Sinking of the Gneisenau colliery commenced in 1873 but, due to water problems, it was 1886 before the shafts were completed. A third shaft was sunk in 1903. The mine was steadily expanded and improved with a fourth shaft added in 1934. By the 1970s output was 4.5 million tons a year with 6,000 employees and it was the largest colliery in the Ruhr area. Production ceased in 1985 and the adjacent coking plant followed in 1989.

Today two sets of headgear are preserved as industrial monuments. This is headframe over shaft 4 constructed in 1933-34.