Bühl (Baden)

Bühl

Coat of arms
Bühl

Coordinates: 48°41′43″N 8°8′6″E / 48.69528°N 8.13500°E / 48.69528; 8.13500Coordinates: 48°41′43″N 8°8′6″E / 48.69528°N 8.13500°E / 48.69528; 8.13500
Country Germany
State Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region Karlsruhe
District Rastatt
Government
  Mayor Hubert Schnurr (FW)
Area
  Total 73.21 km2 (28.27 sq mi)
Population (2015-12-31)[1]
  Total 28,882
  Density 390/km2 (1,000/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 77801–77815
Dialling codes 07223
Vehicle registration RA, BH
Website www.buehl.de

The city of Bühl is part of the district of Rastatt in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It has a history reaching back to the twelfth century and was formerly an agricultural town, especially famous for its plums. Bühl has a population of about 29,000, and is in the region between the Rhine Valley and the Black Forest.

Today it is mainly an industrial town, especially in the car manufacturing supply industry. Yet it still has preserved its character and is also renowned for its good restaurants.

Bühl is a town in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 10 km (6.2 mi) South of Baden-Baden. Bühl is the third largest town in Rastatt County (Landkreis), after Rastatt itself and Gaggenau. Due to its location, size and importance it has become a central place for numerous towns, townships and villages in the neighbourhood. Bühl was proclaimed a major district town (Große Kreisstadt) on 1 January 1973, after it lost its status as an independent county seat during municipal reforms in Baden-Württemberg. Bühl has agreed to form a joint administrative community with the municipality of Ottersweier.

History

Etymology

The word Bühl is derived from Old German "puhil" and Middle German "buhel", meaning "hill". The three yellow hills on blue ground seen on the coat of arms (already displayed in the court seal of Bühl in 1324) confirm this interpretation.
To distinguish Bühl from other towns named Bühl, not only in Germany, but other German-speaking countries like Switzerland and Austria, the town used the denominator Bühl (Baden) or Bühl/Baden, clearly identifying Bühl in the Margravate of Baden (Baden) and later in the Grand Duchy and the State of Baden. With the unification of Baden, Hohenzollern and Württemberg in 1952 forming the state of Baden-Württemberg and later the introduction of postal codes there was no need anymore for the denominator Baden. However, it is still used frequently.

Timeline

Geography

Geographically, Bühl extends from as low as 123 to 1,038 meters (453 – 3,823 feet) above sea level in a three-step panoramic landscape, divided into the Rhine valley, an extended foothill zone, and the mountain range of the Black Forest, the latter with a panoramic view across the Rhine Valley into the neighbouring Alsace and to the Vosges in France. The lower flat part is mainly used for agriculture, the hilly zone is dominated by wine and fruit plantations, and the mountain forests are used for lumber. Bühl is located on both sides of the Büllot/Bühlot, a creek originating in the Northern Black Forest, which is renamed Sandbach after it has passed the town of Bühl on its way to the River Rhine.

Neighboring communities

The following towns and municipalities border the town of Bühl starting clockwise in the North. Baden-Baden (district town), Forbach, Lauf (Ortenau County), Ottersweier, Lichtenau, Rheinmünster and Sinzheim, all of them Rastatt County. The town of Bühlertal is completely surrounded by Bühl, forming an inclusion or enclave in the eastern part of the town of Bühl.

Municipal division

The area of the town of Bühl is divided into downtown Bühl and the suburbs of Altschweier, Balzhofen, Eisental, Kappelwindeck, Moos, Neusatz, Oberbruch, Oberweier, Vimbuch and Weitenung. Except for Kappelwindeck, the aforementioned villages became an integral part of town of Bühl during the municipal reforms in the early 1970s. These townships are subordinated to the town of Bühl, each with its own administrative head, called Ortsvorsteher. Bühl and Kappelwindeck were already united in 1934 forming the town of Bühl, with Kappelwindeck about half the population of Bühl at that time. Some of these villages are the result of municipal reforms over the past centuries forming bigger municipalities from even smaller villages or hamlets prior to the reforms between 1971 and 1973. In many cases the names of these smaller villages, hamlets or estates–farms still exist, in some cases within defined areas, in some cases only known by their former names within undefined areas, nowadays residential areas. Balzhofen was formed by Henchhurst and Balzhofen, Eisental by the villages and/or hamlocks of Affental, Eisental, Horrenbach and Müllenbach, Neusatz by Bach, Fischerhöfe, Gebersberg, Kirchbühl, Neusatz, Neusatzeck, Waldsteg, Waldmatt and Wörth, Kappelwindeck by Brombach, Einsel/Einsiedel, Gucken, Kappel, Riegel, Hohbaum and Rittersbach, Weitenung by Elzhofen, Ottenhofen, Weitenung, and Witstung. Former estates such as Schlosshotel Bühlerhöhe, Burg Windeck (Windeck Castle), Kurhaus Sand, Schugshof, and Schweighof complete the list of names.

Villages

Besides the main city, there are also several smaller villages that belong to Bühl. Those are:

These formerly autonomous communities were incorporated into the municipality of Bühl little by little:

Population development

Population related to the respective territorial average. These figures are results of population census (¹) or official updates by the respective census bureaus (main domiciles only).

Year Population
1805 1.822
1825 2.142
1846 2.860
1 December 1871 2.383
1 December 1880 ¹ 3.002
1 December 1900 ¹ 3.306
1 December 1910 ¹ 3.640
8 October 1919 ¹ 3.764
1930 4.290
16 June 1933 ¹ 4.400
17 May 1939 ¹ 6.932
Year Population
1946 ¹ 7.049
13 September 1950 ¹ 7.735
6 June 1961 ¹ 9.140
27 May 1970 ¹ 10.013
31 December 1975 21.596
31 December 1980 22.307
27 May 1987 ¹ 23.246
31 December 1990 24.667
31 December 1995 27.088
31 December 2000 28.690
31 December 2005 29.476
1 June 2010 29.593

¹ result of population census

Infrastructure

Bühl is designated a "Mittelzentrum" (literally "middle centre") town, which mainly determines its infrastructural capabilities, such as the diversity of schools, hospitals, transportation systems, courthouse, notaries, shopping malls, etc. The serviced region of Bühl includes the municipalities of Bühlertal, Lichtenau, Ottersweier, Rheinmünster, interlaced with municipalities in the Northern Alsace. The whole area is part of Karlsruhe.

Twinned towns

Bühl has twin cities in France: Villefranche-sur-Saône (1987), Moldova: Călăraşi, Moldova (1990), Germany, Saxony: Schkeuditz (1991), Spain: Vilafranca del Penedès (2001), Italy: Cantù

Sons and daughters of the city

Alban Stolz

References

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