Town’s founding On 1 January 1977, in the course of municipal reform in Hesse, the greater community of Rodgau came into being as the communities of Weiskirchen, Hainhausen, Jügesheim, Dudenhofen and Nieder-Roden, along with the settlement of Rollwald belonging to Nieder-Roden were amalgamated. The greater community was granted town rights on 15 September 1979. The old cropfield name
Rodgau, like
Bachgau and
Kinziggau belonging to the
Maingau, gave the town its name. The original communities have been in existence for hundreds of years. Today (as at 31 December 2007), Rodgau has 45,236 inhabitants (including 2,035 whose main residence is elsewhere), of whom 22,120 are male and 23,116 female. Foreigners from 52 different nations account for 4,471 inhabitants (9.9%). Those who have lived in Rodgau longer than ten years account for 64.6% of the population.
Weiskirchen Around Saint Peter's Church (
Peterskirche) arose the settlement of
Wichenkirchen (or
Wizzinkirchin) in
Frankish times as a Thorpe (one-street village). It had its first documentary mention in 1287 in the
Seligenstadt Monastery's accord with the Auheimer Mark. Weiskirchen was at this time Mother Church to the villages of Jügesheim, Hainhausen and
Rembrücken. The first landlords, the Lords of Hagenhausen – later of
Eppstein – sold the
Amt of Steinheim in 1425 along with Weiskirchen, a village belonging to it, to the Archbishop and Elector of
Mainz, to whom the village belonged until 1803. With this, Weiskirchen formed an ecclesiastical and economic hub in the Rodgau. When the Auheimer Mark (a communally held parcel of land to which belonged several villages) was divided up in 1786, Weiskirchen received a share of the forest. After
Secularization in 1803, the
Amt of Steinheim along with Weiskirchen passed to Hesse. In 1896 the
Rodgaubahn (
railway) with a
railway station in Weiskirchen opened. In the course of the 19th century, Weiskirchen shifted from a farming village to a worker's community. Of the once well known village with its
timber-frame houses very little is left. During
National Socialist times, the small Jewish community was driven out. In March 2005, the small, restored former synagogue was ceremoniously reopened as a memorial. Since 1967, the
Weiskirchen transmitter, a
medium-wave transmitter owned by
Hessischer Rundfunk, has been in operation on Weiskirchen's northwestern outskirts on a frequency of 594
kHz although this has now been dismantled.
Population development In 1576, Weiskirchen had 37 households. In 1681, 111 inhabitants lived in 26 households. In 1834, 655 people lived in the village. A century later, in 1939, that figure had risen to 1,740. By 1970, the population had risen to 4,840 inhabitants. In late 2007, the constituent community had 6,115 inhabitants.
Hainhausen As early as 1108, Rodgau's smallest constituent community (with a population today of roughly 3,800) had a documentary mention as the location of a moated castle belonging to the Lords of Hagenhausen, in which it was named as
Haginhusen. Remains of this castle still lie under a meadow near the Rodau on today's Burgstraße (road). The Hagenhausen noble family, who after moving to the
Taunus began styling themselves the Lords of Eppstein, and writing many a page in
mediaeval German history, found themselves holding great importance and power from the 13th century onwards. Four Archbishops of Mainz alone were installed by the Eppsteins. Hainhausen, though, did not benefit from the former lords’ descendants’ lordliness. In 1425, the
Lords of Eppstein sold the
Amt of Steinheim along with Hainhausen to the Archbishop and Elector of
Mainz. Its low point came, as it did for all the surrounding villages too, in the
Thirty Years' War, at which time the
Plague also raged among the population. The survivors besought the patron saint of Plague sufferers,
Saint Roch for help. The end of the deadly epidemic is still celebrated today every year on 16 August with a procession, whose destination was originally the Rochus-Kapelle (“Saint Roch’s Chapel”), consecrated in 1692. Nowadays, though, the newer Rochus-Kirche (“Saint Roch’s Church”), standing at a different site in the heart of the community, serves as the procession's endpoint, and has since the late 19th century. Saint Roch's Church houses as an art history treasure a
pietà from the mid 14th century which depicts in sculpture
Mary and
Jesus after he has been taken down from the
Cross. After
Secularization in 1803, Hainhausen passed to Hesse.
