Mörsbach is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a community belonging to a ''

Verbandsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns. Rhinelan ...

'' – in the

Westerwaldkreis The Westerwaldkreis ("District of Westerwald") is a district (''Kreis'') in the north-east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Altenkirchen, Lahn-Dill, Limburg-Weilburg, Rhein-Lahn, the district-free ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

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 ...

Geography

Location

The community lies in the

Westerwald The Westerwald (; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Massif ( or Rhenish ...

between

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

and

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region. The university town (nearly 20,000 students in the 2018–2019 winter semest ...

in the nature and landscape conservation area of the Kroppach Switzerland (''Kroppacher Schweiz''). It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Hachenburg, a kind of collective municipality. Its seat is in the like-named town. Another Mörsbach is Part of the Town Zweibrücken in Rheinland-Pfalz near the Border to Saarland with about 1000 Citizen

Constituent communities

Mörsbach's ''

Ortsteil A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

e'' are Obermörsbach, Niedermörsbach, Wintershof and Burbach.

History

In 1335, Mörsbach had its first documentary mention as ''Mersbach''. The other Mörsbach near Zweibrücken -->1441 wurde der Ort als Morspach erstmals genannt, lag damals aber noch im Tal des Bundenbachs in der Au. Erst als es nach dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg verödet war und Neusiedler aus dem Berner Oberland angeworben wurden, errichteten diese den Ort auf der Höhe neu. Wegen der Herkunft dieser Siedler, die der landwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung große Impulse gaben, wird Mörsbach in der Umgegend als Die kleine Schweiz bezeichnet. Mörsbach gehörte bis zu dessen Ende stets zu Pfalz-Zweibrücken. Seit dem 19. Jahrhundert wurde es von der Bürgermeisterei Großbundenbach aus verwaltet, ehe die bis dahin eigenständige Gemeinde am 22. April 1972 nach Zweibrücken eingemeindet wurde Von der am Bundenbach gelegenen ehemaligen Mörsbacher Mühle wurde jahrzehntelang das Trinkwasser für die drei Ortschaften Mörsbach, Großbundenbach und Kleinbundenbach auf die Höhe gepumpt.

Politics

The municipal council is made up of 9 council members, including the extraofficial mayor (''Bürgermeister''), who were elected in a majority vote in a municipal election on 13 June 2004.

Economy and infrastructure

South of the community runs ''

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...

'' 414, leading from Hohenroth to

Hachenburg Hachenburg is a town in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography The town lies in the Westerwald between Koblenz and Siegen, roughly 10 km west of Bad Marienberg on the river Nister. Hachenburg is the administrative ...

. The nearest

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' ...

interchanges are

Wilnsdorf Wilnsdorf is a municipality in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography The southern municipal limits, with the Kalteiche peak, part of the Rothaargebirge, form not only the community's highest point, at ...

and Herborn on the A 45 ( Dortmund–

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

). The nearest InterCityExpress stop is the

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

at Montabaur on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line.

References

External links

Mörsbach in the collective municipality’s Web pages
Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate Westerwaldkreis {{Westerwaldkreis-geo-stub