Steinberg (Gedern)

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Steinberg
City of Gedern
Coordinates: 50 ° 24 '42 "  N , 9 ° 8' 58"  E
Height : 283 m above sea level NHN
Area : 2.74 km²
Residents : 550 approx.
Population density : 201 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation : July 1, 1971
Postal code : 63688
Area code : 06045
Weidenkirche in Steinberg, June 2008
Weidenkirche in Steinberg, June 2008

Steinberg is a district of Gedern in the Hessian Wetteraukreis .

Geographical location

Steinberg is located in the southwestern Vogelsberg between the Büdinger Wald and the Oberwald on both sides of the Spießbach , a left eastern tributary of the Nidder just below the village.

The municipal area is given for 1961 as 274 hectares, 54 hectares of which is forest and is therefore extremely small. The district lies compactly between the neighboring towns of Glashütten in the northwest, Hirzenhain in the southwest and Merkenfritz in the south. The core town of Gedern is located to the northeast and is around three kilometers away.

The district of Steinberg lies in the valleys of Nidder and Spießbach and is bordered by the ridge line of the mountain ranges that accompany these valleys. The highest point of the district is in the wooded eastern corner at a height of around 341 meters on the southwestern foothills of the 375 meter high Wolfshain .

history

Steinberg owes its existence to the brown iron ore found here , which was extracted and smelted in small businesses, the so-called forest smiths. The Counts of Stolberg , who were wealthy in the Harz , settled miners from their estates here from 1555. The place name is derived from iron ore = stone. The oldest surviving mention of the place comes from the period between 1585 and 1602. The ore was mined for the ironworks in Hirzenhain, which opened around 1555.

The village belonged to the Ortenberg office , a condominium that was formed by three sovereigns from among the members of the Wetterau Counts' Association . In 1601 there was a real division of the condominium, whereby the Steinberg of the County of Stolberg-Roßla and their newly formed, Stolberg “Amt Ortenberg” was added. Steinberg was one of the places in which the Solms land law of 1571 was accepted under customary law , but only partially . This applied in particular to the areas of guardianship law , inheritance and matrimonial property law . Otherwise common law applied . It was not until January 1, 1900, when the Civil Code , which was uniformly valid throughout the German Reich , that the old particular law was suspended .

In 1806 the county of Stolberg - and with it Steinberg as well - fell to the Grand Duchy of Hesse , from 1918: People's State of Hesse .

On the occasion of the regional reform in Hesse , the municipality of Steinberg voluntarily joined the city of Gedern on July 1, 1971.

Population development

The population of Steinberg fluctuated in the 19th century between 270 and 330. Between 1840 and 1870 about 70 people emigrated to America because of the great poverty. As a result of immigration after the Second World War, the number soared to 548 residents in 1946 and then decreased again. In 1961 there were 408 inhabitants. As a district of Gedern, the number rose again to 550 in 2011.

Attractions

On the outskirts of Steinberg, the historic Eselsbrücke spans the Nidder. It is a stone vault bridge without a railing. According to oral tradition, heavily laden donkeys used to be able to cross the river here on their way to the Igelhäuser Mühle .

Another attraction is the willow church on the outskirts. It was created in 2003 based on the idea of ​​the natural artist Thomas Hofmann and on the initiative of the Evangelical Church Community of Hirzenhain, to which Steinberg also belongs. Willows were planted, which were intertwined upwards to the dome and to the right and left to the archway. A paved path with mosaics was created as a central aisle and an altar and a baptismal font were placed. The willow church should grow over and offer protection from sun and rain.

traffic

The Landesstraße L 3185 runs through Steinberg as Glashütter Straße and Merkenfritzer Weg . In Merkenfritz it joins Bundesstraße 275 and thus connects the district with the core town of Gedern.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Steinberg, Wetteraukreis. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. (As of August 29, 2014). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  2. ↑ The location on the city of Gedern's website , accessed in April 2016.
  3. ^ Heuson: Place Names , p. 25.
  4. ↑ Arthur Benno Schmidt : The historical foundations of civil law in the Grand Duchy of Hesse . Curt von Münchow, Giessen 1893, p. 108, note 36 and p. 25, note 82, as well as the enclosed map.
  5. ^ Municipal reform in Hesse: mergers and integrations of municipalities from June 21, 1971 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1971 No. 28 , p. 1117 , item 988; Paragraph 11. ( Online at the information system of the Hessian State Parliament [PDF; 5.0 MB ]).
  6. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 352 .
  7. ↑ The history of the Steinberger Weidenkirche ( memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) from: Festschrift for the inauguration of the Steinberger Weidenkirche 2003

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