Dautphetal (, ) is a municipality in Hesse, Germany, and is among the six larger municipalities of the 22 in Marburg-Biedenkopf district.
Geography
The municipality lies in the western part of the district about 37 km east of Siegen and about 15 km west of Marburg in the upper Lahn valley. It is characterized by the Palaeozoic Rhenish Massif (Rheinisches Schiefergebirge). Indeed, this range's foothills from the west meet the Westerwald's from the south and the Rothaargebirge's from the north here. Historically speaking, Dautphetal belongs to the so-called Hessisches Hinterland.
Geology Since the municipality is to be found in the Rhenish Massif region, rock from the Palaeozoic Era can be found here. In Dautphetal, common minerals to be found include greywacke, diabases, quartzites, and loam produced by weathering of slate and diabase, but also partly limestone.
The geological zone is known to the Hessian Environmental Atlas (Umweltatlas Hessen) as Dill-Mulde .
Besides the copper ore that can be found here, the municipal area also has deposits of manganese and iron ore.
Natural regions Dautphetal's municipal area is classified under the German system of natural regions as follows: The Sackpfeifen foothills (with Wollenberg) (Sackpfeifen-Vorhöhen (mit Wollenberg)) (natural region 332.0) in the area north of the Upper Lahn Valley (Oberes Lahntal) falls under the main unit Ostsauerländer Gebirgsrand. The natural region of the Upper Lahn Valley, 320.2, Bottenhorn Plateau (Bottenhorner Hochflächen, 320.01) as well as the Damshausen Hills (Damshäuser Kuppen, 320.10) belong to the Gladenbach Uplands (Gladenbacher Bergland). The highest mountain in this area is the Nimerich (533 m above sea level) northwest of the constituent municipality of Dautphe. The lowest point anywhere in the area is found on the river Lahn at Elmshausen, where the elevation is 225 m above sea level. East of the municipality's municipal lands at Damshausen lies the Rimberg (mountain, 498 m above sea level).
Climate
The Dautphetal area has a warm temperate rainy climate, lying as it does in the northern temperate zone of the middle latitudes. The average daytime temperature in the summer is about 15-16 °C (in the Lahn Valley area about 16-17 °C) and in winter about -1 °C to 1 °C. The average yearly rainfall is about 800–1000 mm in Dautphetal, and in the Buchenau and Elmshausen area about 700–800 mm.
Waterways The biggest flowing waterway in Dautphetal is the river Lahn. This flows through the northern part of the municipal area from west to east. The smaller river Dautphe flows, just as all the smaller streams in the municipal area do sooner or later, into the Lahn.
Neighbouring municipalities
Clockwise from the north, the following municipalities are Dautphetal's neighbours: The towns of Biedenkopf and Wetter (Hessen), the municipalities of Lahntal, the towns of Marburg and Gladenbach, the municipalities of Bad Endbach and Steffenberg as well as the municipality of Breidenbach. All these municipalities likewise lie in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district.
Moreover, other centres can be named, such as the former group of homesteads belonging to Mornshausen and known as Die Amelose, and the two former iron ore smelting centres of Carlshütte (part of Buchenau) and Wilhelmshütte (part of Dautphe).
The constituent municipalities of Dautphe, Friedensdorf and Wilhelmshütte form, with over 4,000 inhabitants, the core of the greater municipality, which was brought about by the appropriate town planning.
History The history of the greater municipality of Dautphetal still is not very long. It came into being only in 1974 with municipal reform, having formerly been a series of 12 independent villages until the Hesse Landtag legislated new municipal divisions. This did not necessarily meet with everyone's approval. Ever since then, some of the municipalities amalgamated with others under the reform have experienced a kind of "local patriotism" in favour of the old municipalities.
Constituent municipalities Dautphetal's municipal area is divided into 12 constituent municipalities (Ortsteile) municipality DescriptionDautphe Dautphe is the municipality's oldest place and at the same time also the seat of the municipal administration. With more than 2,400 inhabitants, it is moreover the biggest of the 12 centres. It was first mentioned in 791. The Wilhelmshütte, earlier Kilianshütte, foundry was built in 1832.Allendorf Allendorf am Hohenfels has roughly 690 inhabitants. Its first mention, as Aldendorf, came in 1307 in connection with the Knights of Hohenfels.Buchenau Buchenau was first mentioned in 1238. It lies in the outermost northeastern part of the greater municipality on Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) 62. With more than 2,000 inhabitants, it is one of the three biggest centres. The Carlshütte foundry was built in 1844.Damshausen Its fewer than 230 inhabitants make Damshausen the smallest of Dautphetal's constituent municipalities. The place was first mentioned under the name de Tagesmanneshusen in 1251. It is still very agriculturally oriented.Elmshausen Elmshausen's history can be dated back to about 1200 or 1220. It lies in the outermost eastern part of the greater municipality and is home to about 370 people.Friedensdorf Friedensdorf forms along with Dautphe the municipality's heart. The place was first mentioned in 1220 and has about 1,500 inhabitants.Herzhausen Herzhausen lies in a basin in the southern part of the municipality. Home to roughly 640 people, it was first mentioned in 1333.Holzhausen Half-timbered houses with especially fine pargeting are to be found in Holzhausen. The municipality's southernmost village was first mentioned in 1251, and its roughly 2,150 inhabitants make it the second-largest centre after Dautphe.Hommertshausen In Hommertshausen live about 770 people. It was first mentioned in 1325.Mornshausen Mornshausen is among the central municipalities within the municipal area and is home to 850 people. The first mention of the place can be dated back to 1291. Die Amelose was first mentioned in 1515.Silberg Silberg is in the westernmost reaches of the municipal area. With somewhat more than 500 inhabitants, it is the municipality's third-smallest centre. It was first mentioned in 1339.Wolfgruben Wolfgruben with its over 700 inhabitants was first mentioned in 1257.
