In that part of
Neandertal, which is located in Erkrath, in the summer of 1856, quarry workers discovered the
fossilised remains of what became known as the
Neanderthal man or Homo neanderthalensis in Feldhof
cave. The name Erkrath was first mentioned in 1148. Erkrath received town rights in 1966. In 1975, the municipality of
Hochdahl was incorporated into Erkrath. As well its former borough
Unterbach was incorporated into
Düsseldorf. Only a part of Unterbach called
Unterfeldhaus remained as now a borough of its own with Erkrath. Erkrath today has three local parts: Erkrath,
Hochdahl and
Unterfeldhaus.
Flemming Lund (born 1952), Danish footballer for Fortuna Düsseldorf and Rot-Weiss Essen, lived in Hochdahl
Joachim Neander (c. 1650–1680) German pastor, church poet and composer, first author about the Neandertal
Aleksandar Ristić (born 1944), footballer and coach (among others Fortuna Düsseldorf), lived in Erkrath at this time
Karl Sudhoff (1853–1938), founder of the medical history as a scientific discipline in
Germany, was from 1885 to 1905 doctor of the Hochdahl iron foundry and Armenian physician, later also councilor of Hochdahl-Millrath
Toni Turek (1919–1984), national goalkeeper and world champion of Bern 1954, lived during his years with
Fortuna Düsseldorf and his world title in Erkrath. 50 years after Bern the Erkrath Stadium was named after him ("Toni-Turek-Stadion", Freiheitsstraße 46).[6]
Karl Wenders (1841–1905), mayor of Neuss, Member of Reichstag and member of Landtag