Lauterbourg
Encyclopedia
Lauterbourg is a commune
and Bas-Rhin
department in Alsace
in north-eastern France
. Situated on the German
border and not far from the German city of Karlsruhe
, it is the easternmost commune in Metropolitan France
(excluding the island of Corsica
). The German town across the border is Neulauterburg
.
and Rhine rivers.
The commune contains several small lakes in the flat land directly on the west of the Rhine, with which they connect.
The commune is the confluence of more than one ecotone
: an ecotone between river and agrisystem and one between agrisystem and the forest (Forêt du Bienwald), whose northern edge coincides with the German
frontier. The commune is entirely set on the alluvial
land fronting the River Rhine, but the foothills of the north Vosges Mountains
, where the River Lauter has its source, are not far away. In anthropological and cultural terms, Lauterbourg is at the meeting point with the two German territories (formerly separate
states) of Baden-Württemberg
and Rheinland-Pfalz
. On the other hand, it is also adjacent to a major river and land route which for centuries has been a focus of commercial and cultural currents, but also of major military currents in times of war.
Lauterbourg is connected by a railway line with Strasbourg
to the south Wörth am Rhein
to the north. The town has had its own railway station since 1876, and since the reversion of Alsace to French control it has thereby been connected to both the French
and German
rail networks. The lines have never been electrified, however, and in recent decades the trains have been diesel
powered.
Close by, to the west, is the northern end of the A35 Autoroute
, the principal north-south highway in Alsace which link to Strasbourg
and, beyond that, Mulhouse
and Basel
(St Louis
). A linking autobahn to the north has not been constructed, but there is a narrow road running north through Germany towards the Autobahn
network, linking to nearby cities such as Ludwigshafen and Karlsruhe
.
Lauterborg contains a metal works, a chemical factory and a fertilizer factory. Other significant businesses include a car delivery firm whose work includes transferring cars between the railway depot and the harbour, as well as a large gravel works. The harbour on the Rhine also provides employment. The harbour is almost exclusively devoted to goods transport, including the delivery of raw materials by river tanker for the chemical and fertilizer factories, and the transportation of bridge sections and other smaller sub-assemblies involving the metal business.
team, was able to celebrate victory in the Alsace championship league.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
and Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin
Bas-Rhin is a department of France. The name means "Lower Rhine". It is the more populous and densely populated of the two departments of the Alsace region, with 1,079,013 inhabitants in 2006.- History :...
department in Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
in north-eastern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Situated on the German
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...
border and not far from the German city of Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
, it is the easternmost commune in Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France is the part of France located in Europe. It can also be described as mainland France or as the French mainland and the island of Corsica...
(excluding the island of Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
). The German town across the border is Neulauterburg
Neulauterburg
Neulauterburg is a small village in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is located on the border with France and is continuous with the French town of Lauterbourg. It is part of the municipality Berg....
.
Geography
Lauterbourg lies near the LauterLauter (Rhine)
The Lauter is a river in Germany and France, left tributary of the Rhine. Its length is 55 km. It is formed by the confluence of two headstreams north of Hinterweidenthal in the Pfälzerwald, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
and Rhine rivers.
The commune contains several small lakes in the flat land directly on the west of the Rhine, with which they connect.
The commune is the confluence of more than one ecotone
Ecotone
An ecotone is a transition area between two biomes but different patches of the landscape, such as forest and grassland. It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local or regional...
: an ecotone between river and agrisystem and one between agrisystem and the forest (Forêt du Bienwald), whose northern edge coincides with the German
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...
frontier. The commune is entirely set on the alluvial
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
land fronting the River Rhine, but the foothills of the north Vosges Mountains
Vosges mountains
For the department of France of the same name, see Vosges.The Vosges are a range of low mountains in eastern France, near its border with Germany. They extend along the west side of the Rhine valley in a northnortheast direction, mainly from Belfort to Saverne...
, where the River Lauter has its source, are not far away. In anthropological and cultural terms, Lauterbourg is at the meeting point with the two German territories (formerly separate
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
states) of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
and Rheinland-Pfalz
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
. On the other hand, it is also adjacent to a major river and land route which for centuries has been a focus of commercial and cultural currents, but also of major military currents in times of war.
Lauterbourg is connected by a railway line with Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
to the south Wörth am Rhein
Wörth am Rhein
Wörth am Rhein is a municipality in the southernmost part of the district of Germersheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx. 10 km west of the city center of Karlsruhe and just north of the German-French border....
to the north. The town has had its own railway station since 1876, and since the reversion of Alsace to French control it has thereby been connected to both the French
SNCF
The SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
and German
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...
rail networks. The lines have never been electrified, however, and in recent decades the trains have been diesel
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
powered.
Close by, to the west, is the northern end of the A35 Autoroute
A35 autoroute
The A35 autoroute is a toll free highway in north eastern France. It is also known as the autoroute des cigognes and the Voie Rapide du Piémont des Vosges. It connects the German border in the Rhine valley with the Swiss frontier via Strasbourg...
, the principal north-south highway in Alsace which link to Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
and, beyond that, Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
and 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...
(St Louis
Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin
Saint-Louis is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.The inhabitants are called Ludoviciens.-Geography:...
). A linking autobahn to the north has not been constructed, but there is a narrow road running north through Germany towards the Autobahn
Bundesautobahn 65
is an autobahn in southwestern Germany. The newest section, between Neustadt and Landau, was opened only in the early 1990s.Plans to build a final stretch between Kandel or Wörth am Rhein and the French autoroute towards Haguenau and Strasbourg were not implemented during the 1990s when the focus...
network, linking to nearby cities such as Ludwigshafen and Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
.
Lauterborg contains a metal works, a chemical factory and a fertilizer factory. Other significant businesses include a car delivery firm whose work includes transferring cars between the railway depot and the harbour, as well as a large gravel works. The harbour on the Rhine also provides employment. The harbour is almost exclusively devoted to goods transport, including the delivery of raw materials by river tanker for the chemical and fertilizer factories, and the transportation of bridge sections and other smaller sub-assemblies involving the metal business.
Sport
In the 2006/2007 season, ASL Lauterbourg, the local rugby footballRugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
team, was able to celebrate victory in the Alsace championship league.
Notable people
- Leopold CaspariLeopold CaspariLeopold Caspari was a French-born businessman and politician from Natchitoches, Louisiana, who, as a state representative in 1884 pushed for the establishment of Northwestern State University....
, businessman from NatchitochesNatchitoches, LouisianaNatchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...
and a member of both houses of the Louisiana State LegislatureLouisiana State LegislatureThe Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
between 1884 and 1914, was born in Lauterbourg in 1830. - Georges Holderith, academic and leading education inspector was born in Lauterbourg in 1912.
- Antoine Levy (1832 - ?) French rabbi and teacher of German, was known also as the first rabbi of the Jewish Choral Temple in BucharestTemplul CoralThe Choral Temple is a synagogue located in Bucharest, Romania. It followed the plans of Vienna's Leopoldstadt-Tempelgasse Great Synagogue . It was designed by Enderle and Freiwald and built between 1857 - 1867. It was devastated by the extreme right Legionaries and then restored after World War...
, RomaniaRomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. - Mayer Halff (1836-1905) Prominent Jewish merchant and rancher in San Antonio, TexasSan Antonio, TexasSan Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, was born in Lauterbourg.