Alsfeld encircles!District town of Alsfeld

Following the so-called “Confederation of the Rhine Act” (Rheinbundakte) in 1806, the new Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt was divided into three provinces: Starkenburg, Rhenish Hesse, and Upper Hesse, to which Alsfeld belonged. The seat of government was Gießen. A decisive factor in the development of a “modern” state system was the separation of administration and the judiciary. To this end, separate district administration districts (Landratsbezirke) and district court districts (Landgerichtsbezirke) were created in 1821, including Schotten, Grünberg, Kirtorf, and Romrod in this region.

The latter consisted of the Felda court, Storndorf, and the noble court of Kestrich, as well as Leusel, Zell, and the district of Alsfeld (including the Grebenau district and the Schwarz court). While the district court remained in Alsfeld, Romrod initially became the seat of the district administrator, before it was moved here in May 1829 following fierce and persistent intervention from Alsfeld. The seat of the district administrator was the so-called “Schwarz residence,” a house located directly next to the Minnigerode House in Rittergasse, complete with a courtyard, garden, and several outbuildings.

In 1832, larger administrative units called “counties” (Kreise), headed by a “county councilor” (Kreisrath), were established. The two administrative districts of Alsfeld and Kirtorf were merged into the County of Alsfeld, which comprised 72 settlements. In 1836, the seat of the Grand Ducal County Council was moved to a newly constructed building on Hersfelder Straße, and the “Old City School” moved into the “Schwarz residence.” (MNic)