Dreikirchen

Dreikirchen
Coat of arms
Dreikirchen
Location of Dreikirchen within Westerwaldkreis district
Coordinates: 50°26′49″N 7°57′19″E / 50.44694°N 7.95528°E / 50.44694; 7.95528Coordinates: 50°26′49″N 7°57′19″E / 50.44694°N 7.95528°E / 50.44694; 7.95528
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Westerwaldkreis
Municipal assoc.	Wallmerod
Government
• Mayor	Rainer Zimmermann
Area
• Total	3.70 km2 (1.43 sq mi)
Elevation	245 m (804 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	1,032
• Density	280/km2 (720/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	56414
Dialling codes	06435
Vehicle registration	WW
Website	www.wallmerod.de

Dreikirchen is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Dreikirchen is a residential community with some industry. Since 1994, Dreikirchen has been a stronghold in the realm of village renewal. Many improvement measures have already been undertaken; some are in the planning stages, and others have been realized. The community lies in the southern Verbandsgemeinde of Wallmerod, a kind of collective municipality.

Dreikirchen came into being through the amalgamation of the formerly autonomous Ortsgemeinden of Pütschbach and Oberhausen. In the course of administrative reform – namely the formation of the Verbandsgemeinden in Rhineland-Palatinate – the two former communities’ councils came up with the new placename Dreikirchen. The grounds for this choice were the fortress church in the middle of Pütschbach, first mentioned in 1292, the chapel in Oberhausen and the parish church serving both places and newly built in 1957, in other words, the “three churches” (drei Kirchen in German).

The council is made up of 16 council members who were elected in a majority vote in a municipal election on 7 June 2009.

The community’s arms symbolize both former communities’ quintessential traditional features as well as Oberhausen’s and Pütschbach’s fusion into the new community of Dreikirchen in April 1969.

The silver pale and chevron combination represents the Häuserbach in Oberhausen’s municipal area and the former watercourse in Pütschbach’s municipal area, which symbolically flow together forming a new unity for the united community.

Until 1564, Dreikirchen belonged to the Nassau Counts’ domain, after which it passed to the Electorate of Trier. In the 19th century, it belonged to the Duchy of Nassau and thereafter to the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. Each of these is documented by an heraldic tincture, namely blue for the community’s main membership in Nassau, and red for the Electorate of Trier. Here is also found the community’s name in the three stylized silver churchtowers. The middle and predominant tower refers to the fortress church from the 12th century, the one on the left stands for the chapel in Oberhausen, and the one on the right once again symbolizes unity in depicting the parish church, which was meant to serve both former communities.