Weilrod
Encyclopedia
Weilrod is a municipality
made up of several villages in the northwest Hochtaunuskreis
lying in the Weil Valley in Hesse
, Germany
.
, from 210 to 600 m above sea level
. The nearest bigger towns are Limburg
(25 km) in the west, Wetzlar
(30 km) in the north, Wiesbaden
(35 km) in the south and Frankfurt am Main (35 km) in the southeast.
(Limburg-Weilburg
) and Grävenwiesbach
, in the east on the town of Usingen
, in the south on the communities of Schmitten
(all in the Hochtaunuskreis) and Waldems
(Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
), and in the west on the town of Bad Camberg
and the community of Selters (both in Limburg-Weilburg).
, Mauloff, Niederlauken, Neuweilnau, Oberlauken, Rod an der Weil, Riedelbach and Winden.
ruins in Altweilnau has been dated to about 1200.
The merger of the individual communities into the greater community of Weilrod took place in 1972.
word Roden – "clearing".
Both these name stems are also found in constituent communities' names:
The village of Mauloff has a rather interesting name origin, according to the local lore, anyway. Since the name Mauloff does not fit any usual German name pattern, it affords wonderful fodder for legends and quaint stories. One of these stories holds that the village was originally nameless, and that to give it a name, the mayor called a meeting, deciding beforehand that the first word out of anyone's mouth would be the village's new name. Those gathered for the meeting, however, sat there without uttering a word. At last, the mayor ran out of patience and shouted "Maul off!" (roughly "Mouth open!" ie "Say something!", using Maul – more commonly the zoological word for mouth – and off, a variant of auf).
Mauloff had its first documentary mention in 1156 as "Mulefo", a stopping place on the mediaeval road through the heights, the Rennstraße.
Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.
has dropped off noticeably. Nevertheless, the landscape in the municipal area attracts hikers and cyclists, for which a certain amount of credit must go to the Weiltalweg, a trail through the Weil Valley.
The loudspeaker
manufacturer Canton Elektronik GmbH was founded in Weilrod and still has its headquarters there. Other companies in the community are Mania (tool technology) and AZ (Armaturen-Zimmermann, founded in Hasselbach).
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
made up of several villages in the northwest Hochtaunuskreis
Hochtaunuskreis
The Hochtaunuskreis is a Kreis in the middle of Hesse, Germany and is part of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Neighbouring districts are Lahn-Dill, Wetteraukreis, district-free Frankfurt, Main-Taunus, Rheingau-Taunus, Limburg-Weilburg.The Hochtaunuskreis and the Landkreis Starnberg...
lying in the Weil Valley in Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Location
Weilrod lies north of the crest of the TaunusTaunus
The Taunus is a low mountain range in Hesse, Germany that composes part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. It is bounded by the river valleys of Rhine, Main and Lahn. On the opposite side of the Rhine, the mountains are continued by the Hunsrück...
, from 210 to 600 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
. The nearest bigger towns are Limburg
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
(25 km) in the west, Wetzlar
Wetzlar
Wetzlar is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. Located at 8° 30′ E, 50° 34′ N, Wetzlar straddles the river Lahn and is on the German Timber-Framework Road which passes mile upon mile of half-timbered houses. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis on the north edge of...
(30 km) in the north, Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
(35 km) in the south and Frankfurt am Main (35 km) in the southeast.
Neighbouring communities
Weilrod borders in the north on the communities of WeilmünsterWeilmünster
- Geography :Weilmünster is among the most richly wooded places in Limburg-Weilburg. The forestry office looks after not only the State Forest but also twelve municipalities’ woodlands in the south of the Limburg-Weilburg and Lahn-Dill districts.- Location :...
(Limburg-Weilburg
Limburg-Weilburg
Limburg-Weilburg is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Lahn-Dill, Hochtaunuskreis, Rheingau-Taunus, Rhein-Lahn, Westerwaldkreis.-History:...
