Elz, Hesse
Elz is a community in Limburg-Weilburg district in western Hesse, Germany, on the boundary with Rhineland-Palatinate. Geography. Location. Elz lies at an elevation of 110 to 291 m north of the Lahn in the Limburg Basin with the municipal area reaching into the heights on its western edge and thereby into the area of the Lower Westerwald ("Elzer Wald"). From north to south the municipal area is crossed by the flat-bottomed Elbbach valley, whose resident stream rises in the High Westerwald and flows south from Elz, emptying into the Lahn. Geology. The Elbbach's broad  lower reaches follow a tectonically created fault ("Elzer Graben") which stretches northwards into the community of Dornburg. The Devonian bedrock here is, especially west of the Elbbach, overlain with thick sedimentary fill from the Tertiary (clays, sands, gravels) of which especially the quartz sand has afforded the region some economic importance. Overlying these in turn are layers of Ice Age loess deposits, which have laid the basis for fruitful agriculture. Neighbouring communities. Elz borders in the north on the community of Hundsangen (in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate) and the town of Hadamar, in the east and south on the  town of Limburg (both in Limburg-Weilburg), and in the west on the communities of Hambach (in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate), Görgeshausen, Niedererbach and Obererbach (all three in the Westerwaldkreis). Constituent communities. Elz's "Ortsteile" are, with population figures as at 31 December 2007, Elz (7,949) and Malmeneich (344). All together, the community has 8,293 inhabitants. Elz's main centre, also called Elz, is, after Limburg an der Lahn's main centre the second biggest place in Limburg-Weilburg. Climate. The yearly average temperature in Elz is 8.5 °C and in Malmeneich 7.9 °C. The  average yearly precipitation ranges from 600 to 650 mm in Elz and in Malmeneich is 720 mm. Spring's onset falls on average in Elz sometime between 29 April and 5 May. History. The placename presumably springs from the alder ("Erle" in German). Elz crops up for the first time in the 933 Wiltrud document, now no longer in existence. The oldest existing document comes from the year 1145. The village on the important "strata publica", or "Hohe Straße" ("High Road") between Frankfurt am Main and Cologne was in the Middle Ages at first under royal rule. Later the property  passed to the Electorate of Trier. The outlying countryside, however, belonged to the Counts of Nassau, which led to centuries-long border disputes. On 1 September 1442, Elz was granted town rights by King Friedrich IV. The document attesting this, which guaranteed the Elz townsmen in the Late Middle Ages their freedom was effected by Archbishop of Trier Jacob I of Sierck. The original document has been lost, but in the "Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz", three authenticated copies from 1442 and 1443 are kept (Bestand 1 A, Nr. ). The town fortification that was soon built was later torn down by the Counts  of Nassau. Complicated ownership relationships led to further disputes between the Landgraves of Hesse, the Electorate of Trier and Nassau. With Secularization in 1802, Trier's overlordship ended and Elz passed to the Principality of Nassau-Weilburg. From 1806 it belonged to the Duchy of Nassau. In 1866 it passed to Prussia. Religion. History. Until the 13th century, Elz belonged with some 20 other places to the parish of Dietkirchen, which with its Romanesque basilica was widely known throughout the Lahn valley. According to information handed down, Elz was already an autonomous parish beginning in 1234. Before the current parish  church of "Sankt Johannes der Täufer" ("Saint John the Baptist"), which to a considerable extent shapes the village's appearance, a smaller church stood on the same spot, whose exact dimensions and appearance are only vaguely known. References can be found to a Romanesque building with a length of roughly 13.5 m and a breadth of 9.3 m. The graveyard, now lying west of the church, lay at that time around the old parish church. Current parish church. The foundation stones were laid on 27 June 1852, on the occasion of which a celebratory Mass by Bishop Peter Josef Blum  and Vicar-General Klein was said. A stone plaque with the year 1852 over the sandstone architrave block facing Pfortenstraße still witnesses