Dautphetal
Encyclopedia
Dautphetal is a community in Hesse, Germany
, and is among the six larger communities of the 22 in Marburg-Biedenkopf district.
and about 15 km west of Marburg
in the upper Lahn
valley. It is characterized by the Palaeozoic Rheinisches Schiefergebirge mountains. Indeed, this range's foothills from the west meet the Westerwald
's from the south and the Rothaargebirge
's from the north here. Historically speaking, Dautphetal belongs to the so-called Hessisches Hinterland.
, diabase
s, quartzite
s, and loam
produced by weathering of slate
and diabase, but also partly limestone
.
The geological zone is known to the Hessian Environmental Atlas (Umweltatlas Hessen) as Dill-Mulde .
Besides the copper
ore that can be found here, the municipal area also has deposits of manganese
and iron
ore.
s as follows:
The Sackpfeifen foothills (with Wollenberg) (Sackpfeifen-Vorhöhen (mit Wollenberg)) (natural region 332.0) in the area north of the Upper Lahn Valley (Oberes Lahntal) falls under the main unit Ostsauerländer Gebirgsrand. The natural region of the Upper Lahn Valley, 320.2, Bottenhorn Plateau (Bottenhorner Hochflächen, 320.01) as well as the Damshausen Hills (Damshäuser Kuppen, 320.10) belong to the Gladenbach Uplands
(Gladenbacher Bergland). The highest mountain in this area is the Nimerich (533 m above sea level
) northwest of the constituent community of Dautphe. The lowest point anywhere in the area is found on the river Lahn at Elmshausen, where the elevation is 225 m above sea level. East of the community's municipal lands at Damshausen lies the Rimberg (mountain, 498 m above sea level).
The Dautphetal area has a warm temperate rainy climate, lying as it does in the northern temperate zone of the middle latitudes. The average daytime temperature in the summer is about 15-16°C (in the Lahn Valley area about 16-17°C) and in winter about -1°C to 1°C. The average yearly rainfall is about 800–1000 mm in Dautphetal, and in the Buchenau and Elmshausen area about 700–800 mm.
Clockwise from the north, the following communities are Dautphetal's neighbours:
The towns of Biedenkopf
and Wetter (Hessen), the communities of Lahntal
, the towns of Marburg
and Gladenbach
, the communities of Bad Endbach
and Steffenberg
as well as the community of Breidenbach
. All these communities likewise lie in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district.
Moreover, other centres can be named, such as the former group of homesteads belonging to Mornshausen and known as Die Amelose, and the two former iron ore smelting centres of Carlshütte (part of Buchenau) and Wilhelmshütte (part of Dautphe).
The constituent communities of Dautphe, Friedensdorf and Wilhelmshütte form, with over 4,000 inhabitants, the core of the greater community, which was brought about by the appropriate town planning.
legislated new municipal divisions. This did not necessarily meet with everyone's approval. Ever since then, some of the communities amalgamated with others under the reform have experienced a kind of "local patriotism" in favour of the old communities.
as also witnessed by ringwall remains such as those on the Rimberg mountain or on the Hünstein (a megalithic monument). The first mention, however, was the naming of a Mark Dautphe in 791. This community is therefore the oldest documented place in the greater community. It was early on already the site of the Zentgericht, the local court under the local counts. It was the lowest court, but it had within its bailiwick the villages of Allendorf, Buchenau, Damshausen, Dautphe, Elmshausen, Friedensdorf, Holzhausen, Hommertshausen, Mornshausen, Silberg and Wolfgruben (nowadays in Dautphetal) as well as Eckelshausen, Kombach, Katzenbach, Dexbach and Engelbach (nowadays in Biedenkopf
).
In Charlemagne
's time, the area covered by today's community of Dautphetal belonged to the Oberlahngau (a noble domain). After the local noble line, the Gisonen, died out, the area fell to Thuringia
. Under Sophie von Brabant, Ludwig IV's
and Saint Elisabeth's
daughter, the Hessian counties, which had come to the Thuringian counties through marriage, once more began their own development by 1264, and under their son Henry I
grew into the Landgravate of Hesse (Landgrafschaft Hessen). The Lords of Hohenfels, who alongside the Lords of Hollende were regarded as the local lords, had to forsake their rights in 1249 under pressure from Sophie. Hohenfels Castle was razed in 1293. Only meagre ruins are to be seen of it today.
death in 1567, at which time the landgravate was divided among four lines, and the Dautphetal area then belonged to Hesse-Marburg
. After its line also died out, Hesse-Kassel
(or Hesse-Cassel) and Hesse-Darmstadt
then fought over the territory, with the latter under its own landgrave eventually winning out, taking the so-called Hinterland in 1648. As a result of the Austro-Prussian War
in 1866, the Biedenkopf district, formed in 1832 and in which lies what is today Dautphetal, was ceded to Prussia
. This district was for a short time (1932–33) united with the Dillenburg district before the districts of Biedenkopf and Marburg were made to form the still functioning Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse's 1974 municipal reform.
. The town sisterhood with Cikó
in Hungary came to be not the least because of this. Since peaking in 2002 with 13,000 inhabitants, the figure has been stagnating.
Population figure development1:
1: Figures from before 1974 have outlying centres' figures added.
Source 1834 - 1967: Historisches Gemeindeverzeichnis für Hessen Heft 1, Die Bevölkerung der Gemeinden 1834 - 1967, Hess. Stat. Landesamt
Source after 1998: Statistik der Gemeinde Dautphetal
At the last municipal election on 18 March 2001, the result was as seen at left. The number of seats had been reduced from 37 in 1997.
