Sindelfingen

Sindelfingen
St. Martin's church
Coat of arms
Sindelfingen
Location of Sindelfingen within Böblingen district
Coordinates: 48°42′48″N 9°0′10″E / 48.71333°N 9.00278°ECoordinates: 48°42′48″N 9°0′10″E / 48.71333°N 9.00278°E
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region	Stuttgart
District	Böblingen
Government
• Mayor	Bernd Vöhringer
Area
• Total	50.85 km^2 (19.63 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)[1]
• Total	61,669
• Density	1,200/km^2 (3,100/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	71043–71069
Dialling codes	07031
Vehicle registration	BB
Website	www.sindelfingen.de

Sindelfingen is a German town near Stuttgart at the headwaters of the Schwippe (a tributary of the river Würm) that is the site of a Mercedes-Benz assembly plant.

History

• 1155 First documented mention of Sindelfingen

In 1263, Sindelfingen was founded by the Count Rudolf Scherer of Tübingen-Herrenberg.^[2]

In 1351 the city was sold to Württemberg.^[2]

• Middle Ages Notable weaving industry
• 1535 Entrance of the Protestant Reformation
• 1944 Stuttgart/Sindelfingen oil refinery bombed by the Oil Campaign of World War II
• 1958 Partnership with the French city Corbeil-Essonnes
• 1962 S. became "Große Kreisstadt"
• 1971 Maichingen and Darmsheim were incorporated
• 1987 Last Volksfest, a summer festival (the site was required for a county garden exhibition)
• 2013 Sindelfingen celebrated the 750 city founding anniversary^[3]

The weaving industry survived until most of Europe's textile industry was wiped out due to Asian imports. Some textile distribution centres are still left in the town. Former weaving mills can still be found in the city area, now used as offices for the computer industry. This is due to the takeover of Hollerith by IBM which used the punched card technology from the weaving mills.

Geography

Neighbouring towns and cities: Böblingen (continuous), Stuttgart (15 km), Leonberg. The highest point is 531 metres above sea level and to the north is the Glemswald (Nature reserve).

Main sights

Statue of gossips in the Altstadt of Sindelfingen

The Mercedes-Benz factory in Sindelfingen.

• Old city hall (Rathaus), now the city museum (free admission)
• St Martin's church (Martinskirche) (built: 11th–12th century)
• A short alley with half timbered houses (Fachwerkhäusern)
• Old cemetery (behind city library)
• Witch jump
• Cloister Lake
• Large public swimming pool with a long water slide ^[4]
• Water-tower on Goldberg
• Water-tower Sindelfingen-Steige
• Water-tower Sindelfingen-Eichholz
• Friendship Fountain on the market place, designed by Bonifatius Stirnberg.^[5] Around a central fountain with the Pegasus are six small fountains representing the six partner towns of Sindelfingen. The figures can rotate.
• Miniature Railway in the Sommerhofen Park
• Powerline-branch Maichingen
• Zweigart-Sawitzki-Bridge
• High-based pylons
• TV repeater Darmsheim
• Transmitter Tower Fuchsberg
• Transmitter Tower service area Forest of Sindelfingen
• Daimler AG factory. Tours can be arranged through Mercedes dealers.
• Haus zur Geschichte der IBM Datenverarbeitung (IBM Dataprocessing History Museum)

Culture

Sindelfingen has an annual International Street Fair which features ethnic food and performances from the partner cities, as well as from various local ethnic clubs.

Demography

The resident counts below are either estimates, based upon census (*) or official records of respective statistical offices. All figures after 1871 are taken from the statistical office of Baden-Württemberg.^[6]

Year Residents 1500 ca. 1000 1600 ca. 1400 1702 1402 1803 2981 1850 4310 1861 3804 1. December 1871 * 3704 1. December 1880 * 3934 1. December 1890 * 4239 1. December 1900 * 4291 1. December 1910 * 4589 16. June 1925 * 5394 16. June 1933 * 6986

Year Residents 17. May 1939 * 8.465 1946 10.027 13. September 1950 * 11.448 6. June 1961 * 26.127 27. May 1970 * 40.785 31. December 1975 54.134 31. December 1980 54.808 27. May 1987 * 57.005 31. December 1990 58.805 31. December 1995 59.435 31. December 2000 60.843 31. December 2005 60.843 31. December 2010 60.445

Natives

• Carl Eytel (1862–1925), desert artist who immigrated to America in 1885 and eventually settled in Palm Springs, California
• Cubeatz, hip-hop production duo
• Roland Emmerich, Film producer, director, and author
• Wizo is a Punk rock band from Sindelfingen
• Christoph, Markus & Monika Henschel, sibling musicians

Transport

Sindelfingen can be reached through the A8 and A81 motorways, and through the S-Bahn connections to Stuttgart or Herrenberg; the nearest airport is in Stuttgart.

Twin towns

Sindelfingen is twinned with:

• Schaffhausen, Switzerland, since 1952
• Corbeil-Essonnes, France, since 1961
• Sondrio, Italy, since 1962
• Dronfield, United Kingdom, since 1971
• Győr, Hungary, since 1987
• Torgau, Germany, since 1987
• Chełm, Poland, since 2001
• Sindelfingen is a member city of Eurotowns network^[7]

References

1. "Gemeinden in Deutschland mit Bevölkerung am 31. Dezember 2013 (Einwohnerzahlen auf Grundlage des Zensus 2011)". Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). 2014.
2. "Sindelfingen". Eurotowns. 2012-10-02. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
3. "start" (in German). 750jahre.sindelfingen.de. 2014-08-01. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
4. Archived 18 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine.
5. Archived 9 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine.
6. "Fläche, Bevölkerung - Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg". Statistik.baden-wuerttemberg.de. Retrieved 2015-03-08.
7. "Eurotowns". Eurotowns. Retrieved 2015-03-08.

External links

• Sindelfingen travel guide from Wikivoyage