Schwalmstadt


Schwalmstadt is the largest town in the Schwalm-Eder district, in northern Hesse, Germany. It was established only in 1970 with the amalgamation of the towns of Treysa and Ziegenhain together with some outlying villages to form the town of Schwalmstadt.

Geography

Location

Schwalmstadt lies in the Schwalm region in the western Knüll, a low mountain range. Through the town flows the river Schwalm. The nearest large towns are Kassel, Bad Hersfeld, Marburg and Fulda.

Constituent communities

Besides the core of Treysa, Ziegenhain and Ascherode, the town consists of the centres of Allendorf an der Landsburg, Dittershausen, Florshain, Frankenhain, Michelsberg, Niedergrenzebach, Rommershausen, Rörshain, Trutzhain and Wiera.

History

In the 8th century, Treise was owned by the Abbots of Hersfeld. The Counts of Cigenhagen were named in a document for the first time in 1144. In 1186, Treysa was taken over by the Counts and fortified. Treysa's landmark, the Martinskirche, nowadays known as the Totenkirche, was built in 1230. Treysa was granted town rights sometime between 1229 and 1270, and the same rights were bestowed upon Ziegenhain in 1274. After the last Count's death in 1450, the county passed to Hesse.
The Landgraves of Hesse had the castle in Ziegenhain remodelled into a stately home in 1470, and then between 1537 and 1548, Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse had it built into a fortification with a moat.
In August 1945, the proceedings to establish the Evangelical Church in Germany took place in Treysa in an event known as the Church Conference of Treysa. The meeting brought about the merger of the Lutheran, Reformed and United state churches. Two further church gatherings in May 1946 and June 1947 tried to start discussion about divergent perceptions of the Eucharist, and also dealt with Denazification.
As part of Hesse's municipal reforms, the two towns of Treysa and Ziegenhain, along with their outlying villages, were united in 1970 into the Town of Schwalmstadt, and ever since then they have existed only as constituent communities of a larger municipality.
In 1995, with the motto "Hessisch Willkommen", Schwalmstadt hosted the 35th Hessentag state festival.

Rommershausen

In the Marburg State Archive, Rommerhausen is first mentioned under the name "Rumershusen" in 1243. In 1360 it was called "Romirshusin" and in 1365 "Rumershusen", but it has gone by its current name since 1419.
On 3 April 1916 at 15:30, a cosmic lump of iron fell to earth in a woodlot near Rommershausen. This was later named, after the place where it was found, the Meteorite of Rommershausen, and it has gone down in German astronomic history as Germany's greatest verifiable observed meteorite impact.
Rommershausen has been part of Schwalmstadt since the municipal reforms in the 1970s.

Trutzhain

During the Second World War, Ziegenhain was home to a prisoner of war camp, Stalag IX-A, and after the war, also to a displaced persons camp at the same facility. The camp is now the constituent community of Trutzhain. Some of the barracks still stand and have been converted into houses.

Politics

Schwalmstadt Town Council has 37 members. As of the municipal elections held in 2011, the council seats are apportioned thus:

Council

! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Parties and voting blocks
! %
2011
! Seats
2011
! %
2006
! Seats
2006

Coat of arms

Schwalmstadt's civic coat of arms might be heraldically described thus: Or a goat-headed spreadeagle sable armed, langued and attired gules, surmounted by a roundel argent in which a mullet of six of the third.
The heraldic elements are historical symbols from both former towns and the old County of Ziegenhain.
Schwalmstadt's coat of arms bears a keen likeness to both Neukirchen's and Schwarzenborn's.

Town partnerships

State institutions

Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk

Schwalmstadt's local THW association was founded in 1961. The local association has, among other things, a technical team with a positioning section.

Educational institutions

Sports and leisure

Theatre

Transport

Through Schwalmstadt run Federal Highways B 254 and B 454. In the neighbouring community of Neuental ends the Autobahn A 49.
The Main-Weser railway from Frankfurt to Kassel runs through Schwalmstadt and serves two stations: Treysa and Schwalmstadt-Wiera. There are hourly Regionalbahn trains from Kassel and the Mittelhessen-Express from Frankfurt ending at Treysa. In Addition to that, Regionalexpress trains and InterCity trains between Kassel and Frankfurt stop hourly in turn. At the station of Schwalmstadt-Wiera there is an hourly connection to Frankfurt via the Mittelhessen-Express.
There was once a strategic railway running through the town between Berlin and Metz, known as the Kanonenbahn, or "Cannons Railway".

Established businesses

Sons and daughters of the town