this event. After about two years, the church, albeit still without a steeple, could be consecrated by Bishop Blum on 19 November 1854. In the altar are found relics of the martyrs Boniface, Clement and Blandinia. The church consecration festival was set at that time to the first Sunday after the autumn Ember days (these being the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in the week after Holy Cross Day on 14 September). Since the German Bishops' Conference in 1872  moved the festival, the third Sunday in September has been set as the deadline for the kermis. On 22 April 1908, the church executive and community council approved the building of a new tower. Its height is 48 m, and since 8 December 1952 it has been fitted with a set of four bells. Politics. Community council. The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results: Council consists of 9 members. The mayor who currently holds office, Horst Kaiser (CDU) was elected on 25 September 2005 with 84.8% of the vote. Culture and sightseeing. Local recreation area . The local recreation area "Anlagen" lies not far from the middle of the community, north of the parish church on a bank towards Malmeneich. After the decision to build a chapel on this bank was overturned, this area came into being in 1911 in the form of a little wood. The name "Anlagen" ("facilities" or "sites" in German) was in the beginning only meant to be the working name, but it so strongly worked its way into the inhabitants’ everyday speech that it stuck, and is still used as the area's name today. The "Anlagen" nowadays offer, besides the  structuredly laid-out tree learning path, a miniature golf course and a playground. The Elz Beautification Club ("Elzer Verschönerungsverein") has been taking care of the recreation area since 1913. Economy and infrastructure. The community is home to more than 600 businesses with well over 2,000 jobs. A commercial park can be found on "Bundesstraße" 8 towards the outlying centre of Malmeneich. Road transport. The community is also known countrywide for its "Elzer Berg" (mountain) on the notable drop in elevation from the Lower Westerwald into the Limburg Basin. This long sloped stretch of roadway on the A 3 (Cologne–Frankfurt ) near kilometre 100 going towards Frankfurt is a notorious accident black spot. The speed limit of 100 km/h for passenger cars and 40 km/h for trucks has watch kept over it by stationary speed measuring apparatus. Through Elz runs Bundesstraße 8, on its way from the Dutch border to Passau. As traffic regularly backs up here, the plan for the long-distance federal roads has identified a bypass for Elz as an urgent need; the price for such work will be €12,600,000. Rail transport. Elz has two railway stations: near the middle of the community is found  Elz station on the Upper Westerwald Railway ("Oberwesterwaldbahn") to Limburg and Au (Sieg). From the regional station at Limburg, the cities of Gießen, Koblenz, Frankfurt am Main and Wiesbaden may be reached directly. Furthermore, Elz is linked to the Limburg-Staffel–Siershahn line (Lower Westerwald Railway, "Unterwesterwaldbahn") through a halt, Elz Süd. The nearest InterCityExpress stop is Limburg Süd station on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line. Alternatively, Montabaur station on the same high-speed rail line may be reached on the "Unterwesterwaldbahn". Air transport. It is roughly a 65-km drive to Frankfurt Airport on Bundesautobahn 3. Elz  has its own airport at its disposal which is also home to Flugsportgruppe Elz e. V., a sport flying club. Public facilities. Elz has a big outdoor swimming pool with broad outdoor facilities (table tennis table, volleyball field, basketball nets). Right next to it are found the central sporting ground and the tennis courts. The community also offers three sport halls: the "Vereinsturnhalle" ("club gymnasium"), the Süd-Schule Elz gymnasium (school) and since 30 May 2008 the "Erlenbachhalle", a two-field sport hall belonging to the "Erlenbachschule" (school) on Hadamarer Straße. There are two homes for the elderly in Elz  that look after elderly residents and those in need of care. Education. Elz has at its disposal three kindergartens, St. Martin, Unterm Regenbogen and Lollipop, the primary school Oranienschule (formerly known as Grundschule Elz Süd), and also the Erlenbachschule, which functions as a primary school, a Hauptschule and a Realschule.