Sandebeck

Steinheim
Coat of arms
Steinheim
Location of Steinheim within Höxter district
Coordinates: 51°51′57″N 09°05′40″E / 51.86583°N 9.09444°E / 51.86583; 9.09444Coordinates: 51°51′57″N 09°05′40″E / 51.86583°N 9.09444°E / 51.86583; 9.09444
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Detmold
District	Höxter
Government
• Mayor	Joachim Franzke (CDU)
Area
• Total	75.68 km2 (29.22 sq mi)
Elevation	180 m (590 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	12,922
• Density	170/km2 (440/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	32839
Dialling codes	05233
Vehicle registration	HX
Website	www.steinheim.de

Steinheim is a town in Höxter district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

The middle centre of Steinheim forms the economic, cultural and social hub of the Steinheimer Börde, one of the main territories of the old Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn. This territory was known as Wethi-Weizengau in Saxon times. Particularly scenic are the foothills of the Eggegebirge.

Steinheim lies roughly 15 km southeast of Detmold.

The greater town of Steinheim consists of the main town of Steinheim and eight outlying villages:

Steinheim was granted town rights in 1275 by Simon I, Bishop of Paderborn.[1]

Town council's 26 seats are apportioned as follows, in accordance with municipal elections held on 26 September 2004:

Note: UWG is a citizens' coalition.

At the municipal elections, the new mayor Joachim Franzke (CDU) was elected with an absolute majority, succeeding the old mayor Reinhard Spieß (CDU).

Steinheim's civic coat of arms might heraldically be described thus: In argent a wall with three crenellated towers, the middle tower higher than the two flanking, gules, in the wall below the middle tower a gate Or.

Steinheim's oldest town seal, from the 15th century, shows the wall with the three towers, but not the gate. The wall and towers have figured on all seals since that time, but some seals showed the gate, and others did not. Arms were officially granted the town on 23 March 1908, and showed only the wall and towers, not the gate. On 22 March 1971, the town adopted a new coat of arms whose composition was roughly the same, but it included a narrow green chief (stripe across the top). These arms soon yielded to the present arms when a disagreement arose over the new arms, with the council opposing the new blazon that included the green chief.

The current arms were adopted on 3 July 1972.[2]

Owing to Steinheim's advantageous location on the north-south-running East Westphalia Road (Ostwestfalenstraße), otherwise known as Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) B252, connections to the B1 (Paderborn-Ruhr area) and Autobahnen A 2 (Hanover-Ruhr area) and A 44 (Dortmund-Kassel) are right at hand.