Kirchheim is a district in the city of Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

, Germany. Traces of civilization in modern-day Kirchheim date as far back as the 6th century. The village of Kirchheim is first mentioned in the Lorsch codex

Lorsch codex

The Lorsch Codex is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. It consists of 460 pages in large format containing more than 3800 entries...

 in 767 AD. The village was largely destroyed in the Thirty Years' War

Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

, reconstruction efforts were subsequently thwarted when the village was once again burned to the ground during the Palatine war of succession. Kirchheim repopulated slowly, with 350 people in 1766 2,000 in 1861.

The building of a train station in 1865 brought industry to the village, and the construction of a tramline in 1910 connected it to the city of Heidelberg.

Kirchheim was annexed to Heidelberg in 1920, at which point building boomed and the population swelled to 8,000.

Today, Kirchheim has 5 buslines and one tramline and with a population of 15,683 is on the way to becoming the largest district in Heidelberg.