Leopoldshöhe is a municipality in the

Lippe Lippe () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The ...

district of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

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 ...

, with ca. 16,000 inhabitants (2015). Located in the rolling plains north of the

Teutoburger Wald The Teutoburg Forest ( ; german: Teutoburger Wald ) is a range of low, forested hills in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Until the 17th century, the official name of the hill ridge was Osning. It was first renamed th ...

range, Leopoldshöhe consists of eight formerly independent municipalities: Asemissen, Bechterdissen and Greste to the south, Leopoldshöhe proper, Krentrup and Schuckenbaum at the center, and Nienhagen and Bexterhagen to the north. Both Asemissen and Leopoldshöhe proper have a pronounced infrastructure (supermarkets, gas stations, specialized shops, etc.). Located only 10 km from the city of

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

, the southern and central parts of the municipality today have a mostly suburban feel to them, but also contain several industrial zones, whereas the north is still mainly rural. Asemissen is only a few hundred meters away from the A2

autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

motorway, and (with the

Oerlinghausen Oerlinghausen (Low German ''Ankhiusen'') is a city in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany located between Bielefeld and Detmold in the Teutoburger Wald. It has c. 16,700 inhabitants (2013). Geography Geographically, Oerlinghaus ...

railway station) is on the railway line from Bielefeld to

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of t ...

and

Lemgo Lemgo (; nds, Lemge, Lemje) is a small university town in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated between the Teutoburg Forest and the Weser Uplands, 25 km east of Bielefeld and 70 km west of Hannover. T ...

. A bus service connects almost all villages to the railway station.

History

Local proper names still existing today - particularly of the village of ''Krentrup'' - indicate settlements in the area well before 800 AD. The estate of Niederbarkhausen, at the border between Asemissen and Oerlinghausen, is mentioned in the oldest surviving document about the area, which dates from 1036 AD. In 1616, a total of 55 farms and estates is counted in the area of today's municipality. Since this large rural area was rather sparsely populated, there was no church and people had to walk to other communities to attend service, until, in 1850, a church was built exactly in the middle between the neighboring churches of Oerlinghausen and Schötmar.

Leopold II, Prince of Lippe Leopold II of Lippe (Paul Alexander Leopold; 6 November 1796 – 1 January 1851) was the sovereign of the Principality of Lippe. He succeeded to the throne in 1802, and in 1820 he assumed control of the government from his mother, who had been act ...

, attended the consecration and named the budding village around the church after himself. Today, Leopoldshöhe proper is the only one of the eight constituent villages to have a centralized structure with church, market square, etc.

References

External links

*
Official website
Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Lippe Principality of Lippe {{Lippe-geo-stub