Steinbach am Glan () is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Oberes Glantal.
Geography
Location
The municipality lies about 35 km west of Kaiserslautern on both sides of the Steinbach, which rises in the village's west end and then flows about one kilometre down to the Hodenbach, where the two streams together become the Henschbach. The constituent community of Steinbach lies on the brook's right bank and the constituent community of Frutzweiler on the left. Steinbach therefore does not lie right on the Glan, which makes its name suffix “am Glan” a bit misleading. It actually lies some 7 km upstream from where the local river empties into the Glan. The name suffix simply serves to distinguish Steinbach am Glan from other places named Steinbach. From the bottom of the dale at roughly 260 m above sea level, the land rises steeply on the right bank up to the Schnepfenrech (417 m) and the Steinberg (406 m), while over on the left side, an elevation of 367 m above sea level is reached. Other peaks are the Marbacher Berg with its sporting ground (353 m) and the Neumühler Berg (343 m). Once lying within municipal limits were two coal pits, Steinbach and Maria. Much of the Hodenbachtal (Hodenbach valley), laid out as a recreational area, lies within Steinbach's municipal limits. The municipal area measures 686 ha, of which 123 ha is wooded.
Neighbouring municipalities
Steinbach am Glan borders in the north on the municipality of Wahnwegen, in the northeast on the municipality of Henschtal, in the southeast on the municipality of Börsborn, in the south on the municipality of Brücken, in the west on the municipality of Ohmbach and in the northwest on the municipality of Herschweiler-Pettersheim.
Constituent communities
Steinbach am Glan's Ortsteile are Steinbach and Frutzweiler. Also belonging to Steinbach am Glan is the outlying homestead of Naturfreundehaus, actually the “Friends of Nature” House.
Municipality’s layout
The centre now known as Steinbach am Glan was originally made up of two linear villages (by some definitions, “thorpes”), one on each side of the brook, that eventually met and grew together. The way the built-up area is laid out and the way the houses are built, much of it from the 19th century, still reflect this original configuration to some extent, along Bundesstraße 423 in Steinbach's case and along the old village street (Dorfstraße) in Frutzweiler's. As Steinbach began spreading out to the south towards Börsborn as far back as the early 19th century, the two villages now have the outward appearance of one great clump village, and everywhere sidestreets have been springing up down to the present day. Where the two villages have run up against each other – especially on the Steinbach side – a village centre of sorts has arisen. This is where the old belltower stands, built in 1788 and endowed by the then rulers, the Counts of Leyen, represented in this case by Countess Marianne von der Leyen. Also standing here is the old schoolhouse from 1825, which today houses a kindergarten and the municipal centre. The great limetree standing before the belltower was planted in 1849 as a “Freedom Tree” in the wake of the Revolutions of 1848. Steinbach once had a synagogue from 1725 that likewise stood in this village centre. In 2000, the municipality built the Jewish Museum in this area. The Jewish graveyard from 1825 lies outside the village on the mountain slope towards Henschtal. The general building pattern in the village is characterized by farmhouses, mostly for small holdings. In the village's west lies the now closed Frutzweiler graveyard. The older Steinbach graveyard with its warriors’ memorial lies on Bundesstraße 423. A new graveyard west of the village at the Jungenwald (forest) was opened in 1970 for both villages. At the way out of the village to the south going towards Börsborn is the Catholic church, which was converted in 1936 from what had been a mine hoist house.
History
While the two former municipalities may have had many commonalities, their territorial histories on the other hand went two quite different ways. Both centres can look back on a more than 650-year-long history. Indeed, the first documentary mention came in 1355. The village's foremost landmark is the belltower mentioned above.