Ispringen

Coat of arms

Ispringen

Coordinates: 48°54′57″N 8°40′15″E / 48.91583°N 8.67083°ECoordinates: 48°54′57″N 8°40′15″E / 48.91583°N 8.67083°E

Country

Government

• Mayor

Volker Winkel

Area

• Total

8.21 km² (3.17 sq mi)

Elevation

275 m (902 ft)

Population (2015-12-31)

• Total

6,072

• Density

740/km² (1,900/sq mi)

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

75228

07231

Website

Ispringen is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The name of the town was first recorded in the early Middle Ages as 'Urspringen'. It refers to a natural spring which is the source of the Kämpfelbach, a small stream that ultimately empties into the Rhine. The town's coat-of-arms, yellow shears on a scarlet background, allude to the town's former main industry of raising sheep. The colours are common to communities in the area and derive from the coat-of-arms of the Grand Duchy of Baden.

Ispringen was first mentioned in 1272. For most of its history it remained a relatively small village dominated by small livestock farms and orchards. In the fourteenth century the spiritual welfare (and by extension the temporal government) came under the patronage of the Dominican friary at Pforzheim. This remained the structure of local affairs until the upheaval of the Reformation. Following this the village came under the rule of the Duke of Baden, and would remain there until absorbed into the unified Germany. Under the Duke of Baden the inhabitants changed to Lutheranism.

During the Napoleonic wars Ispringen suffered quartering by French, Prussian, Cossack and German troops. This was the first large scale exposure the town had experienced of outside influences.

Following the end of the Second World War Ispringen experienced something of a boom. Pforzheim had been reduced to rubble in an Allied bombing raid late in war, and Ispringen had been largely unaffected. Some light industrial businesses started building along the south side of town. This was followed by young families in the fifties and sixties looking for both employment and space outside but still close to their old place of habitation.

As the source of the Kämpfelbach, Ispringen sits at the head of a shallow river valley. At the extreme eastern end of the town what flat land is available is monopolised by the Karlsruhe to Pforzheim rail link and the L570 road link. For most of the length of the town the valley floor is no wider than a hundred metres across, until the western boundary is reached and the valley opens out into fields more typical of Ispringen's downstream neighbours. As such most of the town is built on the relatively shallow but steep sides of the upper valley, and any short walk away from the centre of town will quickly allow a view of a majority of the locality.

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Wikipedia