Rothenberg

Rothenberg
Coat of arms
Rothenberg
Location of Rothenberg within Odenwaldkreis district
Coordinates: 49°30′N 08°55′E / 49.500°N 8.917°E / 49.500; 8.917Coordinates: 49°30′N 08°55′E / 49.500°N 8.917°E / 49.500; 8.917
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Darmstadt
District	Odenwaldkreis
Government
• Mayor	Hans-Heinz Keursten
Area
• Total	30.48 km2 (11.77 sq mi)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	2,265
• Density	74/km2 (190/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	64757
Dialling codes	06275
Vehicle registration	ERB
Website	www.rothenberg-odw.eu

Rothenberg is a community in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany.

Rothenberg lies at elevations between 200 and 500 m in the southern Odenwald in the Geo-Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald, 7 km north of Hirschhorn on the Neckar. The main centre lies in the south of the municipal area as a high settlement in a clearing 430 m high on the ridge of the otherwise wooded Hirschhorner Höhe (heights). The municipal area stretches northwestwards along the Finkenbach. Many tourists visit Rothenberg because of the wonderful nature and because of so many possibilities to do sports (swimming, riding bikes, riding horses, hiking, gliding (with a flex-wing or with a glider), ...)

Rothenberg borders in the north on the town of Beerfelden (Odenwaldkreis), in the east on the town of Eberbach (Rhein-Neckar-Kreis in Baden-Württemberg), in the south on the town of Hirschhorn (Bergstraße district) and in the west on the town of Eberbach (outlying centre of Brombach) and the community of Wald-Michelbach (Bergstraße district).

Rothenberg’s Ortsteile are Finkenbach, Hinterbach, Kortelshütte, Ober-Hainbrunn, Raubach and Rothenberg.

Rothenberg went, as Rodenberg, in 1535, along with the villages of Ober-Hainbrunn and Unter-Finkenbach, and Vogt rights in Moosbrunn, as an Imperial fief to the Lords of Hirschhorn. After they died out in 1632, ownership passed to Otto von Kronberg, and after the Counts of Kronberg died out in 1704 to the Barons of Degenfeld-Schaumburg. Through marriage, ownership was held from 1786 to 1801 by the Counts of Erbach-Fürstenau and then lastly to the Counts of Rothberg. By the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine, Rothenberg and the other villages, but not Moosbrunn, passed along with the County of Erbach in 1806 to the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1835, Rothenberg was, with 1,098 inhabitants the third biggest village in the Landratsbezirk (roughly “administrative region”). When in the course of industrialization traffic routes were being expanded, this handicraft and market community’s high elevation, which did not favour transport, became a curse. There was no industrial development, and the community’s population figures fell. To this day, the community is strongly characterized by agriculture. In 1971, the hitherto self-governing communities of Ober-Finkenbach and Raubach were amalgamated. The hamlets of Kortelshütte and Hinterbach were established in the 18th century as settling communities for newcomers and those without property. Kortelshütte has developed itself since the early 20th century into a climatic spa after a highway link and new housing estates were built, while Hinterbach earned importance in the 1930s for its mineral springs.