The Elberfeld system was a system for aiding the poor in 19th-century Germany. It was a success when it was inaugurated in Elberfeld in 1853 and was adopted by many other German cities, but by the turn of the century an increasing population became more than the Elberfeld system (which relied on volunteer social workers) could handle, and it fell out of use. Background The first attempts to create a reformed poor relief system in Elberfeld began in 1800, when, dissatisfied with existing conditions, the city appointed six visitors to investigate applications for relief. The visitors were increased to 12 the following year. In 1802 there was a great increase. The city was divided into eight districts and these districts into four sections, and a board of supervisors chosen. At the time (the first half of the 19th century), the textile-manufacturing cities of Barmen and Elberfeld were pioneering the industrialization of Germany. Immigration swelled the population of Elberfeld from 16,000 to 19,000 in 1810 to 31,000 to 40,000 in 1840, and the two cities were among the most densely populated municipalities in Germany. The 1802 system was further extended in 1841. In 1850, dissatisfaction having arisen in several quarters, the Lutheran church attempted to do the work. Matters were not improved. The population of poor people was disproportionately high. And the centrally managed system of urban poor relief that the two cities had inherited proved to be too expensive and inefficient to cope with the new scale of the problem. The Elberfeld system was a new structure of care that attempted to adapt to the new conditions. The system In 1852, a plan proposed by a banker, Daniel von Heydt, was put in operation. The administration of poor relief was decentralized. Working under a citywide poor office, subdepartments were established in smaller precincts - their relief workers worked on behalf of the central office. There were 252 precincts, each to care for four to 10 families. Each precinct was in the care of an unsalaried almoner whose duty was to investigate each applicant for aid and to make visits every two weeks as long as aid was given. (Although, aid was not always extended - initial assistance was limited to two weeks and further services had to be approved again.) Fourteen precincts formed a district. The almoners met every two weeks under direction of an unpaid overseer to discuss the