CASSEL, kas's41, or KASSEL, formerly the residence of the Elector of Hesse-Cassel, and now the chief town in the Prussian prov ince of Hesse-Nassau, lies on the Fulda, 35 miles southwest of Gottingen and 91 miles north-northeast of Frankfort-on-the-Main. It is divided into the Altstadt, or Old Town; the Ober Neustadt, or Upper New Town; the Unter Neustadt, or Lower New Town; and the new West Quarter; all but the third being on the left bank of the river. Cassel has several fine squares, or open areas, on the principal of which, the Friedrichsplatz, stands the electoral palace, an indifferent structure; and next to it the museum, a handsome building, containing a library of 235,000 volumes, and many valuable MSS, including the Hildebrandslied dating from the 8th century. The brothers Grimm were librarians here from 1814 to 1830. The Murhard Public Library contains 155,000 volumes. At one end of this area is a hand some triumphal arch and war monument over looking the Fulda Valley, in which is the Karl saue, finely laid out, and forming a favorite promenade. On this side of the city are also the building for the courts and government officers, the Bellevue palace containing the academy of arts, and the handsome picture gallery containing some fine examples of the old masters, especially the Flemish and Dutch. The other more noticeable public areas are the Konigsplatz, in the form of a circle; the Fried rich-Wilhelmsplatz, with an ornamental foun tain; the Standeplatz, a broad tree-planted ave nue, etc. The most noteworthy church is the Protestant church of Saint Martin, with a nave of the 14th and a choir of the 15th cen tury. An observatory is likewise situated
here. Cassel is the seat of the provincial and district government and of the supreme provin cial court. The town's affairs are administered by a municipal council of 48 and an executive board of 21 members. There is a modern sewage system and a copious water supply, and the town owns and operates gasworks, an electric-light plant and a slaughter house. There are numerous educational institutions, in cluding two gymnasia, three municipal high schools and a score of technical schools. There are many hospitals and other charitable institu tions. Cassel has excellent railway facilities, and two electric street-railway lines accommo date the city traffic. It is the seat of a United States consulate. Cassel has iron-foundries and machine-shops, works for railway-carriages, mathematical instruments, pianos, gloves, jute works, etc. The town dates from the year 913, when, under the name of Chassala, it was the residence of King Conrad I. It received its first municipal rights in the 13th century from the landgraves of Thuringia. In the Seven Years' War it was several times captured by the French. Landgrave Frederick II sent 12,000 Hessians to aid the British in the American Revolution and was paid $22,000,000. In 1807 it was made the capital of the newly-formed kingdom of Westphalia. In 1866 it was oc cupied by Prussian troops and became a part of Prussia. In the vicinity is Wilhelmshohe, the ex-elector's summer palace the temporary resi dence of Napoleon III after Sedan. Pop. about 107,000.