Nieder-Erlenbach is since 1 August 1972 the northernmost borough (''

Ortsbezirk A ''Stadtbezirk'' (also called ''Ortsbezirk'' in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate) is an administrative division in Germany, which is part of a larger city. It is translated as "borough". In Germany, ''Stadtbezirke'' usually only exist in a metropo ...

'') of

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The Anna-Schmidt-Schule, a

private school Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

, is located in Nieder-Erlenbach.

Geographic location

Nieder-Erlenbach, founded as

Haufendorf A ''Haufendorf'' is an enclosed village with irregular plots of land and farms of greatly differing scale, usually surrounded by a stockade fence (German: ''Ortsetter''). They are typically found in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, whence the name ...

, lies in the southern foothills of the

Wetterau The Wetterau is a fertile undulating tract, watered by the Wetter, a tributary of the Nidda River, in the western German state of Hesse, between the hilly province Oberhessen and the north-western Taunus mountains. Bettina von Arnim writes of ...

on the same Erlenbach, right tributary of the Nidda. The Frankfurt

Hauptwache (Frankfurt am Main) The Hauptwache (Main Guardroom) is a central point of Frankfurt am Main and is one of the most famous plazas (german: link=no, An der Hauptwache) in the city. The original name ''Schillerplatz'' was superseded in the early 1900s. It lies to the we ...

is about 9 kilometers away, Bad Vilbel (town hall) about 2.5 kilometers. Petterweil is 3 miles north. To Dortelweil in the east, as well as to Nieder-Erlenbach in the west about 2 km. In the southwest lies

Harheim Harheim () is a borough (''Ortsbezirk'') of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is a possible birthplace of the Minnesinger (; "love song") was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High Germ ...

and in the southeast Massenheim - each 2 km (1,24 miles) away.

History

In the year 779 Nieder-Erlenbach was first mentioned in the

Lorsch Codex The Lorsch Codex (Chronicon Laureshamense, Lorscher Codex, Codex Laureshamensis) is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. The codex is handwritten in Carol ...

as '' Arilbach '' (Erlenbach): a woman named Meginburc bequeathed to the Lorsch Abbey all her property there. In addition to agricultural land, commercial buildings and residential buildings, this property also included four serfs. Nieder-Erlenbach was after this entry in Gau '' Wettereiba '' (Wetterau). From 1376 the imperial city of

exercised the rule in Nieder-Erlenbach; the city could also appoint the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

and administrative offices according to the right of village rule conferred by Karl IV. In 1401, the king once more expressly commanded the Nieder-Erlenbachern to obey Frankfurt. The reason of this arrangement is not known, but does not indicate great love of the villagers towards their urban rulers. As a consequence, the officials appointed by Frankfurt called themselves (at the latest from 1403) ''Burggrafen''. In the 17th century Nieder-Erlenbach was twice destroyed by devastating fires (1602 and 1677). After the founding of the Free City of Frankfurt, the Nieder-Erlenbacher were represented by a deputy in the Legislative Body from 1823, but only in 1853 did the villagers receive universal suffrage. In 1866

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

occupied the Free City of Frankfurt after the German War and in the Peace Treaty of 3 September 1866 gave Nieder-Erlenbach to the Grand Duchy of Hesse.Art. 15, Nr. 6 des Friedensvertrages, abgedruckt bei: Ernst Rudolf Huber: ''Dokumente zur deutschen Verfassungsgeschichte'' 2 = Deutsche Verfassungsdokumente 1851–1900. 3. Aufl., Stuttgart 1986. , Nr. 192, S. 260ff.

References

Districts of Frankfurt {{Hesse-geo-stub