Sedanplatz Lage

The construction of the Herford-Lage-Detmold railway line in 1880, the Lage-Lemgo line in 1896 and the Lage-Bielefeld line in 1904 made Lage a transportation hub in Lippe. Opposite the first simple single-storey station building was a meadow area criss-crossed by footpaths. Between the meadow and the station was a wide ditch with a wooden bridge.

The construction of a new railroad station at the end of the 19th century initiated a planned urban development. The Sedanplatz park opposite the station was at the center of a newly emerging street network. In the 1920s, the western expansion of the city was largely completed with the construction of residential buildings, factories and administrative buildings.

An avenue of chestnut trees was laid out between the station and the main Bad Salzuflen - Lage - Lemgo road to the north.

In the first half of the 20th century, the forecourts of the larger railroad stations in the region were mostly designed as elaborate ornamental squares with representative driveways, flower roundels, monuments and lights. While the other station forecourts in the region were redesigned and paved in line with traffic considerations from 1950 at the latest, the square in Lage was largely spared this development. Photos from the early 1960s show a square with a geometric network of paths bordered by hedges, rows of trees, flowerbeds and roundels as well as a fountain. It was probably mainly in the 1970s that these representative elements were pushed back in favor of today's low-maintenance lawns.