Solms | |
Solms
|
|
Location of the town of Solms within Lahn-Dill-Kreis district
|
|
---|---|
Coordinates | |
Administration | |
Country | Germany |
State | Hesse |
Admin. region | Gießen |
District | Lahn-Dill-Kreis |
Mayor | Jörg Ludwig (FWG) |
Basic statistics | |
Area | 34.05 km2 (13.15 sq mi) |
Elevation | 144 m (472 ft) |
Population | 13,408 (31 December 2010)[1] |
- Density | 394 /km2 (1,020 /sq mi) |
Other information | |
Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
Licence plate | LDK |
Postal code | 35606 |
Area code | 06442 |
Website | www.solms.de |
County of Solms Grafschaft Solms |
||||
State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||
|
||||
Capital | Solms | |||
Government | Principality | |||
Historical era | Middle Ages | |||
- Established | 1129 | |||
- Partitioned to S-Braunfels and S-Burg-Solms |
1258 1258 |
|||
Full style: Count of Solms, Lord of Münzenberg, Wildenfels and Sonnenwalde |
County of Solms: Town of Solms Grafschaft Solms-Burg-Solms |
||||
State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||
|
||||
Capital | Solms | |||
Government | Principality | |||
Historical era | Middle Ages | |||
- Partitioned from Solms | 1258 | |||
- Annexed to S-Braunfels | 1415 |
Solms is a town west of Wetzlar in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Hesse, Germany.
In the constituent community of Burgsolms once stood the ancestral castle of the Counts and Princes of Solms, whose main lines were Solms-Braunfels, with their seat in Braunfels, and Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, with their seat in Lich.
Contents |
Solms lies right in the Lahn valley and is nestled between the foothills of both the Taunus and Westerwald at heights from 140 to 400 m above sea level. It is about 7 km west of Wetzlar and 30 km northeast of Limburg an der Lahn.
Solms borders in the north on the community of Ehringshausen and the town of Aßlar, in the east on the town of Wetzlar, in the south on the community of Schöffengrund, and in the west on the town of Leun (all in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis).
The town consists of the following centres:
Solms had its first documentary mention in 788 in a donation document from the Lorsch Monastery. The villages that nowadays form the town of Solms belonged for centuries to the County of Solms, until this was dissolved in 1806. After a short while being part of the Duchy of Nassau, they passed to Prussia in 1815.
As part of Hesse's municipal reforms, the communities of Albshausen and Oberbiel voluntarily merged on 1 July 1971 to form Bielhausen, while Burgsolms and Oberndorf did the same to form Solms. By state law, these two new communities were amalgamated with Niederbiel on 1 January 1977 to make the new greater community of Solms, which in 1978 was granted town rights.
A new residential area has been being built on the western edge of Oberbiel since the 1990s.
The municipal elections in 2001 yielded the following results:
Party | Seats |
---|---|
Freie Wählergruppe (FWG) | 13 |
Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 11 |
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 8 |
Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 2 |
Greens | 2 |
Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.
Since 2002 there has been a Town of Solms Youth Council serving as the town's official board representing youth's interests and needs. It is elected every two years by children and youths who either live in the town or go to the comprehensive school.
The town of Solms maintains partnerships with the following places:
The town is headquarters to the firm Leica Camera AG which currently employs about 1,300 people worldwide.
Oberbiel is also home to two commercial-industrial areas. A shipping company has set up shop at the newer one, while the older one, on an island in the river Lahn, was established in the early 20th century. It was originally home to a brad factory, a wireworks and a ball bearing factory.
|