SCHWELM, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, situated on the river of the same name, 4 m. E. of Barmen, with which it is connected by an electric tramway, and on the main line of railway, Düsseldorf-Hagen. Pop. (1905) 18,469. It has three churches and various schools and public institutions. Lying close to the Harkort iron and sulphur mines, and within the populous and rich mineral district on the lower Rhine, it carries on iron-founding, wire-drawing and the manufacture of machinery of various kinds, besides an active trade in iron, steel and brass goods. Scarcely less important are its manufactures of ribbons, damask, cord, pianos and paper. In the neighbourhood is a hydropathic establishment. Schwelm is said to have existed as early as 1085, though it did not receive civic rights until 1590.
See Tobien, Bilder aus der Geschichte von Schwelm (Schwelm, 1890).