Tönisvorst no longer has its own train station, though that wasn't always the case: in 1849, during the heyday of the Vorst silk weavers, a station was built in St. Tönis that provided a link to the Krefeld silk factory; the Vorst central station followed in 1871. The line Süchteln - Vorst - St. Tönis - Krefeld was in operation for almost 100 years; in 1968 the Vorst station was shut down and demolished. The final end of this rail link came in 1978 with the dismantling of the tracks. A cycle path now runs along the route of the old railway line. If you still want to travel by train, the nearest stations are on the Krefeld - Forstwald (Forsthaus) - Anrath line, or in Kempen.