MULHAUSEN (Fr. Mulhouse), a town of Germany, in the imperial territory of Alsace Lorraine. Pop. '75, 58,513. Mulhausen is built on a small island between the Ill and the Rhone and Rhine canal, and is an important station on the Strasburg and Basel line of railway. It lies in a fertile, well-watered district, and ranks as one of the most active centers of trade in Alsace; while it is also the scat of a tribunal of commerce, and of various mercantile and trade unions, which have exercised a beneficial influence on the industrial activity of the country, Its numerous manufactories produce superior woolen and fine cambric goods, excellent leather, morocco, and carpets; in addition to which, its printing and dye works for cotton, muslin, wool, and silk fabrics are almost unrivaled in regard to the delicacy of the colors and elegance of the patterns employed. M91 hausen has extensive bleaching-works, and is noted for its cotton and woolen stocking manufactories, its breweries and distilleries, starch and straw works, and for its iron works, in which locomotives and various forms of steam-engines are extensively manu factured. These manufactures, together with corn, wine, and brandy, form the staple
articles of its very extensive trade.
Millhausen early acquired commercial importance, having been erected into a free imperial city by Rud,i1pli of Hapsburg in 1273. By siding with some of the Swiss cantons in the 14th c., it was enabled to maintain a certain degree of neutrality in the feuds between the empire and France. In 1523 Mtilhausen adopted the reformed faith. It remained a part of the circle of time upper Rhine till 1798, when it was incorporated with France. It became a town of the German empire after the war of 1870-71.