The first time Kolding is mentioned is in Cadaster of King Valdemar from 1231. How long the town has existed before that is not known. Archaeological investigations have shown layers from the second half of the eleven-hundreds dated from potsherds found in these layers. From the middle and second half of the twelve-hundreds also dates the first beginning of Koldinghus, the church of Sct. Nicolai and a Franciscan monastery which was situated where Klostergade (Monastery Street) lies now. The latter was demolished in 1530.

Royal attention during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
During the Middle Ages Kolding was a significant town. The King and his entourage frequently stayed at Koldinghus, and important negotiations have taken place here.
The central position of the town as a border town to the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein has of course been decisive.

From the middle of the fifteenth-hundreds to the beginning of the sixteenth hundreds
the town of Kolding was favoured by the Crown. King Christian III extended Koldinghus during the years 1546 - 1558 and founded Sct. Jørgens Hospital (St. George's hospital). After his death his Queen Dorothea had Koldinghus as dower house. She built the grammar school and founded Slotsmøllen, the castle brewery. Their son, King Frederik II created the large deer forest north of Koldinghus and the preserves, a large hunting ground north and west of Kolding, which later became the Kolding district supporting the cavalry. In the years around 1600 King Christian IV built the massive tower of the castle together with the great baronial hall and a new larger castle church.

The royal family's interest in Koldinghus and frequent residences at the castle with
large entourages gave prosperity to many of the town's citizens. To this comes, that Kolding Soenderbro (the southern bridge across the river Kolding) was one of two custom houses for the export of oxen to Germany and the Netherlands. This export also brought many people to town.

Stagnation 1650- approx. 1800
The wars against Germany and Sweden in the sixteenth hundreds became the end of prosperity. War and plague meant a considerable regression in population, which the town had difficulty in regaining. The consumption, a purchase tax of all trade in town, and the sanding up of the inner bay meant that the trade in Kolding stagnated or declined.

Around 1800 the most important trade in town was distillery, the second was farming and the third trade. Trade progressed heavily in the following time. The export of oxen from Kolding had again risen considerably at the end of seventeenth hundreds. Furthermore, grain trade became an essential asset during the first half of the eighteenth hundreds. Improved methods of cultivation resulted in increased grain production, and the increasing population in Europe demanded Danish grain. Farmers from Vejle to Haderslev sent their grain to Kolding. For the town's trade it was of decisive importance that an actual harbour was established in Kolding in 1843.

Growth since the middle of the eighteenth hundreds
The Schleswig wars and especially the battles at Kolding on 23 April 1849 meant a short stagnation for the town, but after 1850 it progressed again. The customs frontier was moved south, the consumption abolished and the first industries were established in town: brickworks, foundries and a firm of furniture makers.

It became an important prerequisite for the increasing trade, that the East–Jutland railway had a station in Kolding from 1866. From the 1870’es there was also railway connection to the new export harbour of Esbjerg. As time went on the system of roads around Kolding was also extended, and in 1898 the town got its first private railway to the surrounding area – Egtved Railway – followed by the Southern Railways and the
Troldhede Railway in 1911 and 1917, respectively.

Until the beginning of the 1870-es Laasbygade was considered the town’s most important business street, yet when the railway station was placed at the harbour, and the railway tracks was laid through the southern part of town, by and by the trade centre moved to the Jernbanegade/Oestergade-part of town. At the same time a change took place in the character of the trade. Where trade previously had taken place in the merchants' houses, where both wholesale and retail sales took place, some merchants now specialized in wholesale within certain commodities, and some in retailing. Next to them a number of small shops sprouted in the streets.

A municipal gasworks was built in 1861, and in 1898 a municipal power station. The town got a waterworks in 1886.

From the 1870-es the town grew fast. The many newcomers, who especially came from the surrounding area and from South Jutland, found jobs in shops and trades. During this period Kolding became the centre of export of live cattle, especially to Germany. New industries arose, i.e. a tobacco factory, a brewery, textile mills and machine manufacturers. The increase in population made the need for more housing almost insatiable. From the beginning of the 1880-es the town was reconstructed and new buildings were erected in the entire central part of town. The old half-timbered houses were replaced by new brick-built and presentable houses with several floors. New quarters shot up on all sides of the town, in several places they were started as allotment gardens.

Considerable public investments, carried through to reduce the unemployment during and immediately after the World War I, resulted in a very heavy tax burden for the town's citizens in the 1920-es. The number of inhabitants dropped, but on the other hand the population figures rose in the surrounding parishes, and for that reason a forcible incorporation of the built-up parts of Kolding's neighbouring parishes was effected. The number of inhabitants of the borough rose and the area of the town doubled. The favourable consequences quickly appeared. The town was only to a less extent afflicted by the large unemployment in the beginning of the 1930-es. The bridge over the Little Belt, which was finished in 1935, was an advantage for Kolding's position as commercial town and traffic centre.

Kolding during the occupation
During the German occupation 1940 - 1945, a large number of German soldiers were stationed in Kolding where Gestapo had head quarters for the south and southern part region at the Stable yard of Koldinghus. Region III of the Resistance also had head quarters in Kolding, and the consequences of the war were felt all until 1949, when the last German fugitives left the camp at Tvedvej, which was a transit camp for all German fugitives in Denmark.

After World War II
After World War II many old industrial companies were closed down, and new have appeared. The development has moved in the direction of food industry and stainless steel industry and a number of companies, that produce outstanding industrial art.

During the same period it has endeavoured to make Kolding an education centre in South Jutland. Today, the result is that the town has a number of further and higher educations. In 1999 Kolding became a university town with a subsidiary of the University of Southern Denmark. Today Kolding is situated at the country's large crossing with motorway connections to all corners of the world. The town has international air traffic connections from Billund Airport.

The prosperity in the 1960-es and the beginning of the 1970-es was hard on the old inner city of Kolding – as the case also was in many of the other towns in the country.
However, the large demolitions are now over. Instead Kolding has taken the lead what urban renewal and redevelopment are concerned. The urban renewal in Kolding is of a scale, which only is inferior to that of Copenhagen. Latest there has been focused on the southwest quarter of Kolding in the form of a quarter renewal project.

From the middle of the 1980-es Kolding has got fine hotel and conference facilities, the art museum of Trapholt, which like the Museum of Koldinghus arranges exhibitions, which arouses interest far beyond the boundaries of the town. The shopping mall of Kolding Storcenter also attracts customers form a large area.

Today Kolding is a modern town, which has maintained its history and identity.

by Birgitte and Poul Dedenroth-Schou