Reichenbach an der Fils

Reichenbach an der Fils (, ) is a municipality in the Esslingen district in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.

Geography Geographical Location The municipality of Reichenbach an der Fils is approximately 12 km (as the crow flies) east-southeast of the district town of Esslingen and about 25 km in the same direction from the state capital, Stuttgart. It is situated on the Fils River, which flows westward here, with the Reichenbach coming from the north, the Lützelbach from the northwest, and subsequently the Talbach from the southeast. The municipal area is predominantly located to the right of the river; its northern part belongs to the Schurwald subarea of the Schurwald and Welzheimer Wald natural region, while its smaller southern part along the river course belongs to the foothills of the central Swabian Alb. The lowest point at approximately 253 meters above sea level is at the outlet of the Fils, while the highest point, the Probst forested hill, reaches up to 446 meters above sea level in the northeast.

Municipal Divisions

Apart from the village of Reichenbach, the municipality of Reichenbach an der Fils includes no other settlements. Within the municipality's area lie the vanished localities of Bornhausen or Bernhausen, Geroldsweiler or Gerensweiler, and Knollenhof.

Neighboring Municipalities The municipality of Reichenbach an der Fils borders the following municipalities: the municipality of Hochdorf to the south, the town of Plochingen to the west, the municipalities of Baltmannsweiler to the northwest and Lichtenwald to the northeast, all of which are also in the district of Esslingen, as well as the town of Ebersbach an der Fils to the east in the district of Göppingen.

History From the Stone Age to the Middle Ages

Traces of people from the Middle Stone Age (12,000–5000 BC) have been found on the heights of the Fils Valley, as well as on the terrain north of the Siegenhof.

Reichenbach an der Fils was first mentioned in a document in the year 1268. However, like many places, the exact time of birth remains in the darkness of history. The founding period of the village can be deduced from field names and compared with neighboring villages, likely between the 9th and 11th centuries. Thus, Reichenbach was a village in the Duchy of Swabia. Wilhelm Böhringer and Gustav Wohlbold, both former educators at the local elementary school, have researched state and church archives in the past and found the place mentioned for the first time in connection with a dispute between two noblewomen as "Marquardus plebanus de Richenbach," recorded as a witness on a document from the year 1268.

The name of the village has nothing to do with wealth. Rather, it is named after the stream flowing through the municipality. To prevent confusion with municipalities of the same name, the designation "Reichenbach an der Fils" was introduced in 1906. At the end of the 13th century, Reichenbach came under the sovereignty of the Lords of Württemberg, after the Staufers and then the Dukes of Teck had previously held sway. In 1299, Duke Hermann of Teck relinquished all ownership and sovereignty claims in Reichenbach to Württemberg.

Development in the Early Modern Period In 1534, the Protestant Duke Ulrich ordered that Württemberg, and therefore Reichenbach, should henceforth be Protestant according to the principle of "cuius regio, eius religio." Originally, Reichenbach belonged to the district in Kirchheim, from 1485 to the district in Göppingen. The community developed slowly. During the recurring periods of war from the 16th to the 19th centuries, when Spanish, Swedish, Austrian, and especially French troops marched through the Fils Valley for nearly 300 years, Reichenbach became a battlefield through occupations, plundering, and combat. Even Napoleon traveled through the village in 1806.

After once having 600 inhabitants, Reichenbach was almost depopulated after the Thirty Years' War and numbered only about 50 residents. It was one of the most devastated villages in the district of Göppingen. It took 180 years for the village to recover from this dire time. Only at the beginning of the 19th century did noticeable migrations occur. In the economic history of the early Duchy of Württemberg, Reichenbach had long functioned as a mining town. Already in the 15th century, the Württemberg counts and later dukes had copper and manganese ores mined at Asang and in the Lützelbachtal, from which colors were obtained. In 1457, a coal mine was established in the direction of Baltmannsweiler. Not only were there occasional small coal seams in the sandstone, but also traces of gold and silver. At times, more than six adits were in operation. In 1561, a smelter was built, but mining was discontinued in 1739 due to insufficient output.

After the Establishment of the Kingdom of Württemberg In the implementation of the new administrative structure in the Kingdom of Württemberg, founded in 1806, Reichenbach remained assigned to the district of Göppingen. The upswing of Reichenbach coincides with industrialization. The opening of the Filstalbahn railway in 1847 was of great importance, as this made Reichenbach a railway station and provided access to the network of the Württemberg Railway and the regional transportation routes. The establishment of the Heinrich Otto cotton spinning and weaving mill in 1879 brought further growth.

