Several
Neolithic stone cists are the earliest traces of humans in the area around the three brooks,
Kollenbach, Lippbach and
Siechenbach. Because of these three brooks, the town was eventually named Bekehem or later Beckum, meaning "home upon the brooks". In 1224, Beckum was granted its town charter, and it quickly grew in wealth as merchants and craftsmen set up businesses in the town. The town quickly expanded to an area of over 22 km2 (8.5 sq miles). However wars, riots and the
Black Death in the following centuries left their mark on the town. After the
Thirty Years' War, legislation removed several rights from cities and towns, and as a result many cities and towns in Münsterland became heavily economically and religiously dependent upon the
Bishop of Münster. The town's long period of economic stagnation slowly came to an end in the 19th century. From 1803 to 1806 Beckum was under
Prussian rule and from 1806 to 1816 under French rule. In 1816 Beckum became the district town of Beckum district. In the second half of the 19th century, chalk and cement industries developed quickly, and in 1827 the first cement plant opened in Beckum. Eventually the town became one of the most important and largest cement production areas in the world. After the end of the First World War, inflation brought Beckum's economic growth to a halt. In 1933, the Nazi regime ended democracy in the Beckum town parliament - as everywhere in Germany. During the Second World War, Beckum was fortunate and Allied bombings destroyed only small areas of the town. In the difficult post-war era, the townspeople developed Beckum into a modern industrial town. In 1974, the
North Rhine-Westphalian state government reorganized the boundaries of several districts and towns. As of 1 January 1975, the Beckum and Warendorf districts merged into one, and Warendorf remained district town of the whole area. ==Geography==