Population development In 1681, 101 inhabitants lived in 18 households. In 1834, there were 341 inhabitants in Hainhausen. In 1939, this had risen to 835 inhabitants. In 1970, Hainhausen had 2,051 inhabitants. In late 2007 the constituent community had 3,820 inhabitants.
Jügesheim Founded as a clump village, today's constituent community had its first documentary mention in 1261 under the name
Guginsheim. One of
Charlemagne’s
Vögte (singular:
Vogt) named Gugin or Guginhart was supposedly the namesake. Other forms of the name used over the course of the
Middle Ages were
Gugesheym,
Gogeßheym,
Goginsheym, and
Gugesheim. In the local speech, Jügesheim is sometimes still called
Giesem today. Jügesheim was founded in
Frankish times, or more particularly in
Merovingian times (between 481 and 560). Near the old
Roman roads in the Maingau woods, which crossed near Jügesheim, the
Franks built new military colonies to control the land. In the
Middle Ages, the surrounding woodlands belonged to the Wildbann Dreieich, a royal hunting forest, one of whose 30
Wildhuben (special estates whose owners were charged with guarding the hunting forest) was maintained in Jügesheim. In 1425, the
Lords of Eppstein sold the
Amt of Steinheim along with Jügesheim to the Archbishop and Elector of
Mainz. The
Thirty Years' War took a heavy toll on the community, which at that time was part of the Rödermark (communal lands). The place only recovered in the 17th century. In the 20th century it established a leather industry with many workers working leather at home. Besides this there were of course many farming households. After
Secularization in 1803, Jügesheim passed to Hesse. In 1896 the
Rodgaubahn (
railway) with a
railway station in Jügesheim opened. In the mid-1970s, a commercial area was laid out, which over the years that followed further grew. The new Town Hall made Jügesheim into a centre of Rodgau. Today Rodgau's second biggest constituent community has some 11,700 inhabitants. North of the constituent community between Hainhausen and Jügesheim is found the 43.5 m-tall watertower built in the years from 1936 to 1938. It was in use until 1979, and is now under monumental protection. It has become a kind of landmark for Jügesheim, and indeed for all Rodgau.
Population development In 1576 Jügesheim had 36 households. In 1681, 121 persons lived in only 26 households. In 1834, the village had 1,071 inhabitants. In the 20th century this rose to 3,174 in 1939, and to 7,673 in 1970. In late 2007 the constituent community had 11,855 inhabitants.
Dudenhofen church Dudenhofen was founded in the second wave of
Frankish settlement, after the time of the partition of the empire in 561. The place was founded at a newly built road junction in an expanded road network, at the expense of the former hub at Jügesheim. The placename relates to a personal name
Tuoto or
Dodo. Dudenhofen had its first documentary mention in 1278 in an accord from Archbishop Werner von Eppstein of
Mainz with the
Lords of Eppstein. The village long belonged to various owners at the same time (the Lords of Falkenstein,
Hanau, Isenburg and
Electoral Mainz), the odd part was bequeathed, others were traded or mortgaged (complete with inhabitants). Between 1450 and 1736, Dudenhofen belonged to the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg and was assigned to the
Amt of Babenhausen, thereby making the place as of 1550 an
Evangelical enclave surrounded by
Catholic neighbours. The Counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg died out in 1736, whereupon Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Kassel found themselves at odds over the village. In 1771, Dudenhofen was annexed by the County of Hesse-Kassel. Above the main entrance to the
Baroque Evangelical church is therefore found Hesse-Kassel's
coat of arms. Underneath the arms is the inscription
Was unter Hessens Lust Erbprinz Wilhelm gebaut, sei Dir, o wahrer Gott, zur Pflege nun vertraut (“That built under Hesse’s desire Hereditary Prince William, be it trusted unto Thee, O true God, for its care”). Meant here is
William IX. In 1807, the
Amt of Babenhausen along with Dudenhofen passed to
French administration. In 1811, Dudenhofen was absorbed into the
Grand Duchy of Hesse. In 1896 the
Rodgaubahn (
railway) with a
railway station in Dudenhofen opened. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many young men emigrated to the
Americas to seek their fortune. Today,
agriculture, except for
asparagus growing, plays no further rôle.
