Erzhausen

Erzhausen
Erzhausen
Location of Erzhausen within Darmstadt-Dieburg district
Coordinates	49°57′N 8°38′E
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Darmstadt
District	Darmstadt-Dieburg
Mayor	Hans-Dieter Karl (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area	7.4 km2 (2.9 sq mi)
Elevation	112 m  (367 ft)
Population	7,479 (31 December 2010)
- Density	1,011 /km2 (2,618 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	DA
Postal code	64390
Area code	06150
Website	www.erzhausen.de

Erzhausen train station building, now a public library (the railway station itself is still active).

Fields south of Erzhausen, showing a typical South-Hesse countryside during autumn.

Erzhausen is a village in southern Hesse, Germany. It is part of the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg. It has about 7.000 inhabitants.

History

Settlement in the area dates back to about 1500 B.C., as shown by several cairn burial sites found some kilometres west of the town.

The settlement itself is mentioned in documents from 900 A.D. onward under various names like 'Erardishusen', 'Erhartzhausen', 'Ebrichshusen' or 'Erndeshusen'. The oldest document of the Lorsch codex names it as 'Erhartshausen' ('Houses of Erhart').

After remaining a mostly unimportant farming village until the early 20th century, it grew strongly after the railway line from Frankfurt to Darmstadt was built several kilometers to the east of it. The habitation spread out towards it, and workers employed in the nearby cities (which could now be reached a lot easier) settled here.

Today, it is still mostly a residential village, with some commerce and office activities. There is a small seminary of the German Pentecostalism movement situated in the town.^{[citation needed]}