) and Grävenwiesbach
Grävenwiesbach
Grävenwiesbach is a municipality in the Hochtaunuskreis in Hesse, Germany.- Location :Grävenwiesbach lies between 300 and 600 m above sea level north of the Taunus Ridge...
, in the east on the town of Usingen
Usingen
Usingen is a small town in the Hochtaunuskreis in Hessen, Germany. Until 1972, this residential and school town was the seat of the former district of Usingen.-Location:...
, in the south on the communities of Schmitten
Schmitten, Germany
Schmitten is a climatic spa and municipality in the Hochtaunuskreis in Hesse, Germany.-Geography:Schmitten is the highest community in the Taunus some 24 km north of Frankfurt am Main within whose limits is the Großer Feldberg ....
(all in the Hochtaunuskreis) and Waldems
Waldems
Waldems is a community in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. The community’s administrative seat is Waldems-Esch.-Location:...
(Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
Rheingau-Taunus is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Limburg-Weilburg, Hochtaunuskreis, Main-Taunus, district-free Wiesbaden, Mainz-Bingen, Rhein-Lahn.-Geography:...
), and in the west on the town of Bad Camberg
Bad Camberg
Bad Camberg is, with 15,000 inhabitants, the second biggest town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany, as well as the southernmost town in the Regierungsbezirk of Gießen...
and the community of Selters (both in Limburg-Weilburg).
Constituent communities
The community has 13 centres named Altweilnau, Cratzenbach, Emmershausen, Finsternthal, Gemünden, HasselbachHasselbach
Hasselbach is the name of:Places in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany:* Hasselbach, Altenkirchen* Hasselbach, Rhein-HunsrückPeople:* Carl Gustav Friedrich Hasselbach , German politician* Harald Hasselbach , American football player...
, Mauloff, Niederlauken, Neuweilnau, Oberlauken, Rod an der Weil, Riedelbach and Winden.
History
The earliest written record of a village in the area is of Mauloff ("Mulefo") in 1156. The imposing round tower at the castleCastle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
ruins in Altweilnau has been dated to about 1200.
The merger of the individual communities into the greater community of Weilrod took place in 1972.
Community's name
The name Weilrod stems on the one hand from the river Weil, a brook that forms Weilrod's and neighbouring Schmitten's landscape, and on the other hand from the GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
word Roden – "clearing".
Both these name stems are also found in constituent communities' names:
- Neu- and Altweilnau (Weil + Aue ["floodplain"])
- Rod an der Weil (Rod(-en) + Weil)
- Riedelbach (Roden + Bach ["brook"])
The village of Mauloff has a rather interesting name origin, according to the local lore, anyway. Since the name Mauloff does not fit any usual German name pattern, it affords wonderful fodder for legends and quaint stories. One of these stories holds that the village was originally nameless, and that to give it a name, the mayor called a meeting, deciding beforehand that the first word out of anyone's mouth would be the village's new name. Those gathered for the meeting, however, sat there without uttering a word. At last, the mayor ran out of patience and shouted "Maul off!" (roughly "Mouth open!" ie "Say something!", using Maul – more commonly the zoological word for mouth – and off, a variant of auf).
Mauloff had its first documentary mention in 1156 as "Mulefo", a stopping place on the mediaeval road through the heights, the Rennstraße.
Municipal council
The municipal elections on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
10 seats |
| CDU Christian Democratic Union (Germany) The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum... |
9 seats |
| FWG | 8 seats |
| Greens Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir... |
3 seats |
| FDP Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government... |
1 seat |
Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.
Economy
During the economic boom in the 1950s, the villages that now make up Weilrod were a favourite local recreation area for people who lived in the nearby Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region. Since then, tourismTourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
has dropped off noticeably. Nevertheless, the landscape in the municipal area attracts hikers and cyclists, for which a certain amount of credit must go to the Weiltalweg, a trail through the Weil Valley.
The loudspeaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
manufacturer Canton Elektronik GmbH was founded in Weilrod and still has its headquarters there. Other companies in the community are Mania (tool technology) and AZ (Armaturen-Zimmermann, founded in Hasselbach).