Solms had its first documentary mention in 788 in a donation document from the Lorsch Monastery. The villages that nowadays form the town of Solms belonged for centuries to the County of Solms, an independent state within the
Holy Roman Empire, elevated to a county in 1223, until it was dissolved in 1806. Early branches of the
House of Solms were Burgsolms (extinguished 1415), Konigsberg (near
Biebertal, extinguished 1364), Old and New Hohensolms (at
Hohenahr, extinguished in the 14th century) and
Braunfels. The still existing lines are the princely branches of
Solms-Braunfels,
Solms-Hohensolms-Lich with their seat in
Lich and
Solms-Baruth, furthermore the Counts of
Solms-Laubach with their
seat in
Laubach,
Solms-Rödelheim-Assenheim with their seat in Assenheim,
Solms-Sonnewalde and
Solms-Wildenfels. The Burgsolms castle at Solms, ancestral seat of the family since around 1100, was destroyed in 1384 by a coalition of nearby towns under the leadership of
Wetzlar, forcing count John to move to
Greifenstein castle. After a short while being part of the
Duchy of Nassau, Solms passed to
Prussia in 1815. As part of Hesse's municipal reforms, the communities of Albshausen and Oberbiel voluntarily merged on 1 July 1971 to form
Bielhausen, while Burgsolms and
Oberndorf did the same to form
Solms. By state law, these two new communities were amalgamated with Niederbiel on 1 January 1977 to make the new greater community of Solms, which in 1978 was granted town rights. A new residential area has been being built on the western edge of Oberbiel since the 1990s. ==Sightseeing==