Michelstadt in the Odenwald is a town in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in southern Hesse, Germany between Darmstadt and Heidelberg. Michelstadt is the biggest town in the Odenwaldkreis and borders on the district seat of Erbach.
The building of the railway line and its completion through to Darmstadt in 1870 and then Eberbach in 1881 brought Michelstadt a sharp economic upswing. Out of what was once a little town of gentlemen farmers with all its craftsmen and tradesmen grew a sizeable community with important industrial operations on the foundation of the centuries-old ironworking. A new economic era began. From the clothweavers’ and dyers’ guild grew a cloth factory; from foundries grew machine factories. Ivory carving was a starting point for businesses in the souvenir industry and plastics processing. In 2007, a decision to merge the town with the neighbouring town of Erbach was thwarted by a civic vote.
Michelstadt has a picturesque Old Town with many timber-frame houses. Particularly worthy of mention are the following buildings, some within the old town, others in the outlying woods: The Historic Town Hall, the Diebsturm (“Thief’s Tower”) at the town wall, the Kellereihof (a Frankish, early mediaeval castle complex refurbished in an early Renaissance style) in the Michelstadt town wall ring, the Late Gothic town church (late 13th century), the Einhards-Basilika, the palace of the Counts at Erbach-Fürstenau (Schloss Fürstenau, within which are parts of an old moated castle in Michelstadt-Steinbach), the Eulbach hunting palace with an “English” park, the Roman bath and castra as part of the Neckar-Odenwald-Limes.
Michelstadt’s timber-frame town hall, which has been immortalized on a Deutsche Post stamp and is known throughout the world, was built in 1484 in the Late Gothic style and later remodelled inside many times; from 1743 to 1903 it was covered in shakes. The town hall’s main floor served from the beginning as a market hall, and was built using jettying. The back (east) wall was originally part of the graveyard wall, upon which the ground floor’s upper bressumer was laid. To this day it is unknown who the master builder was, although it is assumed that the driving force behind the project could have been Schenk Adolar von Erbach and Bishop Johann von Dalberg (his adviser).
