Transport routes
Until well into the 19th century, people in the Sauerland traveled either on horseback or on foot. Further distances could be covered by stagecoaches. In Schmallenberg, the stagecoaches stopped at the horse-changing station or Posthalterei, which was run by the merchant Anton Johann Störmann. In 1769, he received permission to serve alcohol and to build an inn. The inn was connected with the post office and a grocery store. Störmann traded in almost everything: textiles (damask blankets, caps, bedding, yarn, knitted stockings), foodstuffs (coffee, sugar, wine, herrings, flour), goods for everyday use (wax candles, shoe nails) and home-distilled liquor. The family members also worked as farmers, carters, provided several mayors and a descendant founded the first textile factory. In 1826 Störmann was appointed "royal post office keeper". Carriages and horses traveled on little paved roads. A real road construction began only at the end of the 18th century. Now, chausses were built on dry and hard surfaces and a bulge was placed in the middle of the road for water drainage. The roads were terribly dusty; bitumen and asphalt as binding agents did not appear until around 1900. In Schmallenberg, the road to Gleidorf was paved in 1842 (today's B 236), and in 1844 the road section to Fleckenberg. The former Landwehr (rampart) in the north was turned into meadows and gardens. The square in front of the town was established as a shooting range and surrounded with trees and hedges. In 1849 the road (Kommunalweg) to Grafschaft was built and in 1856 the one to Wormbach via Obringhausen. On it - between Fredeburg and Meschede, Winterberg and Schmallenberg - stagecoaches pulled by two horses now ran regularly. The Schmallenberg physician Dr. Witzheller acquired the first car in Schmallenberg for his house calls in 1908, and built a car shed (with half-timbering, transom windows and wooden gates) at his house on Weststraße.Even after 1945, only the main streets and the streets in the town center were developed or paved. All other streets had water-bound, dusty surfaces. In 1949, their expansion and paving began. Traffic grew steadily in the following years; in 1997, the bypass was opened, relieving the historic city center. The connection to the railroad network was made relatively late in 1888 and was not a success story: after just over 100 years, the connection was abandoned again in 1994. In 1885-87, the Schmallenberg-Altemhunden railroad line was built. In 1889, the line was extended via Fredeburg to Wenholthausen and Wennemen. The line proved to be unprofitable: in 1964 the Altenhundem - Wenholthausen connection was discontinued, in 1967 the Altenhundem-Schmallenberg section was dismantled and in 1991 the Wenholthausen-Schmallenberg connection was discontinued, and in 1994 the Schmallenberg-Wennemen connection. Since 2006, there has been a cycle path (the "Sauerlandradring") on the railroad embankment between Schmallenberg and Eslohe-Bremke.
Further infrastructure expansion
In the long run, the other infrastructure development was more successful than the railroad construction: Already in 1852, the higher town school had been founded, and in 1855, the savings bank (Oststraße 41) as the second in the district of Meschede. In 1876 the town was connected to the telegraph line Cologne-Meschede and in 1881 the first telephone set was installed. In 1882, the first water came directly into the houses via domestic water pipes. Until then, all water for drinking and domestic use had to be drawn from draw wells within the town; almost every house had a well until 1882. In case of water shortage, water was fetched from the Lenne. The house owners had to contribute financially to the development of the water pipeline. With the new water pipeline, the water tanks for fire extinguishing (the so-called "Feuerkümpe" at the Mittelstraße and at the Synagogenstraße) became superfluous. Improving health care also included the construction of the nursing home at Weststraße 48 in 1910/11, which developed into a municipal hospital that had to be abandoned in 1974. There had already been a pharmacy in the city since 1798 (Weststraße 62, since 1960 Löwenapotheke at Weststraße 16; the Marien-Apotheke continues to operate in the old building). The establishment of a river baths in the Lenne in 1906 was part of the growing health care. In 1974 Schmallenberg and Grafschaft received the status of state-approved climatic health resorts.