Written records about Herschbach begin with its first documentary mention in 1248. It can be assumed, however, that the area had already been settled long before that, as a place named
Hergispach crops up in the
Engers Chronicle from 963. Moreover, the find of a “west German beaker adorned with band”, a replica of which is exhibited at the Landschaftsmuseum Westerwald in
Hachenburg, bears witness to a human presence in the area some 4,000 years ago. In 1343, Emperor
Karl IV granted Herschbach town rights, although these were withdrawn 14 years later. At this time, the
mediaeval settlement consisted of the
moated
castle (Arx Hergispach, first documentary mention in 1320), which belonged to the Counts of
Isenburg. In 1371, Herschbach was conquered by Kuno II of Falkenstein, Archbishop of
Trier. Herschbach was mostly spared the
Thirty Years' War’s ravages, but the villages of Überherschbach and Dorfborn, even to the Oberherschbach
chapel, were destroyed so that their inhabitants would seek and find refuge in the fortified community of Herschbach. Today’s streets, Obertor and Untertor (meaning “Upper Gate” and “Lower Gate”), give some idea of the community's dimensions at that time. The castle within its moat fostered
handicrafts. An especially important era in Herschbach's economic history is said to be the
quartzite mining. When the
Siershahn-
Altenkirchen railway line opened in 1884, it also opened new perspectives on mining the valuable freshwater quartzite (also known as quartzarenitic sandstone, Skršin-type quartzite, Limnic quartzite, or by its
German name, Süßwasserquarzit), since there was favourable transport at hand. With the opening of the
Kleinbahn Selters–Hachenburg, a
narrow-gauge railway whose head office was in Herschbach, began the planned mining in Herschbach's,
Rückeroth’s,
Freirachdorf’s and
Marienrachdorf’s municipal areas in 1900. With the further upswing in the
iron industry’s development, “Herschbach quartzite” became one of the most sought-after
raw materials for this industry in need of fireproof materials. Quartzite mining was for many years the community's main livelihood. In 1939, 625 workers from Herschbach and the neighbouring communities were employed at the
quarries. In the 1950s, quartzite mining was shut down because the waning yields from the quartzite lode made recovery economically unjustifiable. What is left over from the “quartzite boom” is a far-reaching change in the look of the local landscape due to
tailing heaps, some of which are today overgrown with low forest. Many abandoned pits are used as fishponds. Unusable land, decayed loading ramps and impassable lands still recall the Herschbach Quartzite Basin. The closure also had great consequences for the narrow-gauge railway, whose tracks were torn up by 1960. After quartzite mining ended, the community administration set about getting other industries to locate in the community, at which they had success.
Deutz AG, for instance, opened a parts factory in Herschbach. In the course of municipal restructuring, Herschbach and 20 other communities joined in 1972 into the
Verbandsgemeinde of Selters. == Population ==