, Hungary, since 1997. Diesdorf
, Saxony-Anhalt
, partnership between Evangelical
-Lutheran
parishes in the two places. Kazan
, Russia
n Tatarstan
, partnership between Evangelical-Lutheran parish in Dautphetal and Russian-Evangelical parish in Kazan.
The economy
in Dautphetal is evenly split between industry and trade, while the services sector is a bit smaller. Historically, the one industry that has grown especially in strength and is particularly well represented is the steel
and moulding industry. Although Dautphetal with the Lahn valley and its widespread woodlands offers good potential for recreation
and tourism
, it has hitherto not been exploited as such. Over the last few years, however, some small development has been seen in this field of endeavour, as witnessed by the membership of the regional Lahn-Dill-Bergland club.
, North
and South America
, and even in China
. Alongside household products (such as shower partitions), synthetic manufacturing and environmental technology (tank manufacturing), companies in machine building and aggregate manufacture are parts of the conglomerate.
Johnson Controls
maintains a location in Friedensdorf. This company makes vehicle fuel tanks and car seats, employing 200 people to do so.
The firm Bamberger, formerly Europe's third-biggest manufacturer of enamelled-steel bathtubs, and with 200 employees one of the biggest firms in the community, was taken over by the Kaldewei company and in 2005 it was broken up.
's Central Place Theory
). Dautphe and Friedensdorf, it is said in this plan, are the central communities. Furthermore, the greater community is part of the Marburg - Dautphetal - Biedenkopf - (Bad Laasphe) regional development belt. This belt's job is to open up the region, to make possible an exchange of goods and services between middle centres as well as to connect the region to the high centre of Marburg and to the long-distance transportation network. Building on public transport
is thus given special importance.
Moreover, there exists a local transport and population belt, Dautphetal - Gladenbach, with a regional connective function. Together with Biedenkopf and Breidenbach, Dautphetal is described as a commercial hub.
(Siegen
) through Middle Hesse (Dautphetal, Marburg) and East Hesse (Alsfeld
, Bad Hersfeld
) to Thuringia (Bad Salzungen
) thereby fulfilling the function of interregional transportation axis. Across the community's municipal area, it runs east-west, going through Buchenau. Bundesstraße 453, which is only 15 km long, branches off B 62 in the neighbouring community of Biedenkopf, leading in a southerly direction through the centres of Wolfgruben, Dautphe, Mornshausen and Herzhausen on its way to Gladenbach.
The nearest Autobahnen are Bundesautobahn 45
about 30 km away to the west in Dillenburg
which goes towards Dortmund
in one direction and Frankfurt am Main in the other, Bundesautobahn 485 in the southeast towards Gießen
connected by the expresswaylike Bundesstraße 3 at Marburg (about 15 km away), Bundesautobahn 5
about 45 km to the east at Homburg leading to Basel
in the south and Hamburg
in the north, and Bundesautobahn 49
to the northeast connected by Bundesstraße 3 and leading to Kassel
. An extension to this last expressway towards Marburg is planned. However, transport, economic and planning interests on the one hand, and ecological and nature preservation concerns on the other have found themselves at odds, meaning that thus far, no acceptable route has been found for the new roadway.
Local public transportation is afforded by the two regional buslines 481 (RKH line 5301) and 491 (RKH line 5356), as well as by four local bus routes, MR-41, MR-52, MR-55 and MR-57, which are meant to improve connections within the community .
Local rail transport is afforded by the Obere Lahntalbahn, a Deutsche Bahn
line also designated as Line 43 of the Rhine-Main Transport Association, running from Erndtebrück
in Siegen-Wittgenstein
district to the town of Marburg by way of Bad Laasphe
and Biedenkopf and serving the Dautphetal stations of Wilhelmshütte (Lahn), Friedendorf (Lahn) and Buchenau (Lahn). The last two named stations are conveniently placed for the Hesse cross-country bicycle path
(Hessischer Radfernweg) R 2.
On weekdays there are 21 journeys between 5:30 and 21:00, on Saturdays 13 between 6:45 and 19:00 and on Sundays 12 between 8:45 and 19:00. All trains allow bicycles.
In Marburg are connections to DB's long-distance rail network.
at Frankfurt am Main.
Owing to its advantageous location in a low mountain range and its attendant great forest
s and idyllic dales, the whole region is endowed with a substantial trail network. Its potential, however, was only recognized a few years ago and has been organizationally supported for a short time by the association Lahn-Dill-Bergland e. V.
. There, high-voltage current at 110 kV is stepped down to the middle voltage of 20 kV. After the transformers' useful working life had come to an end, a 20 kV switchgear set and new open-air transformer fields were installed in 1998. The substation is run by E.ON Mitte.
. Only Damshausen, Elmshausen and Silberg do not have their own. Holzhausen and Buchenau each also have a primary school, the latter's having had until 2006 an attached orientation programme (Förderstufe) which was discontinued because the class-size threshold was no longer being met.
In Friedensdorf, alongside the Dautphetalschule with its primary school and Hauptschule
and Realschule
branch, itself with an orientation programme, there is the Burgbergschule, a school for learning and educational help. A school for the educable mentally handicapped with a department for those who also have physical handicaps is located in Hommertshausen. In Wilhelmshütte is found the Jule-Spannagel-Schule for hard to educate youth.
