Neu-Isenburg

Geography

Neighbouring communities

Neu-Isenburg borders in the west and north on the district-free city of Frankfurt am Main, in the east on the district-free city of Offenbach and in the south on the towns of Dreieich, Langen and Mörfelden-Walldorf (Groß-Gerau district).

Constituent communities

In 1959, building work began on the Wohnstadt im Grünen ("Living Town in the Green"), as it was marketed. This was Gravenbruch. Almost 7,000 people found a new home in this satellite town between the main town and Heusenstamm, lying in the woods. Owing to the great number of young families that moved there, this constituent community was known as the town with Europe's densest population of children. It is also well known for the Kempinski-Hotel and the drive-in cinema.

With the amalgamation of the formerly self-administering community of Zeppelinheim in the course of municipal reform in 1977, Neu-Isenburg also stretched farther westwards. Here is found the Zeppelinmuseum.

History

Neu-Isenburg was founded on 24 July 1699 as a town of exiles by Huguenots, French Protestants who had had to flee their homeland after the Edict of Nantes was revoked. Their new landlord, Count Johann Philipp von Isenburg-Offenbach, guaranteed them safety, the free use of the French language and religious freedom.

He gave them leave to settle in the Wildbann Dreieich, an old royal hunting forest, in the place where in the Middle Ages the pilgrimage chapel Zum Heiligen Kreuz ("To the Holy Cross") once stood. By way of thanks to the Count, the town was named Neu-Isenburg after him. The town plan was laid out by Andreas Loeber in a right-angled grid pattern. From corners ran diagonal streets to the marketplace. Also, the middles of the outer sides were linked by streets to the square marketplace. This township survives today in the streets of Kronengasse, Pfarrgasse, Löwengasse and Hirtengasse.

Neu-Isenburg was one of the planned towns of the 17th and 18th centuries. The settlers at first worked at farming, but later turned back to the handicraft trades that they had learnt, such as the stocking knitter's craft, thereby laying the groundwork for Neu-Isenburg's economic development. The surrounding communities eyed the French settlers with great mistrust and called the town welsches Dorf (the German word welsch refers to peoples who speak Romance languages, especially French; it is cognate with the English word Welsh, but does not have the same meaning).

On 20 May 1700 – a Thursday – the clergyman Isaac Bermond held the first church services under an old oak in the middle of the church square.

About 1701, the Forsthaus was built (today an inn called Frankfurter Haus) by the city of Frankfurt am Main at the city limits with Neu-Isenburg. The first French Reformed church was built of wood between 1702 and 1706. The foundation stone was laid on Ascension Day 1702. Likewise in 1702, the Town Hall was built at the marketplace, and the Haus zum Löwen was mentioned for the first time. This was used until 1918 as an inn called Au Lion d'Or ("At the Golden Lion"), and today it houses the local history museum.

The first school followed in 1704, and in 1705 the Bansamühle (mill). The wooden church was replaced between 1773 and 1775 with a stone building. In 1781, the first German-language school was built.

Population development

In 1834, Neu-Isenburg had only 1,762 inhabitants. By 1939, there were 15,081. After Zeppelinheim was amalgamated and Gravenbruch had been built, the population reached 35,000 by 1983.

Politics

Town council

The municipal elections held on 6 March 2016 yielded the following results, compared to earlier municipal elections:

The CDU formed a coalition with Die Grünen (“The Greens”), the FDP and the Freie Wähler (“Free Voters”).

Mayors

Past mayoral elections have yielded the following results:

At the last election on 27 September 2015, the independent candidate Herbert Hunkel, who was supported by the CDU, was reelected with 77.4% of the vote over Thilo Seipel (FDP, 22.6%). Voter turnout was 30.3%.

Twin towns – sister cities

Neu-Isenburg is twinned with:

Friendly cities

Neu-Isenburg also has friendly relations with:

Alexandria, Minnesota, United States

Sighisoara, Romania

Economy and infrastructure

Economy

Given its proximity to the trade fair city of Frankfurt and to Frankfurt Airport, Neu-Isenburg is a common location for businesses in various sectors. One of the major businesses that are found here are hotels, which see more than 230,000 overnight stays every year, the highest figure in the Offenbach district.

