Sankt Stefan ob Leoben

Sankt Stefan ob Leoben
coat of arms	Austria map
Basic data
Country:	Austria
State :	Styria
Political District :	Leoben
License plate :	LN
Surface:	78.55 km²
Coordinates :	47 ° 19 '  N , 14 ° 59'  E Coordinates: 47 ° 19 '11 "  N , 14 ° 58' 39"  E
Height :	588  m above sea level A.
Residents :	1.910 (January 1, 2020)
Postcodes :	8713, 8714
Area code :	03832
Community code :	6 11 15
Address of the municipal administration:	Dorfplatz 14 8713 Sankt Stefan ob Leoben
Website:	www.st-stefan-leoben.at
politics
Mayor :	Ronald Schlager ( SPÖ )
Municipal Council : (2020) (15 members)	11 3 1 11 3 1  A total of 15 seats SPÖ : 11 ÖVP : 3 KPÖ : 1
Location of Sankt Stefan ob Leoben in the Leoben district
St. Stefan from the southeast
Source: Municipal data from Statistics Austria

Sankt Stefan ob Leoben is a municipality with 1899 inhabitants (as of July 1, 2020) in Styria ( judicial district or district of Leoben ).

geography

Sankt Stefan is located in the Murtal approx. 15 km west of the district capital Leoben in the geographical center of Styria.

Community structure

The municipality includes the following six localities:

• Kaisersberg
• Lichtensteinerberg
• Lobming
• Niederdorf
• Sankt Stefan ob Leoben
• Zmöllach

The Lobming is a side valley of the Mur Valley and a district of St. Stefan ob Leoben. Lobming is divided into front and back lobming. In the rear lobby there is a Romanesque church that is used for weddings and baptisms. The community consists of the five cadastral communities Kaisersberg, Lichtensteinerberg, Lobming, Niederdorf and St. Stefan.

Neighboring communities

Chambers in the Liesingtal	Traboch	Sankt Michael in Upper Styria
Kraubath on the Mur
Sankt Lorenzen near Knittelfeld ( District Murtal )	Rachau ( district Murtal )	Übelbach ( Graz area )

View from Kamsberg to St. Stefan ob Leoben

history

The place owes its origin to a bridge over the Mur (called Bridge to St. Stefan ). This was the only transition between Knittelfeld and Leoben . Around 860 AD, deeds of gift named farmsteads in today's municipal area and in 927 the place name Lobminichamundi (Lobming estuary) is found.

In 1105 a chapel was built by Count Waldo von Rein, and in 1122 the will of Duke Heinrich III. from Carinthia to wear, in which this the Styrian Otakars u. a. the upper Murtal as far as … hintz Sanct Stephandes prukke… bequeathed. 1155 the name Goggendorf iuxta pontem Sancti Stephani ('village of Gogo [name of a Bavarian landlord] at the Stephansbrücke') occurs. The name St. Stefan is also kept in the time of the Slavic settlement: St. Stephanus Chrowat (Chrowat still received in the name of the neighboring village Kraubath ).

In the 13th century we find the Counts of Pfannberg as sovereign feudal takers of the rule; Around 1240, construction of the castle in Chaysersperch (Kaisersberg Castle) began.

Around 1581 an alum plant “ob Kaisersberg” is mentioned, in 1629 the beginning of copper ore mining in Lobming and in 1755 the beginning of graphite mining in Kaisersberg (graphite was then called “water lead”).

In 1776 a school was founded in the village and in 1787 the parish church was given its present form. The castle was inhabited until 1793, then the lord of the castle, Count Breuner , began to demolish it. At the same time, the new castle was built at the foot of the castle hill. In 1809 the castle was completely destroyed in the French Wars ( battle near Sankt Michael , the neighboring town).

The place gets its greatest mining importance from clay iron finds on Lichtensteinerberg and the associated smelting works in Vorlobming. Here also Josef Ressel , the inventor of the propeller, in 1828 let the tube boilers for his attempt ship "Civetta" build. By melting a copper pipe during the test drive, this boiler brought Ressel's ship's propeller into disrepute and this important invention was put aside in Austria.

