Kirchheim, Hesse

Kirchheim

Coat of arms
Kirchheim

Coordinates: 50°50′27″N 9°34′28″E / 50.84083°N 9.57444°E / 50.84083; 9.57444Coordinates: 50°50′27″N 9°34′28″E / 50.84083°N 9.57444°E / 50.84083; 9.57444
Country Germany
State Hesse
Admin. region Kassel
District Hersfeld-Rotenburg
Government
 • Mayor Manfred Koch (SPD)
Area
 • Total 50.66 km2 (19.56 sq mi)
Population (2014-12-31)[1]
 • Total 3,709
 • Density 73/km2 (190/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 36275
Dialling codes 06625 und 06628
Vehicle registration HEF
Website www.kirchheim.de

Kirchheim is a community in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany.

Geography

Location

Kircheim with the A 7 and the Wälsebach valley bridge in the background

The community lies on the south slope of the Knüllgebirge (range) in the valley of the brook Ibra and the Aula, which empties into the Fulda near Niederaula. The local mountain is the 636 m-high Eisenberg.

The nearest major towns and cities are Bad Hersfeld (some 10 km to the east), Fulda (some 34 km (21 mi) to the south) and Alsfeld (some 24 km (15 mi) to the west). Kassel lies 54 km (34 mi) to the north.

Neighbouring communities

Kirchheim borders in the north on the community of Neuenstein, in the east on the town of Bad Hersfeld, in the south on the community of Niederaula, in the southwest on the community of Breitenbach am Herzberg (all in Hersfeld-Rotenburg) and in the west on the community of Oberaula (in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis).

Constituent communities

Kirchheim’s Ortsteile, besides the main centre, also called Kirchheim, are Allendorf, Frielingen, Gersdorf, Gershausen, Goßmannsrode, Heddersdorf, Kemmerode, Reckerode, Reimboldshausen, Rotterterode and Willingshain.

Climate

The mean yearly air temperature is 7.4 °C (45.3 °F) and the average precipitation is 637 mm (25.1 in). On average each year, Kirchheim has 21.7 “summer days” (in which the daily high reaches 25 °C (77 °F) or higher) and 107.2 “frost days” (in which the temperature dips down below 0 °C (32 °F)). The average yearly duration of sunshine is 1,410 hours.

Source: 1200 Jahre Kirchheim, see “Further reading”

History

View of the “Seepark Kirchheim”

About 810, Kirchheim had its first documentary mention in the Breviarium Sancti Lulli (“Saint Lullus’s Summary”), a tithe directory kept by the Hersfeld Abbey, under the name Kyricheim.

Kirchheim was linked to the railway on 1 May 1906 when the Knüllwaldbahn (Bad Hersfeld–Treysa) was opened. From 1935, the community also had a link to the Autobahn network when the three-way junction of the A 7 (Flensburg–Füssen) and A 4 (Aachen–Görlitz) was built here.

In 1974, building work began on the Seepark Kirchheim between the outlying centres of Reimboldshausen and Kemmerode. The Ibra was dammed up here to form a 10 ha lake. Only a year later, district road (Kreisstraße) 34 from Willingshain by way of the Eisenberg to Raboldshausen (outlying centre of Neuenstein) was built. Once this link was in place, there followed in the same year the building of a mountain hotel, a holiday village (“Feriendorf am Eisenberg”) and a transmission tower.

On 22 August 1977, the dam at the Seepark Kirchheim burst and washed the railway tracks out near Kirchheim. This was Deutsche Bundesbahn’s reason for abandoning the line.

Amalgamations

Within the framework of municipal reform, the villages of Allendorf, Frielingen, Gershausen, Goßmannsrode, Kemmerode and Reimboldshausen merged themselves into Kirchheim with effect from 1 February 1971. With effect from 31 December 1971, Rotterterode followed. The other four villages were amalgamated by law on 1 August 1972.

Population development

Allendorf
* 		Frielingen
** 		Gersdorf Gershausen Goßmannsrode
*** 		Heddersdorf Kemmerode Kirchheim Reckerode
**** 		Reimboldsh. Rotterterode Willingshain Totals
(after amalgamation)
Households
1610 - - 29 23 - 19 14 75 35 5 6 33 -
1747 18 38 39 19 26 19 15 81 25 6 12 52 -
Inhabitants
1834 150 391 211 166 165 192 105 734 217 92 132 329 -
1840 154 413 234 164 182 168 92 733 113 93 134 361 -
1846 173 430 214 192 194 170 93 730 245 101 157 358 -
1852 186 390 204 192 200 172 100 759 229 95 171 353 -
1858 186 345 174 184 178 165 91 694 267 90 149 335 -
1864 179 356 179 190 167 157 106 686 246 106 145 247 -
1871 166 344 188 182 152 151 89 616 219 78 140 273 -
1875 164 327 186 177 137 139 81 582 219 67 144 268 -
1885 175 296 165 163 140 141 89 547 220 79 132 259 -
1895 178 299 181 169 144 150 77 548 223 65 123 242 -
1905 170 333 208 197 146 188 79 549 222 70 117 249 -
1910 152 333 194 187 137 197 82 569 222 73 120 268 -
1925 188 365 194 190 138 192 101 604 232 70 114 273 -
1939 163 348 195 184 146 205 74 705 204 80 99 249 -
1946 244 530 351 288 185 294 136 1,091 309 120 120 376 -
1950 252 533 304 287 196 292 133 1,126 338 115 144 353 -
1956 217 448 259 226 173 235 100 1,018 245 87 117 296 -
1961 193 389 224 199 164 226 98 1,085 230 66 87 276 -
1967 153 383 211 223 137 203 86 1,445 207 71 82 243 -
1970 148 416 191 227 144 224 76 1,544 224 75 84 243 -
1982 178 419 186 293 156 229 72 1,864 209 104 96 267 4,073
2004 146 406 161 332 153 217 65 1,920 164 77 81 253 3,975

*Before the Thirty Years' War 18 men, in 1673 only 8

**In 1585 there were 50 households.

***In 1637 there were 14 households.

****Before the Thirty Years' War there were 35 households. After the war, in 1650 there were 9 families and about 1745 there were 25 families. At the first census in 1830 the community had 211 inhabitants.

Politics

Community council

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Parties and voter communities %
2006		 Seats
2006		 %
2001		 Seats
2001
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany 43.7 10 46.6 11
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany 56.3 13 53.4 12
Total 100.0 23 100.0 23
Voter turnout in % 59.0 61.7

The community’s executive (Gemeindevorstand) is made up of eight members, with five seats allotted to the SPD and three to the CDU.

Mayor

Mayor Manfred Koch (SPD) was elected on 23 May 2004 with 55.2% of the vote.

Coat of arms

The community’s arms might be described thus: Vert two bendlets argent, the chief Or sapiné.

The German blazon refers to the parting as Tannenspitzenschnitt, or “firtree top cut”. The blazon also explains that the bendlets are a stylized representation of the Autobahn.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

The community lies right at the three-way Autobahn interchanges of Kirchheim and Hattenbach, putting the Autobahnen A 4 (Aachen–Görlitz), A 5 (Hattenbach–Basel) and A 7 (Flensburg–Füssen) right nearby. Through the community also runs Bundesstraße 454 from Kirchhain to Niederaula.

References

  1. ↑ "Bevölkerung der hessischen Gemeinden". Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt (in German). September 2014.

Further reading

External links

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