Dillenburg had its first documentary mention in 1254. Dillenburg was the ancestral seat of the Orange branch of the
House of Nassau.
Dillenburg Castle was built on top of the peak now called the Schlossberg in the late 13th or early 14th century. There are no pictures of this castle, however, as it was wooden, and was destroyed in the
Dernbacher Feud. From his stately home in exile,
William I of Orange-Nassau, who was born in Dillenburg, organized the Dutch resistance against
Spain (1567–1572), which still occasions regular Dutch royal visits to the town to this day. The land was administered by the presidents of the House of Nassau-Dillenburg. One of the last presidents was Georg Ernst Ludwig Freiherr von Preuschen von und zu Liebenstein (born 1727 in
Diethardt; died 1794 in
Bad Ems). In the
Seven Years' War, the stately home was destroyed (1760), and Wilhelmstraße (a street) was built out of the remains. In 1797, one of the earliest schools of forestry in Europe, founded a decade earlier at
Hungen by
Georg Ludwig Hartig, was moved to Dillenburg. It continued in Dillenburg until 1805, when Hartig lost his position as Inspector of Forests for the Prince of
Orange-Nassau, when the principality was dissolved by
Napoleon. In 1875, the
Wilhelmsturm (tower), views from which can be seen in this article, was completed on the Schlossberg. It is today the town's landmark. The "casemates" under the former stately home are among the biggest defensive works in
Europe. They have been partly excavated and may be toured. In the 19th century came the
Industrial Revolution with the building of the
Deutz–Gießen railway and the use of
iron ore found on the Lahn, Dill and Sieg. Many mines,
foundries and metalworking operations came into being in the region. In this time, many railway branchlines were built from Dillenburg to, among other places, Gönnern and Ewersbach. These lines have all been abandoned now. The line to Gönnern was abandoned in 1987 and torn up. The railway depot, so useful in the time of steam traction, was shut down in 1983. In the
Second World War, Dillenburg became a target of Allied attacks due to its
marshalling yard. In later years that yard was closed and ore mining became ever less profitable and in 1968, the last blast furnace, in Oberscheld, ceased operations. As of November 2017, the town's name was officially extended to "Oranienstadt Dillenburg" to reference Dillenburg's special connection to the
House of Orange-Nassau as its ancestral seat.
Eibach Eibach's history began in "Nassau times" in the 13th century. In 1313, the village had its first documentary mention. In the Second World War, it was left unscathed. In 2004, the healing spring was renovated, and a brineworks was built.
Manderbach Manderbach had its first documentary mention in 1225, making it older than the main town of Dillenburg (1254). The two former villages – nowadays parts of Dillenburg – Frohnhausen and Manderbach, had much in common in their early history. Here the two noble families von Hunsbach and von Selbach both held sway. As in Frohnhausen, there was also a great fire in Manderbach – albeit 148 years before Frohnhausen's – which, having been started by a
lightning strike, burnt 38 houses down within an hour and a half on 29 April 1630.
Nanzenbach The name Nanzenbach was mentioned for the first time in a document on 8 May 1325. This document mentions "die Nantzenbecher" — "the inhabitants of Nanzenbach".
Population development (in each case on 31 December) • 1998 - 25,053 • 1999 - 25,124 • 2000 - 25,092 • 2001 - 25,017 • 2002 - 24,923 • 2003 - 24,681 • 2004 - 24,533 ==Coat of arms==