Hückelhoven is a young town (town status only conferred in 1969) currently undergoing dramatic economic changes. Coal mining determined life in the town for decades. However, when the Sophia-Jacoba pit closed in early 1997, it was the end of an era and simultaneously the start of a new age. Now the former mining areas have been transformed into attractive commercial estates, and due to the town’s far-sighted development policy in recent years, several interesting new companies have settled there.
Fresh economic impetus is also given by the GSZH, the largest founders’ centre in the County of Heinsberg, which was opened in 1991 on the Rheinstr. commercial estate.
Hückelhoven is also popular as a residential town, not least because of its good traffic links (two junctions on the A46 motorway and a railway station in Baal where InterRegio trains stop).