Further schooling such as vocational schools and colleges (or the like) or professional Gymnasien
are to be found in the surrounding towns of Marburg, Biedenkopf, Bad Laasphe or Gladenbach.
Technical colleges
or universities
are found in Marburg (Philipps University of Marburg
), Gießen (Justus-Liebig-Universität
and University of Applied Sciences Giessen-Friedberg
), Kassel (University of Kassel) and Siegen (University of Siegen).
In the field of adult education
, the district maintains two branches (Dautphetal and Dautphetal-Holzhausen) of the Volkshochschule
Marburg-Biedenkopf.
and a residence for the elderly, and for another, there are the Hinterländer Werkstätten, a recognized workshop for the handicapped. The Evangelical spiritual guidance centre help center e.V. has set itself the goal of helping youth in crisis on the basis of Christian
belief.
and the Hinterländer Anzeiger are the two daily newspaper
s, with the latter taking the greater part of the market share. A local section for the old district of Biedenkopf is published by the Oberhessische Presse from Marburg. Furthermore, there is a whole range of advertising flyers such as Hinterland extra from the Oberhessische Presse, the MAZ (Mittelhessische Anzeigen Zeitung, or Middle Hesse Advertising Newspaper) or the Sonntag Morgenmagazin ("Sunday Morning Magazine") from publishing houses in Gießen.
In the community of Friedensdorf, the "Old Church" (Alte Kirche) has a weaving room, old photographs and a dialectal archive to visit. From time to time, there are also special exhibits.
The Heimatmuseum Altes Rathaus at the old town hall in Buchenau shows exhibits particularly having to do with household and kitchen, especially from the 1920s to the 1950s.
In the Mini-Museum „Backes Stibbcher“ in Dautphe, visitors can see a petit-bourgeois 3-room flat from the turn of the twentieth century housing typical exhibits from Dautphe's local history. Moreover, there are exhibits of Dautphe costume and old documents (photographs, maps, registers, family chronicles of Dautphe's oldest families, etc.).
to tennis
, gymnastics
, riding
, motor sports and even balloon
flying, are a trombone
choir and men's or women's choir
s. There are moreover, of course, other music clubs such as singing clubs, a Jägerchor ("hunters' choir") or a brass band
. The more than 12,000 inhabitants therefore have all together "almost 50 dance and music clubs" to choose from. In the field of animal, breeding or protection clubs, many fowl breeding as well as nature preservation and gardening clubs can be named. Last but not least, more than 40 culture- or homeland-related clubs are at the community's disposal.
_fachwerk_1.jpg)
Most constituent communities' cores are made up of half-timbered
houses. Sometimes there are also little half-timbered churches preserved, such as the ones in Hommertshausen and Silberg. The Kratzputzfachwerkhäuser in Holzhausen am Hünstein, half-timbered houses with pargeting (etched plasterwork), are actually protected monuments.
At the summit of the Rimberg stands the 24-m tall Rimberg Tower, dedicated on 30 April 1977. It is already the second tower to stand there, the last one having fallen victim to stormy weather. On a clear day there is a marvellous view, indeed a 360° panorama.
The Carlshütte was built in 1844 as ironworks, and is likewise a protected monument. It came into being as a result of industrialization and its advantageous location between the Lahn, which delivered its energy and the nearby iron ore deposits.
Other buildings:
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and is among the six larger communities of the 22 in Marburg-Biedenkopf district.
Geography
The community lies in the western part of the district about 37 km east of SiegenSiegen
Siegen is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region...
and about 15 km west of Marburg
Marburg
Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...
in the upper Lahn
Lahn
The Lahn River is a -long, right tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , and Rhineland-Palatinate ....
valley. It is characterized by the Palaeozoic Rheinisches Schiefergebirge mountains. Indeed, this range's foothills from the west meet the Westerwald
Westerwald
The Westerwald is a low mountain range on the right bank of the River Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhine Massif...
's from the south and the Rothaargebirge
Rothaargebirge
The Rothaargebirge is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 843.1 m in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, Germany....
's from the north here. Historically speaking, Dautphetal belongs to the so-called Hessisches Hinterland.
Geology
Since the community is to be found in the Rheinisches Schiefergebirge region, rock from the Palaeozoic Era can be found here. In Dautphetal, common minerals to be found include greywackeGreywacke
Greywacke or Graywacke is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lithic fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix. It is a texturally immature sedimentary rock generally found...
, diabase
Diabase
Diabase or dolerite is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. In North American usage, the term diabase refers to the fresh rock, whilst elsewhere the term dolerite is used for the fresh rock and diabase refers to altered material...
s, quartzite
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
s, and loam
Loam
Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...
produced by weathering of slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
and diabase, but also partly limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
.
The geological zone is known to the Hessian Environmental Atlas (Umweltatlas Hessen) as Dill-Mulde .
Besides the copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
ore that can be found here, the municipal area also has deposits of manganese
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
and iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
ore.
Natural regions
Dautphetal's municipal area is classified under the German system of natural regionNatural region
A Natural region is one which is distinguished by its natural features of geography and usually more important, geology. The natural ecology of the region is likely to be significant but one of these factors tends to influence the others....
s as follows:
The Sackpfeifen foothills (with Wollenberg) (Sackpfeifen-Vorhöhen (mit Wollenberg)) (natural region 332.0) in the area north of the Upper Lahn Valley (Oberes Lahntal) falls under the main unit Ostsauerländer Gebirgsrand. The natural region of the Upper Lahn Valley, 320.2, Bottenhorn Plateau (Bottenhorner Hochflächen, 320.01) as well as the Damshausen Hills (Damshäuser Kuppen, 320.10) belong to the Gladenbach Uplands
Gladenbach Uplands
The Gladenbach Uplands , named after their central town of Gladenbach, is a range of hills up to 609 m high in the Rhine Massif in Germany, on the junction of the Rothaargebirge , Westerwald , Hintertaunus and West Hesse Highlands in the east.It lies in Central Hesse within the districts of...
