Epfenbach

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Epfenbach (disambiguation) .

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 49 ° 20 '  N , 8 ° 55'  E
Basic data
State :	Baden-Württemberg
Administrative region :	Karlsruhe
County :	Rhein-Neckar district
Height :	212 m above sea level NHN
Area :	12.97 km 2
Residents:	2427 (Dec. 31, 2018)
Population density :	187 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	74925
Area code :	07263
License plate :	HD
Community key :	08 2 26 017
Address of the municipal administration:	Hauptstrasse 28 74925 Epfenbach
Website :	www.epfenbach.de
Mayor :	Joachim Bösenecker ( CDU )
Location of the municipality Epfenbach in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis

Epfenbach is a municipality in the Rhein-Neckar district in Baden-Württemberg with around 2500 inhabitants. The community belongs to the Waibstadt municipal administration association and the Brunnenregion tourism region .

geography

Location and natural space

Epfenbach is located on the stream of the same name in the northern Kraichgau on the edge of the Kleiner Odenwald , about 24 kilometers southeast of Heidelberg and twelve kilometers northwest of the former district town of Sinsheim . Epfenbach borders on Lobbach , Reichartshausen , Helmstadt-Bargen , Neidenstein , Eschelbronn and Spechbach .

The district extends over 1297 hectares. Of this, 12.4 percent are settlement and traffic areas, 49.2 percent are used for agriculture and 37.5 percent are forested.

Epfenbach has a share in the nature reserve Neckartal I - Kleiner Odenwald . The low mountain range, rich in relics, was placed under protection in 2002 because of its beauty, diversity and uniqueness and belongs to the Neckartal-Odenwald Nature Park .

Community structure

The hamlet of Keitenhöfe and the Wagen (furter) Mühle house belong to the municipality of Epfenbach.

history

The village was mentioned for the first time in 1286 as Epphinbach on a deed of donation from Reinholdt von Ladenburg and his wife Lioba, in which the two bequeathed their property there to the Schönau monastery . In 1325 the Archdiocese of Mainz bought the local rule, which it pledged to knight Engelhard von Hirschhorn for 400 pounds of Heller as early as 1344 . In the following centuries the local rule changed frequently. The oldest known town hall in Epfenbach is documented as early as 1350. In 1380 Epfenbach came under the sovereignty of the Electoral Palatinate and belonged there to the Stüber Zent .

In 1496 there was a dispute with the Lobenfeld monastery . The abbess of the monastery refused to pay for the renovation of the tower of the old Johanneskirche, although she was obliged to do so.

Oldest house, 16th century

With the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War , hard times began for Epfenbach and the whole of Kraichgau. In 1622, Count Tilly's troops burned the village down and in 1643 400 Lorraine horsemen besieged the Johannes church in Epfenbach. According to tradition, the mayor at that time, Hanß Dengel, was shot in the head during this siege. At the end of the war, 15 subjects lived in the village compared to 72 before. In 1799, French troops sacked the village. In 1812, citizens of Epfenbach also took part in Napoleon's Russian campaign, at least one Christian Zapf came back alive.

In 1803 Epfenbach in the Electoral Palatinate came with the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss to the Electorate of Baden , where it was affiliated to the Neckarbischofsheim District Office in 1810 and the Sinsheim District Office in 1864 . In 1939 there were 1124 inhabitants, at the end of 1945 there were 1282.

In the course of the Baden-Württemberg district reform , the Sinsheim district was dissolved in 1973 and the community was incorporated into the newly formed Rhein-Neckar district. Epfenbach joined the Waibstadt municipal administration association. The growth of the community was accompanied by infrastructure measures such as the construction of the elementary and secondary school, a sports facility and a swimming pool. In 2005 more than 2500 inhabitants were counted in Epfenbach for the first time.

Population development

year	1871	1890	1910	1939	1950	1961	1970	1987	1991	1995	2000	2005	2010	2015
Residents	1146	1076	1214	1124	1723	1682	1931	2206	2264	2354	2374	2517	2504	2429

Religions

Elector Ottheinrich introduced the Reformation in 1556/7 . Ten years later, Elector Friedrich III. the Lobenfeld Monastery . The Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran congregations have been using the Old Town Hall for their services since 1728 , after the Johannes Church had passed into the possession of the Evangelical Reformed congregation four years earlier . After the old town hall was torn down due to disrepair, the Catholic community rebuilt the Marienkirche. Two years after the Evangelical Church Union in Baden, the Reformed and Lutheran schools were merged in 1823 and the simultaneous school was introduced in 1876.

In addition to the merged Protestant congregation, the Liebenzeller Community Association (an evangelical community within the Evangelical Church linked to the Liebenzeller Mission ) and the New Apostolic Church are also represented in the village today .

The Catholic parish of St. Josef is part of the Waibstadt pastoral care unit and is looked after by its pastor.

politics

Municipal council

In addition to the presiding mayor, the municipal council has twelve members and is directly elected for five years.

The 2019 local elections led to the following result (in brackets: difference to 2014):

FWV	42.9% (+13.3)	5 seats (+1)
CDU	32.4% (−10.2)	4 seats (−1)
SPD	24.7% (−3.1)	3 seats (± 0)

The turnout was 69.5% (+8.0).

mayor

The administration is led by the mayor , who is directly elected for a term of eight years. In the 2007 election, Joachim Bösenecker won the runoff election for the first time in Epfenbach, a Christian Democrat with 38.38 percent.

