Steinheim, Westphalia

Steinheim

Coat of arms
Steinheim

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)
Population (2014-12-31)[1]
  Total 12,757
  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.

Geography

Location

Steinheim lies roughly 15 km southeast of Detmold.

Constituent communities

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

History

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

Main sights

View of Steinheim with the Catholic Parish Church of Saint Mary

Cultural events

Politics

Town council

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.

Mayors

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

Coat of arms

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.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

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.

Steinheim can also be reached by rail throughout the day, with hourly trains from both Hanover and Paderborn.

Education

Steinheim has several kindergartens and daycare centres, two primary schools, one special school, a Realschule and a Gymnasium. Till 2011 Steinheim also had a Hauptschule.

Town partnerships

Steinheim maintains partnership links with the following places [2] :

References

  1. "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen". Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW (in German). 23 September 2015.
  2. http://www.steinheim.de/Leben-in-Steinheim/Kultur/Rochustag-Stadtfeiertag/Kalemie

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, December 13, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.