(Gladenbacher Bergland). The highest mountain in this area is the Nimerich (533 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
) northwest of the constituent community of Dautphe. The lowest point anywhere in the area is found on the river Lahn at Elmshausen, where the elevation is 225 m above sea level. East of the community's municipal lands at Damshausen lies the Rimberg (mountain, 498 m above sea level).
Climate
Waterways
The biggest flowing waterway in Dautphetal is the river Lahn. This flows through the northern part of the municipal area from west to east. The smaller river Dautphe flows, just as all the smaller streams in the municipal area do sooner or later, into the Lahn.Neighbouring communities
The towns of Biedenkopf
Biedenkopf
Biedenkopf is a spa town in western Hessen, Germany with a population of 13,271.- Location :The town of Biedenkopf lies in the west of Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Ringed by mountains reaching up to 674 m above sea level – the Sackpfeife in the Rothaargebirge reaches this height – the town...
and Wetter (Hessen), the communities of Lahntal
Lahntal
The community of Lahntal is found in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district in northwest Middle Hesse, Germany.-Geography:Lahntal lies on the upper Lahn about 83 km north of Frankfurt am Main and about 7 km northwest of Marburg...
, the towns of Marburg
Marburg
Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...
and Gladenbach
Gladenbach
-Location:The town of Gladenbach lies on the eastern edge of the Westerwald in the Hessian Highland . This part of the Lahn-Dill Highland is often also called the Gladenbach Uplands...
, the communities of Bad Endbach
Bad Endbach
Bad Endbach is the westernmost municipality in Marburg-Biedenkopf district of the state of Hesse in Germany, and borders on the Lahn-Dill district.-Location:...
and Steffenberg
Steffenberg
-Location:Steffenberg lies at the southern foothills of the Rothaargebirge between the towns of Dillenburg and Marburg .-Neighbouring communities:...
as well as the community of Breidenbach
Breidenbach
Breidenbach is a community in the west of Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany.-Neighbouring communities:*Bad Laasphe*Biedenkopf*Dautphetal*Eschenburg*Steffenberg-Community divisions:...
. All these communities likewise lie in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district.
Moreover, other centres can be named, such as the former group of homesteads belonging to Mornshausen and known as Die Amelose, and the two former iron ore smelting centres of Carlshütte (part of Buchenau) and Wilhelmshütte (part of Dautphe).
The constituent communities of Dautphe, Friedensdorf and Wilhelmshütte form, with over 4,000 inhabitants, the core of the greater community, which was brought about by the appropriate town planning.
History
The history of the greater community of Dautphetal still is not very long. It came into being only in 1974 with municipal reform, having formerly been a series of 12 independent villages until the Hesse LandtagLandtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
legislated new municipal divisions. This did not necessarily meet with everyone's approval. Ever since then, some of the communities amalgamated with others under the reform have experienced a kind of "local patriotism" in favour of the old communities.
Constituent communities
Dautphetal's municipal area is divided into 12 constituent communities (Ortsteile)| Community | Description |
|---|---|
Dautphe |
Dautphe is the community's oldest place and at the same time also the seat of the municipal administration. With more than 2,400 inhabitants, it is moreover the biggest of the 12 centres. It was first mentioned in 791. The Wilhelmshütte, earlier Kilianshütte, foundry was built in 1832. |
Allendorf.png) |
Allendorf am Hohenfels has roughly 690 inhabitants. Its first mention, as Aldendorf, came in 1307 in connection with the Knights of Hohenfels. |
Buchenau.png) |
Buchenau was first mentioned in 1238. It lies in the outermost northeastern part of the greater community on Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) 62. With more than 2,000 inhabitants, it is one of the three biggest centres. The Carlshütte foundry was built in 1844. |
Damshausen.png) |
Its fewer than 230 inhabitants make Damshausen the smallest of Dautphetal's constituent communities. The place was first mentioned under the name de Tagesmanneshusen in 1251. It is still very agriculturally Agriculture Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the... oriented. |
Elmshausen.svg.png) |
Elmshausen's history can be dated back to about 1200 or 1220. It lies in the outermost eastern part of the greater community and is home to about 370 people. |
Friedensdorf.png) |
Friedensdorf forms along with Dautphe the community's heart. The place was first mentioned in 1220 and has about 1,500 inhabitants. |
Herzhausen.png) |
Herzhausen lies in a basin in the southern part of the community. Home to roughly 640 people, it was first mentioned in 1333. |
Holzhausen.png) |
Half-timbered houses with especially fine pargeting Pargeting Pargeting is a decorative plastering applied to building walls.Pargeting derives from the word 'parget', a Middle English term that is probably derived from the Old French 'pargeter' / 'parjeter', to throw about, or 'porgeter', to roughcast a wall... are to be found in Holzhausen. The community's southernmost village was first mentioned in 1251, and its roughly 2,150 inhabitants make it the second-largest centre after Dautphe. |
Hommertshausen.png) |
In Hommertshausen live about 770 people. It was first mentioned in 1325. |
Mornshausen.png) |
Mornshausen is among the central communities within the municipal area and is home to 850 people. The first mention of the place can be dated back to 1291. Die Amelose was first mentioned in 1515. |
Silberg.png) |
Silberg is in the westernmost reaches of the municipal area. With somewhat more than 500 inhabitants, it is the community's third-smallest centre. It was first mentioned in 1339. |
Wolfgruben.png) |
Wolfgruben with its over 700 inhabitants was first mentioned in 1257. |
Antiquity and Middle Ages
From finds, it seems likely that the area covered by today's community of Dautphetal was already settled in antiquityAncient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
as also witnessed by ringwall remains such as those on the Rimberg mountain or on the Hünstein (a megalithic monument). The first mention, however, was the naming of a Mark Dautphe in 791. This community is therefore the oldest documented place in the greater community. It was early on already the site of the Zentgericht, the local court under the local counts. It was the lowest court, but it had within its bailiwick the villages of Allendorf, Buchenau, Damshausen, Dautphe, Elmshausen, Friedensdorf, Holzhausen, Hommertshausen, Mornshausen, Silberg and Wolfgruben (nowadays in Dautphetal) as well as Eckelshausen, Kombach, Katzenbach, Dexbach and Engelbach (nowadays in Biedenkopf
Biedenkopf
Biedenkopf is a spa town in western Hessen, Germany with a population of 13,271.- Location :The town of Biedenkopf lies in the west of Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Ringed by mountains reaching up to 674 m above sea level – the Sackpfeife in the Rothaargebirge reaches this height – the town...
