Dreieich () is a town in the Offenbach district in the of Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany. The town is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area and is located roughly south of downtown Frankfurt am Main. With a population of more than 40,000 it is the district’s second largest town.
Geography
Location
Dreieich lies in the Offenbach district. Its northernmost constituent community of Sprendlingen lies some 10 km north of Darmstadt. Between Dreieich-Götzenhain and Dietzenbach rises the river Bieber.
Neighbouring communities
Dreieich borders in the north on the town of Neu-Isenburg, in the northeast on the district-free city of Offenbach, in the east on the towns of Heusenstamm, Dietzenbach and Rödermark, in the south on the community of Messel (Darmstadt-Dieburg) and the district-free city of Darmstadt and in the southwest on the town of Langen. To the west lies Frankfurt Airport.
Constituent communities
The town of Dreieich came into being on 1 January 1977 in the framework of municipal restructuring in the Offenbach district, bringing together five communities which until then had been self-administering. At the time of the merger, their population figures were as follows: Sprendlingen 20.474 Dreieichenhain 8.044 Buchschlag 2.782 Götzenhain 4.651 Offenthal 5.142
Today, 43.542 people live in Dreieich (main residences, 31 December 2019), including all five communities. Inhabitants here come from 117 different nations (as of 30 July 2007).
In 1977, Dreieich hosted the 17th state festival.
History
The town’s name comes from a royal hunting forest – the – which had its first documentary mention as early as the 9th century. It was a forest whose hunting rights were exclusively the Emperor’s. This forest stretched along the lower Main from Aschaffenburg to Rüsselsheim and from Vilbel to the Neunkircher Höhe (heights) in the Odenwald. The oaktrees in many communities’ coats of arms in this area point to this origin. In the middle of this royal hunting forest in the 11th century rose Dreieichenhain, when the Lords of Hagen built a tower castle in 1075.
Buchschlag
This place was founded only in 1904 as a ('villa colony', a form of town planning once popular among the well-to-do in Germany) by the Frankfurt salesman Jakob Latscha in the wooded (a cadastral unit) of . The first mayor was Rudolf Bindung. In 1909, Buchschlag already had 343 inhabitants. By the time it was merged with the other communities in 1977, the population had risen to 2,984. Buchschlag has largely managed to keep its character: many old Art Nouveau villas in the middle of the community are still preserved today and collectively are under heritage protection. The newer parts of Buchschlag likewise consist of fully detached houses. There are only scattered terraced houses and on the main street, Buchschlager Allee, a few blocks of flats.
Dreieichenhain
In the 11th century, a tower castle (Burg Hayn) was built from which the Lords of Hagen, later Hagen-Münzenberg (1075–1255), administered the Imperial hunting forest of Dreieich. The settlement beside the castle was first mentioned as a town on 23 September 1256 ( in Latin, meaning 'citizens in Hagen'), allowing the town to celebrate 750 years of having town rights in 2006.
The Falkensteins, who inherited the land from the Hagen-Münzenberg family, died out in 1418, and the Counts of Isenburg managed in time to acquire the lordship over Dreieichenhain. In 1549, the Reformation was introduced into the town. In 1816, the Isenburg-Birstein of Offenbach passed along with Dreieichenhain to Hesse. The placename Hain in der Dreieich was changed in 1840 to Dreieichenhain. In 1834 the town had 998 inhabitants, and at the time of the merger on 1 January 1977 about 8,000.
Götzenhain
After the Falkenstein family had died out, Götzenhain found itself under the ownership of the County of Isenburg in 1418, and in the 16th century, the Reformation was introduced.
Count Johann Philipp of Isenburg-Birstein built the palatial castle Schloss Phillipseich in Götzenhain about 1715. The new estate was built as an archetypal Isenburg estate. Only in 1724 did Götzenhain become an independent parish.
In 1816, Götzenhain passed together with the of Offenbach to Hesse. The railway was opened in 1905 with a railway station in Götzenhain. In 1834, the community had 705 inhabitants, and by 1977 this had grown to 4,696.