Büttelborn
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Büttelborn is a municipality in
Groß-Gerau Groß-Gerau () is the district seat of the Groß-Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hesse, Germany, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area. In 1994, the town hosted the 34th Hessentag state festival. Geo ...
district in
Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
.


Geography


Location

Büttelborn lies on the edge of the northern Hessisches Ried, the northeastern section of the Rhine rift, and even today is still partly rural. Its proximity to the
Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: ''Rhein-Main-Gebiet'', ''Frankfurt/Rhein-Main'' or ''FrankfurtRheinMain'', abbreviated FRM), is the third-l ...
makes Büttelborn an attractive
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
an community, lying 12 km from
Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...
, 25 km from
Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
and 30 km from
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
.


Neighbouring communities

Büttelborn borders in the north on the town of
Mörfelden-Walldorf Mörfelden-Walldorf () is a town in the Groß-Gerau (district), Groß-Gerau district, situated in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region in the federal state (Bundesland) Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Mörfelden-Walldorf is situated within a tria ...
, in the east on the town of Weiterstadt, in the south on the town of Griesheim (both in
Darmstadt-Dieburg Darmstadt-Dieburg is a Kreis (district) in the south of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Offenbach, Aschaffenburg, Miltenberg, Odenwaldkreis, Bergstraße, Groß-Gerau, and the district-free city of Darmstadt, which it surrounds. Histo ...
), and in the west and northwest on the town of
Groß-Gerau Groß-Gerau () is the district seat of the Groß-Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hesse, Germany, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area. In 1994, the town hosted the 34th Hessentag state festival. Geo ...
.


Constituent communities

Since municipal reforms in 1977, the community has had three centres named Büttelborn (5,266 inhabitants), Klein-Gerau (3,803 inhabitants) and Worfelden (4,345 inhabitants).


History


Büttelborn

Büttelborn's first documentary mention came in 1222 under the name ''Butelbrunne''. In 1257, Büttelborn passed to the Counts of
Katzenelnbogen Katzenelnbogen () is the name of a castle and small town in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Aar-Einrich. History Katzenelnbog ...
. Once the Katzenelnbogen male line had died out, Büttelborn passed to Hesse in 1479, of which it is still part today. In the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, there was in Büttelborn one of the 30 woods of the Dreieich Royal Hunting Grounds.


Klein-Gerau

Klein-Gerau's first documentary mention came in 1246. It was part of the Mark Gerau ("Gerau March") and was a
fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
of the Lords of Dornberg. The inhabitants were, however, largely independent of their overlords. Foremost among their activities were grain farming and
cattle raising A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often applied to li ...
and the woods north of the Mühlbach served as
grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...
lands. The two mills, of which the ''Eichmühle'' ("Oak Mill") still stands today, were already being mentioned in documents in 1303. The time when the Middle Ages were coming to an end and the modern age was dawning was not altogether peaceful, with the village being drawn into the dispute between
Katzenelnbogen Katzenelnbogen () is the name of a castle and small town in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Aar-Einrich. History Katzenelnbog ...
and
Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
in 1342, leading to its being pillaged. According to the register of the damages, Klein-Gerau suffered heavy destruction. In 1395, a similar thing once again happened at the
Hanau Hanau () is a city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its railway Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ma ...
ers' hands. At this time, the greater part of the population was under
serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...
, as documentation shows. The village lay between two yards, the older one near where the town hall now is, and the newer one at what is now the intersection of Bahnhofstrasse and Hauptstrasse, where there was also a small
graveyard A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...
and St. Wendelin's Chapel. This
chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...
was destroyed in the
Schmalkaldic War The Schmalkaldic War (; July 1546May 1547) was fought within the territories of the Holy Roman Empire between the allied forces of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Maurice, Duke of Saxony against the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, with the forc ...
, as was the whole village, by General von Bueren's people. The village's character had not changed up until the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
. Klein-Gerau had 150 inhabitants when in 1622 Field Marshal Peter Ernst II von Mansfeld marauded for a while over the ''Gerauer Land''. Then came the
Swedes Swedes (), or Swedish people, are an ethnic group native to Sweden, who share a common ancestry, Culture of Sweden, culture, History of Sweden, history, and Swedish language, language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries, ...
under
Gustav II Adolf Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...
and with them the Bubonic plague, Plague. It took more than 50 years for the village to recover from the war's ravages. As of 1700, the population growth led to clearing north of the Mühlbach that was only brought to an end for good on the 20th century. In 1729 the Town Hall was built and in 1753 a new schoolhouse, which is nowadays the
Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
church. The population was now rising steadily and briskly. In 1779, Klein-Gerau had 323 inhabitants. By 1825, that had risen to 459, and by 1900 to 723, reaching "exactly 1,075" by the time the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
broke out in 1939. The building of the
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
between
Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...
and
Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
about 1858 improved the strained situation in the village considerably, affording access to jobs in surrounding towns, and raising many groups' incomes by improving distribution of harvested crops to the
market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...
s in neighbouring towns. Moderately prosperous – for a full century from 1850 to 1950 – were the
orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...
s established by the teacher Berz who lived in the village. Even
asparagus Asparagus (''Asparagus officinalis'') is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus ''Asparagus (genus), Asparagus'' native to Eurasia. Widely cultivated as a vegetable crop, its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. Description ...
farming in the local area began in Klein-Gerau. All this meant that the village and its people were spared the worst troubles at the time of the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
. On the night of 17 and 18 April 1932, a fire broke out at the Town Hall, destroying the whole attic, parts of the upper floor and the clock works in the bell tower, together with the bell. Nevertheless, the Town Hall was built anew that same year and placed under protection as a monument. In the second half of the 20th century, the heretofore secondary industry of
agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
was coming ever more towards the fore, with this restructuring bringing Klein-Gerau to prominence as a rural residential community. In 1977, previously independent community of Klein-Gerau was amalgamated as one of three constituent communities of Büttelborn. In the summer of 1996, Klein-Gerau celebrated its 750th anniversary of first documentary mention with, among other things, a great street festival around the renovated historic Town Hall. For years, Klein-Gerau has been known countrywide as the ''"Bauchnabel Südhessens"'' – "South Hesse's Navel". The name Klein-Gerau means "Small Gerau", and the village shares its name with the independent town of
Groß-Gerau Groß-Gerau () is the district seat of the Groß-Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hesse, Germany, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area. In 1994, the town hosted the 34th Hessentag state festival. Geo ...
– "Great Gerau".