).
In Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
's time, the area covered by today's community of Dautphetal belonged to the Oberlahngau (a noble domain). After the local noble line, the Gisonen, died out, the area fell to Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
. Under Sophie von Brabant, Ludwig IV's
Ludwig IV of Thuringia
Ludwig IV or Louis IV was the Landgrave of Thuringia from 1217 to 1227.Louis was born in Creuzburg to Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia, and Duchess Sophia, daughter of Otto of Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria. Upon his father's death in 1216, Louis ascended the Thuringian throne at the age of...
and Saint Elisabeth's
Elisabeth of Hungary
Elizabeth of Hungary, T.O.S.F., was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Countess of Thuringia, Germany and a greatly-venerated Catholic saint. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. She then became one of the first members of the newly-founded Third Order of St. Francis,...
daughter, the Hessian counties, which had come to the Thuringian counties through marriage, once more began their own development by 1264, and under their son Henry I
Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse
Henry I of Hesse "the Child" was the first Landgrave of Hesse. He was the son of Henry II, Duke of Brabant and Sophie of Thuringia.-Life:...
grew into the Landgravate of Hesse (Landgrafschaft Hessen). The Lords of Hohenfels, who alongside the Lords of Hollende were regarded as the local lords, had to forsake their rights in 1249 under pressure from Sophie. Hohenfels Castle was razed in 1293. Only meagre ruins are to be seen of it today.
Hesse-Darmstadt and Prussia
Ownership of the domain remained under this line until Philip the Magnanimous'sPhilip I, Landgrave of Hesse
Philip I of Hesse, , nicknamed der Großmütige was a leading champion of the Protestant Reformation and one of the most important of the early Protestant rulers in Germany....
death in 1567, at which time the landgravate was divided among four lines, and the Dautphetal area then belonged to Hesse-Marburg
Hesse-Marburg
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg was a German landgraviate, and independent principality, within the Holy Roman Empire, that existed between 1485 and 1500, and between 1567 and 1604/1650....
. After its line also died out, Hesse-Kassel
Hesse-Kassel
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire under Imperial immediacy that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
(or Hesse-Cassel) and Hesse-Darmstadt
Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was a member state of the Holy Roman Empire. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse between the four sons of Philip I, the last Landgrave of Hesse....
then fought over the territory, with the latter under its own landgrave eventually winning out, taking the so-called Hinterland in 1648. As a result of the Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
in 1866, the Biedenkopf district, formed in 1832 and in which lies what is today Dautphetal, was ceded to Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
. This district was for a short time (1932–33) united with the Dillenburg district before the districts of Biedenkopf and Marburg were made to form the still functioning Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse's 1974 municipal reform.
Population development
What follows is an explanation of the population development of today's community of Dautphetal. What stands out is that the first small surge in population in the time of industrialization comes before another one right after the Second World War which saw the population figure rise by almost 50%. This can be explained by the great number of refugees who came and settled in the area after the war, especially from HungaryHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. The town sisterhood with Cikó
Cikó
-References:...
in Hungary came to be not the least because of this. Since peaking in 2002 with 13,000 inhabitants, the figure has been stagnating.
Population figure development1:
| Date | Population | Date | Population | Date | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 December 18341 | 3,503 | 1 December 18951 | 4,520 | 30 June 19671 | 10,568 |
| 3 December 18401 | 3,742 | 1 December 19051 | 4,996 | 31 December 1998 | 12,821 |
| 3 December 18461 | 3,936 | 1 December 19101 | 5,421 | 31 December 1999 | 12,944 |
| 3 December 18521 | 4,055 | 16 June 19251 | 6,017 | 31 December 2000 | 12,987 |
| 3 December 18581 | 4,071 | 17 May 19391 | 6,499 | 31 December 2001 | 12,983 |
| 3 December 18641 | 4,060 | 29 October 19461 | 9,389 | 31 December 2002 | 13,007 |
| 1 December 18711 | 3,943 | 13 September 19501 | 9,408 | 31 December 2003 | 12,982 |
| 1 December 18751 | 4,272 | 25 September 19561 | 9,110 | 31 December 2004 | 12,925 |
| 1 December 18851 | 4,383 | 6 September 19611 | 9,604 |
1: Figures from before 1974 have outlying centres' figures added.
