Offenbach am Main

From World travel guide

Template:Infobox German Location Offenbach am Main is a city in Hesse, Germany, located on southside of the river Main. In 2006 it had a population of 116,923. The city is part of the Rhein-Main metropolitan area.

Bieber´s observation tower.

Offenbach was a center of the leather industry, which has however declined in the last decades. It is still the seat of the Deutsches Leder Museum (German Leather Museum), and also of the international leather fair. It is also the seat of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (German weather service). It is also home to the soccer club "Kickers Offenbach" and their stadium "Bieberer Berg".

Offenbach is part of the S-Bahn Rhein-Main-System with six S-Bahn stations: Offenbach-Kaiserlei, Offenbach-Ledermuseum, Offenbach-Marktplatz, Offenbach-Ost, Offenbach-Bieber, Bieber-Waldhof.

1 History
2 Incorporations
3 Economy
4 Main sights
- 4.1 Edifices
- 4.2 Museums
5 Population history
6 Mayors of Offenbach from 1824
7 People
8 Twinned cities
9 References
10 External links

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History

The first documented reference to Offenbach appears in 977. In 1486 the Isenburg Family took control of city, and 1556 Count Reinhard of Isenburg relocated his Residence to Offenbach, building a palace which was completed in 1559. It was destroyed by fire in 1564 and rebuilt in 1578.

In the mid 1600s Offenbach passed into the possession of the Landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt who ruled it until 1815 when the Congress of Vienna gave the city to the Austrian Emperor, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. A year later it was returned to the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. The city was ruled by Grand Dukes of Hesse and by Rhine until the monarchy was abolished in 1918.

During the Second World War a third of the city was destroyed by Allied bombing which claimed 467 lives.

With the new district Lauterborn the city was expanded to south in the 1960s.

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Incorporations

There following municipalities were incorporated into Offenbach:

Year	Town	Area
1908	Bürgel	-
April 1 1938	Bieber	-
April 4 1942	Rumpenheim	-

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Economy

thumb|HfG Offenbach Until the early 1970s Offenbach was dominated by the machine-building and leather industries. The city hosts the German Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies to this day.

Offenbach was also the European center of typography, with Gebr. Klingspor and Linotype (inventors of Optima or Palatino typeface) moving to nearby Eschborn in the 1970s and MAN Roland printing machines still a major employer today. Typography and design still remain importants with a cluster of graphic design and industrial design companies, as well as the universitary level HfG Offenbach design school and the Klingspor Museum.

In recent years Offenbach has become a popular location for a wide array of services, especially from the transport sectors. Offenbach host to the European headquarters of Honda, Hyundai Motors and Kumho Tires.<ref>http://www.kumhoasiana.co.kr/kumho_en/servlet/html?pgm_id=KUMHO000047</ref>

Isenburg Palace in Offenbach.

Büsingpalais.

French-reformated church and 120-meter high "City-Tower".

Football stadium Bieberer Berg.

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Main sights

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Edifices

Isenburg Palace, typical Renaissance building from 1576, now used by the Offenbach Design University
Büsingpalais.
Rumpenheim Castle.
French Protestant Church and French Protestant Community.
Westend Quarter (19th century).
Several art deco apartment houses.
Former Synagogue "Capitol" (now a concert hall).
Buildings by early 20th century architect Hugo Eberhardt: "Heyne" Factory, main building of the Design University , AOK Insurance building.
Prefabricated houses by Egon Eiermann in Lauterborn
Soccer-stadium "Stadion Bieberer Berg".

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Museums

German Leather Museum
Klingspor Museum, museum of typography and calligraphy
Haus der Stadtgeschichte, municipal historical museum

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Population history

Year	Population
1540	480
1680	around 600
1790	around 6,000
1834	9,433
1871	22,699
1890	35,064
1900	50,508
1910	75,583
June 16, 1925	79,362
June 16, 1933	81,329
May 17, 1939 ¹	87,052
September 13 1950 ¹	89,019
August 18 1954	100,000
June 6 1961 ¹	116,200
May 27 1970 ¹	117,306
June 30 1975	116,400
June 30 1980	111,200
June 20 1985	107,200
May 27 1987 ¹	111,386
June 30 1997	116,600