In 1848 St. Stefan became an independent municipality within today's municipal boundaries and in 1860 was connected to the southern railway. In 1862, Baron Mayr-Melnhof bought graphite mining, the Lobming ironworks and chrome ore mining in Chromwerk. He expanded graphite mining, but closed the plants in Lobming and Chromwerk. Mining is started again later in the Chromwerkgraben. Magnesite is found, but only degrades for a short time.

In 1886 the former school building was adapted and in 1904 Lobming got its own school, which was only closed in 1969.

In 1934 the Triester Bundesstraße was expanded, in 1938/39 a direct road connection from the Bundesstraße to St. Stefan was created with the construction of the Mur Bridge. This was destroyed by a flood and rebuilt the following year. During the Second World War the place was spared from damage, after the war the Russians and British were briefly occupying the place.

In 1967, after 99 years of existence, the ÖBB stop in Preßnitz was closed. The new bypass road over the railroad was built in 1970. In 1975 the new official building on the village square was opened and in 1976 the new elementary school. In 1978/79 the rectory was redesigned and in 1987 the renovation of the parish church and the grounds were completed.

On January 1, 1981, the Greith district was incorporated into the municipality. The canal network of the localities of Preßnitz and Kaisersberg was rebuilt between 1985 and 1987 and in June 1988 the junction of the Murtal expressway  S 36 was opened to traffic.

The new Murbrücke was opened on June 12, 1992 and the gendarmerie post was closed on October 1, 1992. On May 23, 1992 the new fire station of the St. Stefan Volunteer Fire Brigade was inaugurated, on November 22, 1995 the newly designed kindergarten was put into operation and on September 15, 1996 the music center was handed over. In the course of the redesign of the route, the railway barriers in Preßnitz and Kaisersberg were removed and built through the ÖBB underpasses to Preßnitz and in the Windischbachgraben. The opening took place on July 24, 1998. The fire station of the Kaisersberg volunteer fire brigade was enlarged and modernized and inaugurated in August 1999 by Pastor Machata.

The community is its own parish with the Lobming branch church. The sports and tennis club as well as numerous interest groups offer their services for the leisure sector.

politics

The municipal office in St. Stefan

Community representation

11

3

1

11 3 1 

A total of 15 seats

• SPÖ : 11
• ÖVP : 3
• KPÖ : 1

Mayor is Ronald Schlager (SPÖ). The municipal council has 15 seats and has been divided since the 2020 election with: ÖVP 3, SPÖ 11, KPÖ 1.

coat of arms

The coat of arms contains :

“On a blue background a silver castle that stands on a silver three-hill with a mouth hole. In the lower part of the escutcheon there is a golden ship's propeller . "

The silver castle is Kaisersberg , the mountain with a mouth hole stands for the 3 mining areas: Chromwerk , Kaisersberg (graphite), Lobming (chamotte). The ship's propeller honors its inventor, the k. u. k. Marine-Ing. Josef Ressel , who had the tubular boiler built for his test ship Civetta in the iron smelter in Vorlobming in 1828. In 1971 the Styrian state government awarded the municipality the municipal coat of arms.

Regional policy

Sankt Stefan belongs to the LEADER region Steirische Eisenstrasse and the Regionext small region Murtal around Leoben.

Economy and Infrastructure

In the Vorlobming there is a quarry, in which stone material for the lining of blast furnaces around the world ( chamotte ) is extracted.

Culture and sights

See also:  List of listed objects in Sankt Stefan ob Leoben

Personalities

Honorary citizen

• Medard Edelsbrunner († 1970), priest

Sons and daughters of the church

• Jakob Ahrer (1888–1962), CS politician

Personalities associated with the community

• Franz Pühringer (1906–1977), cultural journalist, poet and playwright
• Claus Schedl (1914–1986), theologian and religious priest

Web links

Commons : Sankt Stefan ob Leoben  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• 61115 - Sankt Stefan ob Leoben. Community data, Statistics Austria .
• Entry on Sankt Stefan ob Leoben in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
• Community website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ history , burg-kaisersberg.at;
   Burg Kaisersberg , burgseite.com - building description
2. ↑ Welcome… , st-stefan-leoben.at
3. ↑ Kleine Zeitung (February 17, 1970), p. 29.