Source 1834 - 1967: Historisches Gemeindeverzeichnis für Hessen Heft 1, Die Bevölkerung der Gemeinden 1834 - 1967, Hess. Stat. Landesamt
Source after 1998: Statistik der Gemeinde Dautphetal
2006 municipal election
Community representatives were last chosen on 26 March 2006 for a five-year term. The SPD lost two seats while the Freie Wähler ("Free Voters", a citizens' coalition) gained three more and the Bürgerliste Dautphetal ("Dautphetal Citizens' List") lost out utterly. Participation in the election fell by 8.5% from 59.3% in 2001 to 50.8%. Of 9,030 eligible voters, only 4,589 went to the polls. The next municipal election in Hesse will take place in March 2011.| Parties and voter groups | Share (%) | Seats | |
| CDU | Christian Democratic Union Christian Democratic Union (Germany) The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum... |
41.5 | 13 |
| SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
42.6 | 13 |
| FW | Freie Wähler Dautphetal | 15.9 | 5 |
| total | 100 | 31 | |
Mayor
The greater community's first mayor in 1974 was Hans Hauswirth (CDU). He led the community for thirty years, leaving office only in 2004. On 21 March of that year, Bernd Schmidt of the Free Voters' Community became Dautphetal's new mayor.Town partnerships
CikóCikó
-References:...
, Hungary, since 1997. Diesdorf
Diesdorf
Diesdorf is a municipality in the district Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany....
, Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
, partnership between Evangelical
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
-Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
parishes in the two places. Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Tatarstan
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...
, partnership between Evangelical-Lutheran parish in Dautphetal and Russian-Evangelical parish in Kazan.
Institutions
- Evangelical-Lutheran parishes
- Free Evangelical parishes
- Catholic parishes
- New Apostolic ChurchNew Apostolic ChurchThe New Apostolic Church is a chiliastic church, converted to Protestantism as a free church from the Catholic Apostolic Church. The church has existed since 1879 in Germany and since 1897 in the Netherlands...
in Hesse - Christliche VersammlungPlymouth BrethrenThe Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...
("Christian Assembly") - Herborn-Dillenburger Werk Ev. Gemeinschaftsverein (Evangelical association)
Economy and infrastructure
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
in Dautphetal is evenly split between industry and trade, while the services sector is a bit smaller. Historically, the one industry that has grown especially in strength and is particularly well represented is the steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
and moulding industry. Although Dautphetal with the Lahn valley and its widespread woodlands offers good potential for recreation
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...
and tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, it has hitherto not been exploited as such. Over the last few years, however, some small development has been seen in this field of endeavour, as witnessed by the membership of the regional Lahn-Dill-Bergland club.
Established enterprises
The greatest employer in the community is the firm Roth Industries GmbH & Co. KG. This worldwide active business has all together more than 1,100 workers. After being founded in 1947 as a simple handicraft business, the firm has steadily grown and is nowadays represented in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, North
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, and even in China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. Alongside household products (such as shower partitions), synthetic manufacturing and environmental technology (tank manufacturing), companies in machine building and aggregate manufacture are parts of the conglomerate.
Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls, Inc. is a company, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It was founded in 1885 by professor Warren S. Johnson, inventor of the first electric room thermostat....
maintains a location in Friedensdorf. This company makes vehicle fuel tanks and car seats, employing 200 people to do so.
The firm Bamberger, formerly Europe's third-biggest manufacturer of enamelled-steel bathtubs, and with 200 employees one of the biggest firms in the community, was taken over by the Kaldewei company and in 2005 it was broken up.
Planning
In the 2001 Middle Hesse Regional Plan, Dautphetal is designated a low centre in the rural area (in terms of Walter ChristallerWalter Christaller
Walter Christaller , was a German geographer whose principal contribution to the discipline is Central Place Theory, first published in 1933...
's Central Place Theory
Central Place Theory
Central place theory is a geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. The theory was created by the German geographer Walter Christaller, who asserted that settlements simply functioned as 'central places' providing services to...
). Dautphe and Friedensdorf, it is said in this plan, are the central communities. Furthermore, the greater community is part of the Marburg - Dautphetal - Biedenkopf - (Bad Laasphe) regional development belt. This belt's job is to open up the region, to make possible an exchange of goods and services between middle centres as well as to connect the region to the high centre of Marburg and to the long-distance transportation network. Building on public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
is thus given special importance.
Moreover, there exists a local transport and population belt, Dautphetal - Gladenbach, with a regional connective function. Together with Biedenkopf and Breidenbach, Dautphetal is described as a commercial hub.
Highway
The main road in Dautphetal is Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) 62. This interregionally important road leads from eastern North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
(Siegen
Siegen
Siegen is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region...
) through Middle Hesse (Dautphetal, Marburg) and East Hesse (Alsfeld
Alsfeld
Alsfeld is a town in the center of Hesse, somewhere in Germany. Large towns nearby are Bad Hersfeld about 33 km to the east, Fulda 36 km to the southeast, Gießen 47 km to the west and Marburg an der Lahn about 36 km to the northwest...
, Bad Hersfeld
Bad Hersfeld
The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel....