Population development In the
Thirty Years' War, the village's population suffered great losses. In 1622 alone, 155 of the 430 inhabitants lost their lives. In 1631 the
Plague claimed 104 victims. Only 26 inhabitants lived to see the war end. In 1681, Dudenhofen had 38 households and 139 inhabitants. In 1834 there were 1,139 people in the village, almost all
Evangelical but for one long established Jewish family, the Reinhardt family, that was driven out of the village in 1938 shortly after
Kristallnacht. In 1939 there were 2,120 inhabitants and in 1970, 4,628. In late 2007 the constituent community had 7,967 inhabitants.
Nieder-Roden The centre that is now Rodgau's biggest constituent community had its first documentary mention as early as 786 when the
Rotaha Monastery was bequeathed to the
Lorsch Abbey. The name might go back to the
Siedlung auf einer gerodeten Aue (“Settlement on a cleared floodplain”), but it is also likely that it comes from the Rodau, which runs through the community, and which rises in
Rotliegend near Urberach. During floods, it was once known to run red (
rot in
German). Whereabouts the monastery lay is to this day unknown. Finds, however, confirm that people were settling in what is now Nieder-Roden long before the Christian Era. In the
Middle Ages, the surrounding woodlands belonged to the Wildbann Dreieich, a royal hunting forest, one of whose 30
Wildhuben (special estates whose owners were charged with guarding the hunting forest) was maintained in Nieder-Roden. Nieder-Roden had another documentary mention in 791 when the
Frankish nobleman Erlulf donated all his holdings in Nieder-Roden (
rotahen inferiore), Ober-Roden (
rotahen superiore) and Bieber to the
Lorsch Abbey. In 1346 the village became an independent parish, although in the years that followed it still remained in a certain dependency relationship with its former mother parish of Ober-Roden. Formerly an Eppstein holding, the place belonged from 1425 to 1803 to the
Archbishopric of Mainz and enjoyed great importance as the centre of a tithing area and the seat of a tithe court. In 1803, the village, as part of the
Amtsvogtei of Dieburg, ended up with the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, the later
Grand Duchy of Hesse. When the Rödermark (a communally held parcel of land to which belonged several villages) was divided up in 1818, Nieder-Roden received a share of the forest. In 1832, Nieder-Roden passed to the Offenbach district. From 1874 to 1977, the community was in the Dieburg district. In 1896 the
Rodgaubahn (
railway) with a
railway station in Nieder-Roden opened. In the
Second World War, during the
National Socialist régime, there arose a penal and prison camp, the
Lager Rollwald (“Rollwald Camp”) on the land now occupied by the Rollwald community. After the war, Nieder-Roden grew, especially in the 1960s and 1970s from 2,500 inhabitants to now almost 16,000. In the course of district reform in Hesse in 1977, the community was transferred from the Dieburg district to the Offenbach district, to which the town of Rodgau also belongs.
Population development In 1576 there were 66 households. In 1681, 117 people lived in only 29 households. In 1829 Nieder-Roden had 787 inhabitants. In 1939, this had risen to 3,616 and by 1970 the number had reached 11,033. In late 2007 the constituent community had 15,479 inhabitants. == Politics ==