The river Pader originates in more than 200 springs near Paderborn Cathedral, where St. Liborius is buried.

[4] In 799 Pope Leo III fled his enemies in Rome and reached Paderborn, where he met Charlemagne, and stayed there for three months.

In 836, St. Liborius became the patron saint of Paderborn after his bones were moved there from Le Mans by Bishop Badurad.

Native Friedrich Sertürner, a pharmacist's apprentice in Paderborn, was the first to isolate morphine from opium in 1804.

During World War II, Paderborn was bombed by Allied aircraft in 1944 and 1945, resulting in 85% destruction, including many of the historic buildings.

It was seized by the US 3rd Armored Division after a pitched battle 31 March – 1 April 1945, in which tanks and flamethrowers were used during combined mechanized-infantry assaults against the city's southwestern, southern and southeastern approaches.

Paderborn is the headquarters of the former Nixdorf Computer AG, which was acquired by Siemens in the early 1990s and known as Siemens-Nixdorf for about ten years.

The company is now known as Diebold Nixdorf, which is still located in Paderborn, but Siemens retains a considerable presence in the city.

Paderborn has the largest computer museum in the world, the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum, opened in 1996.

In the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, the city currently located in the district Paderborn II, which also has a strong CDU lean.

The current mayor of Paderborn is Michael Dreier of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

The local American Football team, the Paderborn Dolphins, has also enjoyed considerable success.

In 2006 the Paderborn Baskets, the home basketball team of the city was promoted to the Bundesliga.

The Neuhaus and Paderborn teams played as tier III sides for most of their histories, as has the unified club.

General Aviation and gliders are based at Paderborn-Haxterberg (ICAO: EDLR) (site of the world gliding championships in 1981).