) to Thuringia (Bad Salzungen
Bad Salzungen
Bad Salzungen is a town in Thuringia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wartburgkreis district. It is situated on the river Werra, 5 km east of Tiefenort and 20 km south of Eisenach. Near the town, there's a Bundeswehr barrack, the Werratal-Kaserne, which was built in 1972 for the GDR Army....
) thereby fulfilling the function of interregional transportation axis. Across the community's municipal area, it runs east-west, going through Buchenau. Bundesstraße 453, which is only 15 km long, branches off B 62 in the neighbouring community of Biedenkopf, leading in a southerly direction through the centres of Wolfgruben, Dautphe, Mornshausen and Herzhausen on its way to Gladenbach.
The nearest Autobahnen are Bundesautobahn 45
Bundesautobahn 45
is an autobahn in Germany, connecting Dortmund in the west with Aschaffenburg in the southwest. It is colloquially known by its byname Sauerlandlinie, which derives from the Sauerland, the landscape which said autobahn is running through between the cities of Hagen and Siegen. Many people think of...
about 30 km away to the west in Dillenburg
Dillenburg
Dillenburg is a town in Hesse's Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis....
which goes towards Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
in one direction and Frankfurt am Main in the other, Bundesautobahn 485 in the southeast towards Gießen
Gießen
Gießen, also spelt Giessen is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of both the district of Gießen and the administrative region of Gießen...
connected by the expresswaylike Bundesstraße 3 at Marburg (about 15 km away), Bundesautobahn 5
Bundesautobahn 5
is a 445 km long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the...
about 45 km to the east at Homburg leading to Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
in the south and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
in the north, and Bundesautobahn 49
Bundesautobahn 49
is a federal motorway running through north Hesse. It connects Kassel with the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, where it ends in Neuental. The motorway is planned to be extended to Gemünden with a connection to A 5.- Course :...
to the northeast connected by Bundesstraße 3 and leading to Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
. An extension to this last expressway towards Marburg is planned. However, transport, economic and planning interests on the one hand, and ecological and nature preservation concerns on the other have found themselves at odds, meaning that thus far, no acceptable route has been found for the new roadway.
Local public transportation is afforded by the two regional buslines 481 (RKH line 5301) and 491 (RKH line 5356), as well as by four local bus routes, MR-41, MR-52, MR-55 and MR-57, which are meant to improve connections within the community .
Railway
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
line also designated as Line 43 of the Rhine-Main Transport Association, running from Erndtebrück
Erndtebrück
Erndtebrück is a municipality in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Location:Erndtebrück situated on the river Eder in the Rothaargebirge, approx...
in Siegen-Wittgenstein
Siegen-Wittgenstein
Siegen-Wittgenstein is a Kreis in the southeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Olpe, Hochsauerlandkreis, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Lahn-Dill, Westerwaldkreis, Altenkirchen.-History:...
district to the town of Marburg by way of Bad Laasphe
Bad Laasphe
Bad Laasphe is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district.-Location:The town of Bad Laasphe lies in the upper Lahn Valley, near the stately home of Wittgenstein Castle in the former Wittgenstein district...
and Biedenkopf and serving the Dautphetal stations of Wilhelmshütte (Lahn), Friedendorf (Lahn) and Buchenau (Lahn). The last two named stations are conveniently placed for the Hesse cross-country bicycle path
Bicycle Path
Bicycle Path is a historic road in Central Suffolk County on Long Island, New York, built in the late 19th Century in order to capitalize on the bicycle craze of that period...
(Hessischer Radfernweg) R 2.
On weekdays there are 21 journeys between 5:30 and 21:00, on Saturdays 13 between 6:45 and 19:00 and on Sundays 12 between 8:45 and 19:00. All trains allow bicycles.
In Marburg are connections to DB's long-distance rail network.
Air transport
The immediate vicinity has two special airfields at Bad Endbach-Bottenhorn and Eschenburg-Hirzenhain as well as a commercial airfield at Cölbe-Schönstadt. The nearest greater airport is Frankfurt International AirportFrankfurt International Airport
Frankfurt am Main Airport , or simply Frankfurt Airport, known in German as Flughafen Frankfurt am Main or Rhein-Main-Flughafen, is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, Germany, southwest of the city centre....
at Frankfurt am Main.
Bicycle and hiking trails
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s and idyllic dales, the whole region is endowed with a substantial trail network. Its potential, however, was only recognized a few years ago and has been organizationally supported for a short time by the association Lahn-Dill-Bergland e. V.
Public institutions
Friedensdorf has since the 1950s been the site of an electrical substationElectrical substation
A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions...
. There, high-voltage current at 110 kV is stepped down to the middle voltage of 20 kV. After the transformers' useful working life had come to an end, a 20 kV switchgear set and new open-air transformer fields were installed in 1998. The substation is run by E.ON Mitte.
Education
In each of the bigger centres in the community is found a kindergartenKindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
. Only Damshausen, Elmshausen and Silberg do not have their own. Holzhausen and Buchenau each also have a primary school, the latter's having had until 2006 an attached orientation programme (Förderstufe) which was discontinued because the class-size threshold was no longer being met.
In Friedensdorf, alongside the Dautphetalschule with its primary school and Hauptschule
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
and Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
branch, itself with an orientation programme, there is the Burgbergschule, a school for learning and educational help. A school for the educable mentally handicapped with a department for those who also have physical handicaps is located in Hommertshausen. In Wilhelmshütte is found the Jule-Spannagel-Schule for hard to educate youth.