Worfelden

Worfelden's first documentary mention came in 1225, under the name ''Woruelde'', when a Heinrich von Worfelden was named as a witness to the division of a plot of land. The document also renders the name Worfelden and Woruelden. Other spellings that have cropped up over the course of the years are Urfelt, Würfelt, Worveldin and Wohrfelden. In 1319, the village was referred to as ''villa urfelt''. The likeliest explanation of the name's meaning comes from the Hessian ''Ortsnamensbuch'' ("Placename Book"), namely from ''ur'' (for "moist" or "moist field") and ''wara'' (for "care" or "protection"). Worfelden nobles are also to be found in the history books, such as ''Heinrich von Worfelden'', a guarantor for Count Eberhard von Katzenelnbogen in 1297 or ''Clas Ernst von Worfelden, Sänger zu Oppenheim, Angrenzer in Erfelden'' ("Singer at Oppenheim, Neighbouring Landowner in Erfelden"). In the Middle Ages, there was in Worfelden one of the 30 woods of the Dreieich Royal Hunting Grounds. The people of Worfelden at first paid their
tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...
es to the
Landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...
s of Dornberg, later the Counts of Katzenelnbogen (until 1479), and thereafter to the Landgrave of Darmstadt. In 1791, the village had 2002
Morgen A Morgen (Mg) is a historical, but still occasionally used, German unit of area used in agriculture. Officially, it is no longer in use, having been supplanted by the hectare. While today it is approximately equivalent to the Prussian ''morgen' ...
s of mostly sandy fields and 157 Morgens of
meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable con ...
s, and neither forest nor grazing land. The woods had been sold about 1670 to Klein-Gerau, then a separate village. In 1912, Worfelden was connected to the electrical grid. At the 1929 church festival, water was first drawn from the supply network. The village's former agricultural character was lost after the Second World War, as it was throughout the area. Many people from Worfelden found their livelihoods at
Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...
in Rüsselsheim. In mid 1975, Worfelden's 750th anniversary of first documentary mention was celebrated, before the village had to give up its independence only one and a half years later.


Schools

* Pestalozzischule in Büttelborn * Erich-Kästner-Schule in Klein-Gerau * Grundschule Worfelden in Worfelden (primary school)


Transport

Büttelborn is connected to
Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...
A67 and Federal Highway (''Bundesstraße'') B42. There is also a railway connection on the
Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...
– Mainz line with a station in Klein-Gerau.


Events

*''Kerb'' ( Kermesse) *'' Fastnacht'' (
carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...
) *''Weihnachtsmarkt'' (Christmas Market)


References


External links

*
Klein-GerauWorfelden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buttelborn Groß-Gerau (district)