1715

Hat for a postillon of the Deutsche Reichspost, around 1890

In Alsfeld the post is off!Alsfeld becomes post station of the stagecoach from Frankfurt to Eisenach

When written documents were still being transmitted over long distances by messengers on horseback or stagecoaches, functioning intermediate stations were of great importance. The clients – usually the authorities – expected punctuality and, above all, reliability.

It is known of Landgrave Philipp that he set up a “relay post” to his Kassel residence in 1541 on the occasion of his participation in the religious discussion in Regensburg.

Information between the state government and the cities was also based on messenger services in the 16th century. The first long-distance connection by stagecoach was organized by the von Taxis family on the Vienna-Brussels route.

In the 17th century, routes were extended throughout Hesse. As early as 1690, Alsfeld was also given a station on the Frankfurt-Leipzig route. With the treaty of 1715 between the Hessian landgrave Ernst Ludwig and Saxony-Weimar, a “Hessian-Saxonian collective wagon course” is then agreed upon, which leads via Alsfeld on the way from Frankfurt to Eisenach and provides for a postal station here. The postmaster was Hans Jakob Ramspeck.

From 1770 this function passed to the Knierim family. The post office building was located at Obergasse 14 until 1885. NH