Over time, the town has converted itself from a location for producing businesses to a service-industry-based location and is among the biggest high-technology locations in the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region.

Some of the businesses established here are:

Aramark Holdings GmbH & Co. KG

eprimo GmbH

Harley-Davidson GmbH (Managing Germany, Austria and Switzerland)

Jeppesen GmbH

Kempinski Frankfurt AG

Lorenz Snack-World GmbH (Bahlsen)

Lufthansa Service GmbH (LSG Sky Chefs)

AirPlus International

Pepsi-Cola GmbH

Symantec Corporation

Keyence Deutschland GmbH

UL International Germany GmbH

Sescoi GmbH

Alpha Industries GmbH & Co. KG

Banque PSA Finance, SA.

KarstadtQuelle Bank

G. A. Müller GmbH (meat products factory, oldest manufacturer of the original Frankfurter Würstchen)

Transport

The town is close to several routes of the German Autobahn network (A 3, A 5, A 661).

Neu-Isenburg station is on the Main-Neckar Railway and is served by Rhine-Main S-Bahn line and regional train RB 61, although the station is somewhat remote from the town centre. It is the only station in Hesse that has loading tracks for a motorail service, connecting to several destinations in Austria, Italy and southern France. This service was discontinued in 2014. However the terminal remains. runs over the Mannheim–Frankfurt railway, stopping at Zeppelinheim station.

The Frankfurt tram line 17 of VGF has its southern terminus at Isenburger Schneise, just within the Frankfurt boundary for reasons of municipal identity, linking the northern margin of Neu-Isenburg with Sachsenhausen, Frankfurt Central Station, Fair and Rebstockbad.

Neu Isenburg is located in the area of the transport association Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV).

Frankfurt Airport lies at the town limits.

Culture and sightseeing

Hugenottenhalle

Neu-Isenburg is known far beyond its limits for the various events staged at the Hugenottenhalle. In this multipurpose hall with a variable capacity of up to 2,000 people, rock concerts are held, guest theatrical performances are given and dancing and music are performed. Citizens are offered a comprehensive cultural programme covering every genre.

Open-Doors-Festival

Neu-Isenburg is especially well known in the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region for its yearly summertime Open-Doors-Festival (formerly Musikspektakel). For three days, some 40 different bands and artists from all genres of music play. The free event is attended by some 15,000 guests and is held on several different stages throughout the town area.

Fastnacht

The parade through town on Shrove Monday (Rosenmontag) — sometimes called Lumpenmontag in Neu-Isenburg — enjoys great popularity.

Education

Primary schools

Albert-Schweitzer-Schule [1]

Hans-Christian-Andersen-Schule

Wilhelm-Hauff-Schule

Ludwig-Uhland-Schule, Gravenbruch

Selma-Lagerlöf-Schule, Zeppelinheim

Gymnasium

Goetheschule [2]

Abendgymnasium (formerly Schule im Buchenbusch) [3]

Comprehensive school

Brüder-Grimm-Schule [4]

Special school

Friedrich-Fröbel-Schule, school for learning help and speech therapy

Other schools

Music school

Folk high school [5]

Media

Ärzte-Zeitung, a newspaper for physicians, has its headquarters in Neu-Isenburg.

Notable people

Bertha Pappenheim (1859–1936), feminist and social worker

Franz Völker (1899–1965), operatic singer

Wilhelm Leichum (1911–1941), athlete

Anny Schlemm (1929–1926), operatic singer

Peter Dietrich (born 1944), footballer

Horst Ludwig Störmer (born 1949), physicist, Nobel laureate

Volker Steinbacher (born 1957), artist and graphic artist

Torsten de Winkel (born 1965), guitarist

Honorary citizens

Rudi Seiferlein (1921–2010), honorary chairman of the community of interests (IG) associations, posthumous award of honorary citizenship in March 2011