• 1991–2007: Meinhard Seel ( Free Voters )
• since 2007: Joachim Bösenecker ( CDU )

Local well from 1811 with the coat of arms

coat of arms

The blazon of the coat of arms reads: In silver over a lowered blue wavy bar, a hanging red apple on a green stem with two green leaves.

The interpretation of the place name is disputed. It could be derived from a person's name or a plant name. The court seal, proven since 1752, refers to the folk etymological interpretation and showed, among other things, an apple and a wavy bar. In 1901 the municipality adopted the coat of arms.

The flag is blue and white and was awarded in 1978.

Culture and sights

Former Fronhof of the Lobenfeld Monastery, building from 1718, today a local museum

Protestant church

Old Catholic Church, built in 1742

Museums

The Epfenbacher Heimatmuseum in the former Fronhof von Lobbach shows the establishment of a rural household around 1850, laundry and tools of the local farmers and craftsmen as well as other furnishings. The museum is located in an exemplary restored half-timbered house, a former monastery courtyard from 1718.

Buildings

The Protestant church is the oldest church in the village. It replaced the previous building in 1836 and was built according to plans by Heinrich Hübsch .

The old Catholic church stands where the town's first town hall was located around 1350, and services have been held in the large council chamber since 1556. The old Johanneskirche was built in 1742 and expanded in 1836. The Catholic Johanneskirche was built from 1962 to 1966. After this new building, the old church became the Marienkapelle, and the building has been used as an artist's studio since 1992.

The oldest residential house in the village dates from the 16th century and survived the village fire of 1622. Several stately half-timbered buildings have also been preserved in the village, the most splendid being the former Fronhof of the Lobenfeld Monastery from the 15th century, which was rebuilt in 1718 and now houses the local history museum.

The old school building was built in 1910 and served as a school until 1971. In addition, the houses of the former denominational schools are still preserved in the village. The old Catholic schoolhouse was built in 1847 and was a school building until 1910, then a cigar factory and, during World War II, a satellite warehouse of the Mannheim Reiss Museum . The old Protestant school building was built in 1838 and was also a school building until 1910. The local history museum was here from 1968 to 1989.

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  Catholic Johanneskirche

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  Interior of the Johanneskirche

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  Old school house

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  Half-timbered house

Regular events

The parish fair takes place every year on the last weekend in August and the market day - a street festival - on the first Saturday in October.

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Epfenbach is on the L 530. Via Waibstadt and Sinsheim you can reach the federal motorway 6 .

Bus routes lead to the surrounding towns. Epfenbach belongs to the tariff area of ​​the Rhein-Neckar transport association .

media

The Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung reports on local events . The newsletter of the Waibstadt municipal administration association appears weekly.

education

In Epfenbach there is the Merian school, a primary and secondary school with a technical secondary school . Since the 2007/08 school year, children with various disabilities have also been taught integratively. From the school year 2010/11, the previous school will be run as a new type of elementary and technical secondary school with a branch in the neighboring community of Eschelbronn. Secondary schools are located in Waibstadt , Neckarbischofsheim and Sinsheim . There is a Roman Catholic and a Protestant kindergarten for the youngest residents .

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the church

• Carl Christian Ullmann (1796–1865), Protestant theologian
• Edmund Wilhelm Braun (1870–1957), art historian, author, museum director and university professor
• Willy Ziegler (1899–1942), politician ( NSDAP ) and SA leader
• Werner Fischer (* 1939), engineer, former rector of the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences - Technology and Economics

Other persons connected with Epfenbach

• Helmut Förster (1922–1993), founder of the Heimatmuseum and co-founder of the Kraichgau Heimatverein

Honorary citizen

• Willi Kuch was the mayor of Epfenbach

literature

• Epfenbach community (ed.): 700 years of Epfenbach 1286–1986. A village between Kraichgau and Odenwald . 1986.
• Emil Zapf: Epfenbach - home book of a village . Epfenbach 1969
• Emil Zapf: Our home and clan - The history of the village of Epfenbach in Kraichgau and part of its inhabitants from 1600-1935 . Heidelberg 1936
• Adolf M. Hirn, Gabriele Süskind (ed.), Jürgen Schütz (ed.): The Rhein-Neckar district . Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-8062-0597-3

Individual evidence

1. ↑ State Statistical Office Baden-Württemberg - Population by nationality and gender on December 31, 2018 (CSV file) ( help on this ).
2. ↑ State Statistical Office Baden-Württemberg, status: December 31, 2004  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ State Institute for Environment, Measurements and Nature Conservation Baden-Württemberg
4. ^ The state of Baden-Württemberg. Official description by district and municipality. Volume V: Karlsruhe District Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-17-002542-2 . Pp. 417-418
5. ↑ Communications from the Württ. And Bad. State Statistical Office No. 2: Results of the population census on December 31, 1945 in North Baden
6. ↑ Baden-Württemberg State Statistical Office
7. ↑ Baden-Württemberg State Statistical Office: Municipal council elections 2019, Epfenbach ; Municipality of Epfenbach: municipal council election 2019 (PDF) ; accessed May 31, 2019.
8. ^ Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung April 16, 2007
9. ^ Herwig John, Gabriele Wüst: Wappenbuch Rhein-Neckar-Kreis . Ubstadt-Weiher 1996, ISBN 3-929366-27-4 , p. 54

Web links

Commons : Epfenbach  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Epfenbach community
• Local museum
• LEO-BW, discover regional studies online , Epfenbach