Further schooling such as vocational schools and colleges (or the like) or professional Gymnasien
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
are to be found in the surrounding towns of Marburg, Biedenkopf, Bad Laasphe or Gladenbach.
Technical colleges
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
or universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
are found in Marburg (Philipps University of Marburg
Philipps University of Marburg
The Philipp University of Marburg , was founded in 1527 by Landgrave Philip I of Hesse as the world's oldest university dating back to a Protestant foundation...
), Gießen (Justus-Liebig-Universität
University of Giessen
The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...
and University of Applied Sciences Giessen-Friedberg
University of Applied Sciences Giessen-Friedberg
The Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen University of Applied Sciences is a German college for technical studies with campuses in Friedberg, Giessen, and Wetzlar...
), Kassel (University of Kassel) and Siegen (University of Siegen).
In the field of adult education
Adult education
Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...
, the district maintains two branches (Dautphetal and Dautphetal-Holzhausen) of the Volkshochschule
Folk high school
Folk high schools are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal...
Marburg-Biedenkopf.
Social institutions
Alongside many mostly Christian-based institutions like the Blue Cross (Blaues Kreuz), there are many other social institutions in Dautphetal. For one, there is the Seniorenzentrum Dautphetal which serves as a nursing homeNursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
and a residence for the elderly, and for another, there are the Hinterländer Werkstätten, a recognized workshop for the handicapped. The Evangelical spiritual guidance centre help center e.V. has set itself the goal of helping youth in crisis on the basis of Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
belief.
Media
In Dautphetal, the Oberhessische PresseOberhessische Presse
The Oberhessische Presse is a regional, daily newspaper published by the Hitzeroth Druck + Medien GmbH & Co. KG for the district of Marburg-Biedenkopf in Hesse, Germany....
and the Hinterländer Anzeiger are the two daily newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s, with the latter taking the greater part of the market share. A local section for the old district of Biedenkopf is published by the Oberhessische Presse from Marburg. Furthermore, there is a whole range of advertising flyers such as Hinterland extra from the Oberhessische Presse, the MAZ (Mittelhessische Anzeigen Zeitung, or Middle Hesse Advertising Newspaper) or the Sonntag Morgenmagazin ("Sunday Morning Magazine") from publishing houses in Gießen.
Museums
The Heimatmuseum Altes Rathaus at the old town hall in Buchenau shows exhibits particularly having to do with household and kitchen, especially from the 1920s to the 1950s.
In the Mini-Museum „Backes Stibbcher“ in Dautphe, visitors can see a petit-bourgeois 3-room flat from the turn of the twentieth century housing typical exhibits from Dautphe's local history. Moreover, there are exhibits of Dautphe costume and old documents (photographs, maps, registers, family chronicles of Dautphe's oldest families, etc.).
Clubs
The community of Dautphetal harbours an unusually high number of clubs. Near each centre, alongside the well over 30 sport clubs dealing in everything from footballFootball (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
to tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
, riding
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
, motor sports and even balloon
Balloon (aircraft)
A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....
flying, are a trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
choir and men's or women's choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
s. There are moreover, of course, other music clubs such as singing clubs, a Jägerchor ("hunters' choir") or a brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
. The more than 12,000 inhabitants therefore have all together "almost 50 dance and music clubs" to choose from. In the field of animal, breeding or protection clubs, many fowl breeding as well as nature preservation and gardening clubs can be named. Last but not least, more than 40 culture- or homeland-related clubs are at the community's disposal.
Buildings
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
houses. Sometimes there are also little half-timbered churches preserved, such as the ones in Hommertshausen and Silberg. The Kratzputzfachwerkhäuser in Holzhausen am Hünstein, half-timbered houses with pargeting (etched plasterwork), are actually protected monuments.
At the summit of the Rimberg stands the 24-m tall Rimberg Tower, dedicated on 30 April 1977. It is already the second tower to stand there, the last one having fallen victim to stormy weather. On a clear day there is a marvellous view, indeed a 360° panorama.
The Carlshütte was built in 1844 as ironworks, and is likewise a protected monument. It came into being as a result of industrialization and its advantageous location between the Lahn, which delivered its energy and the nearby iron ore deposits.
Other buildings:
- Historic church (Martinskirche) in Dautphe
- Wehrkirche (church built to look like a fortification) in Buchenau
Regular events
Along with the many events organized by local village fraternities and sororities (Burschenschaften and Mädchenschaften), the Christmas Market in Buchenau has grown to quite a size. A particular high point is the Grenzgangsfest, held every seven years in Buchenau and relating to an old custom that centuries ago was designed to limit encroachment on the village's woodlands by neighbouring communities. The next Grenzgangsfest is in 2006.Sons and daughters of the town
- Albrecht Ohly (1829–1891), Mayor of DarmstadtDarmstadtDarmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
(1874–1891) - Dieter TrautweinDieter TrautweinDieter Trautwein was a German Protestant theologian and writer of numerous Christian hymns.-Biography:Born in Holzhausen am Hünstein , Trautwein studied theology in Marburg, Mainz and Heidelberg...
(1928–2002), Evangelical theologian and songwriter
Literature
- Huth, Karl: Dautphe: Herz einer geschichtlichen Kulturlandschaft, Dautphe: Gemeindevorstand der Gemeinde Dautphe 1973
- Huth, Karl: Verwaltungsgeschichte des Landkreises Biedenkopf, Biedenkopf: Kreisausschuss des Landkreises 1957