Geislingen is a town in the Zollernalbkreis district of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

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 ...

. It is situated 4 km northwest of Balingen. The population stands at roughly 6,000. Geislingen includes three smaller towns, Geislingen (pop. 4,500), Erlaheim (pop. 500), and Binsdorf (pop. 1,000), all of them growing about 1% per year. The area has been continuously settled since the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

. The first written documentation of Binsdorf came in 834, Geislingen was officially mentioned in 1188. The local economy mixes agriculture with services and small-scale industry. Many residents work in industrial areas south of

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

or in nearby Balingen.

History

In 1764 Carl von Ulm zu Erbach take care by ''Decretum für das Amt Beeder Herrschaften Werenwag und

Callenberg Callenberg is a municipality in the district of Zwickau in Saxony in 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 t ...

'' for the Poor. Contributing Textile production. Württemberg planted an alley of fruit trees. (''dienstbarkeit''). The tree farms of Wilhelm and the Brüdergemeinde provided free fruit. In 1863 those fruits included Luiken, Winterlinge, Fleiner, Knausbirnen, Bratbirnen, Glöcklesbirnen, Fäßlesbirnen, Grunbirnen, Lederäpfel, Breitlinge, Goldparmäne, Rosenäpfel, Zuckerbirnen and Bergamottbirnen. In 1941, there was a protest against the Nazi Party in Geislingen. In 1990 Erlaheim a fruit tree arboretum was created.

Mining

Sand, sandstone, limestone, gagat, and iron ore were the primary products. The Goldhöhle mine was in Erlaheim near Mildersbach, Schwefelkies, in Geislingen. It later collapsed. In: ''

Schwarzwälder Bote ''Schwarzwälder Bote'', also known as ''Schwabo'', is a German regional daily newspaper for the Black Forest and Upper Neckar region. ''Schwabo'' operates a network of 15 branches, three service points, and 18 local editorial offices. The m ...

'', 20.08.2015. Binsdorf, had a natural stone quarry. The information panels near the Goldhöhle sponsored by the Kreissparkasse. An old story talks about the ''Sandmann'', a hawker for cleaning sand. The idea was born at the

Schwäbischer Albverein The Schwäbischer Albverein e. V (Swabian Jura Association) (SAV) is one of the oldest hiking clubs in Germany. Based in Stuttgart, the society was founded on August 13, 1888 in Plochingen, Baden-Württemberg. Its territory extends far beyond the ...

in Binsdorf. From a 3.5 km mine in Doggererzflöz in Weilheim is wood in the Tuttlinger Fruchtkasten. In: ''Pressemiteilungen.'' 21.November 2016. Steel was produced in

Tuttlingen Tuttlingen (Alemannic: ''Duttlinga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Tuttlingen. Nendingen, ''Möhringen'' and ''Eßlingen'' are three former municipalities that belong to Tuttlingen. Tuttlingen is located in Swabia eas ...

by the Schwäbische Hüttenwerke in Ludwigshal. The refinery in

Harras ''Harras'' is an album of improvised music by Derek Bailey, John Zorn & William Parker. The album was released by the Japanese Avant label in 1996. Towards the end of the track "Evening Harras" there is 10 minutes of silence followed by a Bailey ...

was closed in 1832. The long, tedious transport with horses limited the amount of income from

pyrite The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Iron, FeSulfur, S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic Luster (mineralogy), lust ...

mining in Erlaheim. Economic reforms that allowed the construction of new railways made mining the iron ore of that area unprofitable. In: ''

'', 28.09.2016. Near Geislingen, black stone (coal) was mined for

Operation Desert (German fuel project) Operation Desert (german: Unternehmen Wüste) was a German synthetic fuel project during World War II. It attempted to build a shale oil industrial production complex for utilization of Swabian Alb oil shale deposits (Posidonia Shale). The projec ...

on the road to Erzingen. In: ''

.'' Zollernalb, 24. April 2017. Geislingen was also a center for gagat manufacturing. Gagat is broken in Posidonia Shale.

Notables

Michael Sattler Michael Sattler (1490 – 20 May 1527) was a monk who left the Roman Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation to become one of the early leaders of the Anabaptist movement. He was particularly influential for his role in developing t ...

, a leader of the

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from New Latin language, Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re- ...

movement in the early 16th century, was a prisoner in the tower of Binsdorf before being executed at

Rottenburg am Neckar Rottenburg am Neckar (; until 10 July 1964 only ''Rottenburg''; Swabian: ''Raodaburg'') is a medium-sized town in the administrative district (''Landkreis'') of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies about 50 kilometres (31 miles) s ...

. * Anna Funk (born in Erlaheim (Erla unter Rosenfeld), died 1587) not guilty in fire as witch

References

{{Authority control Württemberg