Over the next 21 years he would hold various positions at Prussian government offices in Magdeburg, Gumbinnen and Minden.

A staunch conservative and royalist, Hasselbach was promoted to "Lord" Mayor of Magdeburg in 1854 by King Frederick William IV of Prussia.

But his most important development was the physical expansion of the city, granting Magdeburg room to grow its industrial base.

The city of Magdeburg erected a monument in Hasselbach's honour at the centre of an important traffic intersection, Hasselbachplatz.

Damaged during World War II, the monument was eventually restored in the late 1990s.