The economic situation in the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg was very bad, because the Upper Rhine valley, in which the county was situated, had been devastated during the
War of the Palatinian Succession (1688–1697) and the
War of Spanish Succession (1702–1713) and related military occupations. Johann Reinhard III tried to improve the situation. The political situation was also problematic: his predecessor had been forced to acknowledge French supremacy over the parts of the county located in
Alsace. He could only rule those areas because he received "
Letters Patent" to that effect from the French king
Louis XIV in 1701 and 1707. Johann Reinhard III tried in vain to be raised to the rank of
Imperial Prince. After it was clear that he would have no male heirs, he discontinued these efforts. When Philipp Reinhard died in 1712, Johann Reinhard III inherited Hanau-Münzenberg. Under his rule, the two sub-counties were united in one hand for the last time. He alternated his residence between the two part of the county. He also succeeded his brother as director of the
Wetterau Association of
Imperial Counts.
Culture During the reign of Johann Reinhard II, the County of Hanau prospered culturally: he began building a grand castle in Bischofsheim am hohen Steg (now called
Rheinbischofsheim), which was never completed, and in the Hanau-Lichtenberg of Buchsweiler (now called
Bouxwiller), he created a park and expanded the
castle. In the 1720s, he constructed a hunting lodge in
Pirmasens,
Schloss Pirmasens. Between 1730 and 1736 he rebuilt the
Hanauer Hof (or
Hôtel de Hanau) in Strasbourg, which had been the city residence of the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg since 1573. This building now serves as Strasbourg's city hall. After he took office in Hanau-Münzenberg 1712, he completed the construction of the
Schloss Philippsruhe, just outside the Hanau city gate, and the Philippsruhe Avenue, including the Heller bridge. He also created Chestnut Avenue and the Pheasant Park (at the later Wilhelmsbad) and completed construction of the stables of the
City Palace in Hanau (later Hanau's city hall; today the "Congress Park Hanau"), which Philipp Reinhard had started. Behind the city palace, the city wall was breached in order to obtain a direct access to the Turkish style gardens behind it. In 1727, he extended the St. John's Church in Hanau, in which the counts of Hanau were buried. He built
Lutheran churches in Windecken,
Steinau an der Straße, Nauheim (now called:
Bad Nauheim), Kesselstadt and Rodheim (the "Reinhard Church") and Lutheran schools in many towns in the county of Hanau-Münzenberg. The reason for this was that Hanau-Münzenberg has adopted
Calvinism during the
Reformation, but had been ruled since 1643 by the Lutheran counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg. By the early 18th century, the contrast between the two main Protestant variants had mitigated to the extent that this building policy was now acceptable for the Calvinist majority of the population. In his capital city of Hanau, street lighting was introduced. The Frankfurt Gate was torn down and rebuilt in a
Baroque style, and the same was done to the Hanau's city hall. Personally, Count Johann Reinhard III lived rather modestly, which enabled him to finance his construction projects.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe reported, in his
Dichtung und Wahrheit (Chapter 10) on a visit to Buchsweiler at the end of the 18th century: "Above all else, the name of the last Count, Reinhard of Hanau, was held in high esteem here and in the rest of this little country. His great intellect and ability in all his actions came to the fore, and many beautiful monument remain of his existence. Such men have the advantage of being double benefactors, for the present, which they delight, and also for the future, whose sense and courage they nurture and sustain." == Inheritance ==