Since the 20th Century The administrative reform during the Nazi era in Württemberg in 1938 led to Reichenbach being assigned to the district of Esslingen. After World War II, Reichenbach belonged to the state of Württemberg-Baden in the American occupation zone. With the founding of Baden-Württemberg in 1952, Reichenbach became part of the present-day federal state.

Religions Since Duke Ulrich introduced the Reformation in 1534, Reichenbach has been predominantly Protestant. The Protestant overall parish of Reichenbach belongs to the Esslingen district of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg. After World War II, a Roman Catholic community was established again. The Catholic Church of St. Michael was built in 1954 and provided with its own parish in 1959. Today, the parish belongs to the pastoral unit Neckar-Fils in the Esslingen-Nürtingen deanery of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. Additionally, there is a New Apostolic congregation in Reichenbach.

Population Development Year 1653 1871 1900 1925 1950 1970 1980 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 Population 150 970 1,481 2,349 4,517 8,111 7,261 7,361 7,424 8,022 8,029 7,936 8,236 8,378 Source: Statistisches Landesamt B-W.

Politics Municipal Council The municipal council in Reichenbach consists of 18 members. It comprises elected honorary municipal councillors and the mayor as chairman. The mayor has voting rights in the municipal council. The local elections on 26 May 2019 resulted in the following outcome:

Parties and Voter Associations %2019 Seats2019 %2014 Seats2014SPD22.02426.925FW28.74526.525CDU23.64425.674Greens25.61520.894Total100.018100.018Voter turnout59.35 %48.72 %

Coat of Arms

Blazon: "Under a golden chief charged with a stag's attire, Gules a plowshare argent."

The earliest evidence for the old village coat of arms is a coat of arms stone from 1588 at the town hall in Reichenbach, which shows it alongside the shield of the then responsible administrative city of Göppingen. With the stag's attire as a symbol of Württemberg's territorial sovereignty in the chief, a plowshare is connected, which was a popular rural symbol and is documented on Reichenbach boundary stones in 1685 as a marker; undoubtedly, it is older than the depiction from 1588. The current coat of arms design is attested in newer municipal seals and has been in use with the now customary colors since 1930.

Flag The municipal flag is red-yellow (1966).

Municipal Partnerships There is a municipal partnership between the municipality of Reichenbach an der Fils and the French city of Sainte-Savine.

Economy and Infrastructure The municipality suffered greatly due to economic changes in the 1990s. At the beginning of the decade, the Otto company closed in Reichenbach. The Traub Drehmaschinen GmbH & Co. KG (after whose founder the Hermann-Traub-Stadium of VfB Reichenbach is named) has been a subsidiary of the Esslingen INDEX-Werke since 1997, which at that time led to massive job cuts. Other companies include the corrugated board manufacturer Seyfert GmbH, the transport and logistics company Kraftverkehr Nagel Kurt Nagel GmbH & Co., the electrical appliance manufacturer Electrostar, the plastics processor Oskar Voltz GmbH, as well as other medium-sized and small companies.

Transport

The four-lane Bundesstrasse 10, a heavily traveled road in southern Germany, runs through Reichenbach. There are also cross-connections via Baltmannsweiler or Lichtenwald into the Rems Valley, as well as the road via Hochdorf and Notzingen to Kirchheim unter Teck. Stuttgart can be reached by car via the B 10 in about 25 minutes, and Stuttgart Airport is also about a 25 minute drive. Since 1847, the railroad has been running through Reichenbach. It is the heavily traveled Fils Valley Railway from Stuttgart to Ulm, on which the ICE and TGV also run. The Reichenbach train station building was renovated in the fall of 2006. Today, there is a restaurant in the building, and it is also a residential building. The stop is served every half hour by metropolitan express trains between 5 a.m. and 1 a.m. There are also bus connections towards Lichtenwald and Schorndorf, towards Hochdorf and Kirchheim unter Teck, as well as to Plochingen. The local bus serves the districts of Risshalde and Siegenberg. A significant traffic structure is the Sainte-Savine Bridge, named after Reichenbach's partner municipality Sainte Savine in France. It opens up the Voralb area and provides connections to the outdoor pool and the stadium. Shortly after the railway underpass comes the Fils Bridge, which was built in 1877. Until 2007, there was also a small shunting area with a rail connection to the aforementioned corrugated board factory. However, the rail facilities were completely removed during the 2007 renovation work. Since there is no longer an operational switch at the Reichenbach station due to the decommissioned rail connection, the station was downgraded to a stop in the fall of 2009. There is also the Otto Munz footbridge for pedestrians and cyclists. It spans the railway tracks, Filsstrasse, the B 10 expressway, and the Fils River, facilitating access to the outdoor pool and stadium. The neighboring municipalities of Plochingen and Ebersbach can be reached by train, while the other municipalities can be reached by bus.

Educational Institutions