Niedernhausen im Taunus is a municipality in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany, with almost 15,000 inhabitants.
Geography
Location Niedernhausen lies in the Rhein-Taunus Nature Park in the west of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region north of Wiesbaden. The main centre of Niedernhausen (which alone is home to more than half the community's inhabitants) and the outlying centre of Königshofen stretch along the slopes of a dale. The heart of the community is found in the bottom of the dale. The community is surrounded by mixed forest covering 60% of the municipal area.
Niedernhausen lies on the south flank of the Taunus low mountain range, a fold range that stretches from the Niederwald ("Lower Forest") near Rüdesheim am Rhein towards the northeast, on into the Wetterau near Bad Nauheim. This range is subdivided by two gaps, namely the Idstein Basin and the Saalburg Basin, into three parts: the Rheingau-Taunus, the High Taunus and the Wetterau-Taunus. The outliers of the Idstein Basin reach as far as Niedernhausen in the form of the Autal, putting the community right on the east–west dividing line between the Rheingau-Taunus and the High Taunus.
The main ridge of the Taunus, which at the same time forms the watershed between the Rhine and Main drainage basin in the south and the Lahn drainage basin in the north, runs through the municipal area from southwest to northeast. Parts of this ridge and also parts of the Rheingau-Taunus are the Hohe Kanzel ("High Pulpit"), at 592 m above sea level the community's highest elevation, and the Lenzenberg (492 m above sea level). South of these heights stretches the local recreation area and nature conservation area of Theißtal (or Theisstal) to the northeast on into the heart of Niedernhausen, north of which is the Engenhahn Valley (Engenhahner Tal), in which also runs the highway from high-lying Engenhahn to Niederseelbach in the outliers of the Idstein Basin. West of Niederseelbach stretches the Niedernhausen Basin. In the pit of the basin lies the community's core (lowest point near the town hall at 254 m above sea level), on the south slopes Königshofen, and on the north the new municipal developments of Niedernhausen along with the outlying centre of Oberjosbach.
The massif, which rises north of Niedernhausen, Oberjosbach and the more westerly Oberseelbach, is well into the High Taunus, and was once called Eichelberger Mark. It peaks with the Buchwaldskopf (492 m above sea level) and the Großer Lindenkopf (499 m above sea level). The highest elevation among the mountains south of the Theißtal (or Theiß Valley) is the Hahnberg (447 m above sea level).
Through the municipal area run four major streams. The biggest is the Daisbach, which comes from Engenhahn through the Engenhahn Valley to Niederseelbach and goes on through the Autal through Niedernhausen. It leaves the municipal area in the southwest going towards Niederjosbach and Eppstein, whereafter it is known as the Schwarzbach, emptying into the Main near Okriftel. The Theißbach rises in the Theißtal and empties into the Daisbach at Niedernhausen town hall. The Seelbach rises near Lenzhahn, flows through Oberseelbach and empties into the Daisbach near Niederseelbach. The Josbach rises near Oberjosbach, and in Niederjosbach likewise empties into the Daisbach.
Through the municipal area likewise run the tracks of the Main-Lahn railway, east–west through the Autal, from Frankfurt to Limburg an der Lahn. Running parallel thereto are the A 3 and the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line, which each cross the Theißtal on an imposing bridge.
+ Mountains in the Niedernhausen municipal areaPeakHeightRange Hohe Kanzel 592 m above sea level Rheingau-Taunus Großer Lindenkopf 499 m above sea level Rheingau-Taunus Buchwaldskopf 492 m above sea level Rheingau-Taunus Lenzenberg 462 m above sea level Rheingau-Taunus Hahnberg 447 m above sea level Rheingau-Taunus Hellenberg 436 m above sea level Rheingau-Taunus Eselskopf 391 m above sea level Rheingau-Taunus
Geology The mountain ridge, to which the Hohe Kanzel also belongs, is made of hard, weathered, but also cracked and permeable quartzite rock. Its layers are set steeply and often vertically. This yellowish-white, sometimes cherry-red-streaked Taunus quartzite arose from sandy sea depositions. Through the mountain range's compression and the attendant exothermic reaction, the original sedimentary stone changed into metamorphic quartzite.
In some spots in the Niedernhausen municipal area are found outcrops of this quartzite. Among these are a block on the peak of the Hohe Kanzel and the 479 m-high Hohler Stein (“Hollow Stone”) between Niedernhausen and Lenzhahn. The latter was placed under nature conservation in 1929. Near the Niedernhausen Autobahn on-ramp lies the so-called Grauer Stein (“Grey Stone”), near which is also found an old quartzite mine.
Constituent communities Niedernhausen's Ortsteile are the formerly self-governing communities of Engenhahn, Königshofen, Niedernhausen, Niederseelbach, Oberjosbach and Oberseelbach. In Niedernhausen alone live more than half the inhabitants. This is also where the great building areas of Lenzhahner Weg and Schäfersberg are found.
+ Niedernhausen's centresCentrePopulation Niedernhausen 1 7,700 Oberjosbach 2,150 Niederseelbach 2,000 Königshofen 1,900 Engenhahn 2 1,350 Oberseelbach 450 1. with the building areas of Lenzhahner Weg and Schäfersberg 2. with the building area of Wildpark
Neighbouring communities Niedernhausen borders in the west on the town of Taunusstein, in the west and north on the town of Idstein (both in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis), in the east on the town of Eppstein (Main-Taunus-Kreis) and in the south on the district-free city of Wiesbaden, the state capital.