Rulers
Antiquity and Middle Ages From finds, it seems likely that the area covered by today's municipality of Dautphetal was already settled in antiquity as also witnessed by ringwall remains such as those on the Rimberg mountain or on the Hünstein (a megalithic monument). The first mention, however, was the naming of a Mark Dautphe in 791. This municipality is therefore the oldest documented place in the greater municipality. It was early on already the site of the Zentgericht, the local court under the local counts. It was the lowest court, but it had within its bailiwick the villages of Allendorf, Buchenau, Damshausen, Dautphe, Elmshausen, Friedensdorf, Holzhausen, Hommertshausen, Mornshausen, Silberg and Wolfgruben (nowadays in Dautphetal) as well as Eckelshausen, Kombach, Katzenbach, Dexbach and Engelbach (nowadays in Biedenkopf).
In Charlemagne's time, the area covered by today's municipality of Dautphetal belonged to the Oberlahngau (a noble domain). After the local noble line, the Gisonen, died out, the area fell to Thuringia. Under Sophie von Brabant, Ludwig IV's and Saint Elisabeth's daughter, the Hessian counties, which had come to the Thuringian counties through marriage, once more began their own development by 1264, and under their son Henry I grew into the Landgravate of Hesse (Landgrafschaft Hessen). The Lords of Hohenfels, who alongside the Lords of Hollende were regarded as the local lords, had to forsake their rights in 1249 under pressure from Sophie. Hohenfels Castle was razed in 1293. Only meagre ruins are to be seen of it today.
Hesse-Darmstadt and Prussia Ownership of the domain remained under this line until Philip the Magnanimous's death in 1567, at which time the landgravate was divided among four lines, and the Dautphetal area then belonged to Hesse-Marburg. After its line also died out, Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and Hesse-Darmstadt then fought over the territory, with the latter under its own landgrave eventually winning out, taking the so-called Hinterland in 1648. As a result of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, the Biedenkopf district, formed in 1832 and in which lies what is today Dautphetal, was ceded to Prussia. This district was for a short time (1932–33) united with the Dillenburg district before the districts of Biedenkopf and Marburg were made to form the still functioning Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse's 1974 municipal reform.
Population development What follows is an explanation of the population development of today's municipality of Dautphetal. What stands out is that the first small surge in population in the time of industrialization comes before another one right after the Second World War which saw the population figure rise by almost 50%. This can be explained by the great number of refugees who came and settled in the area after the war, especially from Hungary. The town sisterhood with Cikó in Hungary came to be not the least because of this. Since peaking in 2002 with 13,000 inhabitants, the figure has been stagnating.
Population figure development1: Date Population Date Population Date Population3 December 18341 3,503 1 December 18951 4,520 30 June 19671 10,5683 December 18401 3,742 1 December 19051 4,996 31 December 1998 12,8213 December 18461 3,936 1 December 19101 5,421 31 December 1999 12,9443 December 18521 4,055 16 June 19251 6,017 31 December 2000 12,9873 December 18581 4,071 17 May 19391 6,499 31 December 2001 12,9833 December 18641 4,060 29 October 19461 9,389 31 December 2002 13,0071 December 18711 3,943 13 September 19501 9,408 31 December 2003 12,9821 December 18751 4,272 25 September 19561 9,110 31 December 2004 12,9251 December 18851 4,383 6 September 19611 9,604 1: Figures from before 1974 have outlying centres' figures added.
Source 1834 - 1967: Historisches Gemeindeverzeichnis für Hessen Heft 1, Die Bevölkerung der Gemeinden 1834 - 1967, Hess. Stat. Landesamt
Source after 1998: Statistik der Gemeinde Dautphetal
Politics
2006 municipal election Municipality representatives were last chosen on 26 March 2006 for a five-year term. The SPD lost two seats while the Freie Wähler ("Free Voters", a citizens' coalition) gained three more and the Bürgerliste Dautphetal ("Dautphetal Citizens' List") lost out utterly. Participation in the election fell by 8.5% from 59.3% in 2001 to 50.8%. Of 9,030 eligible voters, only 4,589 went to the polls. The next municipal election in Hesse will take place in March 2011.
Parties and voter groups Share (%) SeatsCDUChristian Democratic Union41.513SPDSocial Democratic Party of Germany42.613 FW Freie Wähler Dautphetal15.95total10031
At the last municipal election on 18 March 2001, the result was as seen at left. The number of seats had been reduced from 37 in 1997.
Mayor The greater municipality's first mayor in 1974 was Hans Hauswirth (CDU). He led the municipality for thirty years, leaving office only in 2004. On 21 March of that year, Bernd Schmidt of the Free Voters' municipality became Dautphetal's new mayor.
Town partnerships Cikó, Hungary, since 1997. Diesdorf, Saxony-Anhalt, partnership between Evangelical-Lutheran parishes in the two places. Kazan, Russian Tatarstan, partnership between Evangelical-Lutheran parish in Dautphetal and Russian-Evangelical parish in Kazan.
Religion
Institutions Evangelical-Lutheran parishes Free Evangelical parishes Catholic parishes New Apostolic Church in Hesse Christliche Versammlung ("Christian Assembly") Herborn-Dillenburger Werk Ev. Gemeinschaftsverein (Evangelical association)
Economy and infrastructure