The architectural development of the Bergedorf district in eastern Hamburg has often sparked discussions in the past. Its current appearance conceals in many places the fact that Bergedorf, Lohbrügge, and the Vier- und Marschlande have a long tradition and rural roots. Gerd Hoffmann, author of numerous publications about his hometown and initiator of the Bergedorf Chronicle on the internet, documents with over 170 mostly unpublished historical photographs and postcards from his Bergedorf archive how Bergedorf, Lohbrügge, and the "Flower and Vegetable Garden of Hamburg," the Vier- und Marschlande, looked between 1865 and 1971. Impressive maps show the old town of Bergedorf with its train station and castle, as well as the observatory, Alt-Lohbrügge, which once even had its own bathing facility, along with the Sander Tannen, and the typical Vierl.