History
Beginnings and Roman border area (1st century AD)
In 1974, a stone hatchet was found near Oberjosbach that was dated to the time of the “Beaker Cultures” of the New Stone Age (2300-1600 BC). There is no hint as to whether the area was settled, although it does prove a human presence.
About the beginning of the Christian Era, the Romans came into what is now the Niedernhausen municipal area. Beginning in AD 86 they began work on the Limes between the places now known as Oberseelbach and Idstein; on 15 July 2005, UNESCO proclaimed it a World Heritage Site. The Niedernhausen area lay on the Roman side of the frontier, and what would later become Idstein on the Germanic side. On the Dasbach Heights, on the highway between Niedernhausen and Idstein, a replica of a Roman watchtower was built right near Niedernhausen municipal limits on the occasion of the 2002 Hessentag, state festival in Idstein. Some 2 km north of Oberseelbach, near Idstein-Heftrich, was the Roman castrum of Alteburg.
First traces in the Middle Ages and documentary mentions (1196–1283) Niedernhausen's two original centres were the parishes of Oberjosbach and Niederseelbach.
The former had its first documentary mention in 1196 as Oberjosbach “augmented with God’s grace to the populace and estate” and thereby acquiring the “full freedom of a mother church” from the Archbishop of Mainz. Saint Michael's parish actually had no existence in the Middle Ages. However, the church developed into a church centre. The settlement of Oberjosbach, on the other hand, might have existed as early as the 10th century, which would make it the oldest in the current municipal area.
The old Johanneskirche (Saint John's Church) in the meadowlands near Niederseelbach was, however, the hub of the so-called Seelbacher Grund, which comprised the centres of Oberseelbach, Engenhahn, Lenzhahn, Königshofen and Niedernhausen. Moreover, the parish priest at Niederseelbach was also responsible for the branch church in Dasbach. If the Seelbacher Grund also belonged to the parish of Oberjosbach, the ways were parted about 1220 when the House of Nassau launched the independent parish of Niederseelbach. The church's origins may well reach back into Carolingian times about 800, when a rural church stood here.
Engenhahn's founding goes back to the founding of the Bleidenstadt Monastery in 775, within whose bounds so-called Meierhöfe (sing. Meierhof, roughly “chamberlain’s estate”) were built. A monk by the name of Enicho founded one such place, thereby becoming Engenhahn's namesake, with the name first appearing as Enicho im Hag or Unechenhagin. The place had its first documentary mention in 1221.
Oberseelbach first cropped up, along with Lenzhahn, as Medietas Ville superioris Selebach in a Schloßborn tithe register. This can be dated to some time between 1226 and 1233. Königshofen and Niedernhausen had their first documentary mentions about 1220 in a directory from Saint Stephen's as Villa in Kunigishoue and Niederinhusin respectively.
Border disputes between Nassau-Idstein and Eppstein (1283–1806) From the Early Middle Ages, the Niedernhausen municipal area was in the thick of the border disputes between two lordly houses, Nassau and Eppstein. These came to a head in the 13th century with a feud, during which the new parish church at Oberjosbach was once again destroyed, only being built anew and reconsecrated in 1321. The feud was settled in the 1283 Sühnevertrag (“Atonement Treaty”), in which territorial sovereignty was newly ordered. Nevertheless, the rather fluid border between the two houses’ domains was not truly fixed until some time about 1500.
The small settlement of Obernhausen lying in the border area, a counterpart to Niedernhausen (Ober— and Nieder— are German for “Upper” and “Nether” or “Lower”) fell victim during this time to the Plague. By 1544, the settlement no longer existed.
The Reformation led to a further separation between the places in the Seelbacher Grund and Oberjosbach. The latter, after having been Protestant from 1540 to 1604, became Catholic again because it had belonged to Electoral Mainz since 1581. The parishioners in Niederseelbach, on the other hand, became Lutheran as of 1581, matching their lords, the Counts of Nassau-Idstein, in religious affiliation.
This configuration remained in place even by the end of the Thirty Years' War. The war had wrought great misfortune on the villages: Niedernhausen, Königshofen and Engenhahn were almost utterly depopulated; in Oberseelbach only 14 inhabitants survived.
After the Peace of Westphalia, Count Johannes of Nassau-Idstein settled Walloons from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège in the county's emptied centres, among them Niedernhausen, Königshofen and Engenhahn. These settlers he gave leave to keep their Catholic faith, while nevertheless putting them under Niedernhausen's Lutheran priest. Still today, a few Wallonian surnames can be found in Niedernhausen.
The Elector-Archbishop of Mainz, Anselm Franz von Ingelheim, replaced the chapel in Oberjosbach with a church in the Renaissance style in 1680.
In 1723 the border between Idstein and Eppstein was marked with border stones, which on one side showed the Lion of Nassau and on the other the Wheel of Mainz. These stones can still be seen between Niedernhausen and Oberjosbach. In 1728, the Elector-Archbishop Lothar Franz von Schönborn revived the parish in Oberjosbach, in which the Catholics of the Seelbacher Grund found a new home, the border notwithstanding. The school in Niederseelbach had its first documentary mention in 1778. It was attended by children from the surrounding villages.
Duchy of Nassau, railway building and open-air resort (1806–1914) In 1806, the Duchy of Nassau was founded, rendering the border between Niedernhausen and Oberjosbach, which had been in force since the Middle Ages, meaningless.
In 1859, Oberseelbach, together with the neighbouring places Dasbach and Lenzhahn, both of which now belong to Idstein, founded a school board. The new school building was opened in 1863.