Leutershausen city tour

The picturesque little town of Leutershausen lies in the middle of a charming landscape on the upper reaches of the Altmühl. Its origins are thought to date back to the 8th century, when it was still called "villam Liuthereshusun". The first documentary mention of Leutershausen as a market is found in the hunting charter of Emperor Otto III dated May 1, 1000, in which the emperor granted the hunting rights belonging to "villam Liuthereshusun" and Burgbernheim to Bishop Heinrich of Würzburg. In 1318, Leutershausen is first mentioned as a "town" in a deed of sale from the "Counts of Truhendingen" to "Burgrave Friedrich IV von Hohnzollern" in Nuremberg.

The market square with its surrounding half-timbered houses and the tubular fountain in front of the town hall, as well as the preserved parts of the old town wall with the two gate towers, offer a typical Franconian townscape. Leutershausen is located at the intersection of two important old trade routes that connected the Mainland with the Danube region and the imperial city of Nuremberg with the Tauber Valley. The convenient location still applies today to Würzburg, Rothenburg o.T., Dinkelsbühl, Ansbach and Nuremberg. A museum of local history and craftsmen in the district court built in 1624 (former location of the town castle) provides information about the life of the ancestors in this area with impressive exhibits. Another museum in the same building is dedicated to the world's first motorized pilot "Gustav Weißkopf". Today, the town is the center of a large municipality with 49 districts and more than 5000 inhabitants. A large part of the area lies within the Frankenhöhe Nature Park.

1st location : Plan / Museum

We are located "Am Plan" from the Latin "planum" = open space. The town castle used to stand here, which was demolished by Margrave Joachim Ernst in 1623. He built the current district court on the same site in 1624. This served as a granary until 1846, when compulsory tithing was abolished. During the royal Bavarian period, it housed the district court until the end of 1879. In 1902, the town set up a teacher's apartment and a shelter. During the Second World War, it was used as a camp and accommodation for the female labor service. After the war, it housed homeless people. Today it houses city apartments, club rooms and, as already mentioned, the Heimat- und Handwerker- and the Flugpionier-Gustav-Weißkopf-Museum. The town scales and a fountain also used to stand on the site.

2nd walk through the Obere Marktgasse

The Obere, Mittlere and Untere Marktgasse, as well as parts of the old town, were redeveloped in 1988 as part of the urban development and land consolidation program.

3rd location: Corner of Obere Marktgasse / Marktplatz      

This is the birthplace of Henry Kissinger's mother (the former US Secretary of State), and the imposing upper gate marks the boundary of the old town to the north-west. The upper habitable floors were used as the tower keeper's residence. These were inhabited until 1962 when the last tower keeper (Georg Wagner) died. In 1945, the upper part of the tower fell victim to an American air raid. Two of the former three bells were also destroyed. Today there are only two bells left in the so-called "lantern", one original and one bell that was added in 1952. In 1580, the tower was fitted with a striking clock made by master clockmaker Koch from Onaldsbach, now Ansbach, for 180 guilders. This was replaced by an electric clock in 1964. Next to the very steep staircase to the former tower keeper's apartment is a relief of Hans Schreyer, a former town bailiff and blood judge, representative of the lordship for the entire area of the upper Altmühl. He lived from 1541 - 1605.

4th location : Tube fountain

The tubular fountain with its neo-Gothic turret was built in 1852 by King Maximilian II.

5th location: Town hall

A serious fire in 1550 damaged the town hall and many of the surrounding houses. The new building that followed survived the Thirty Years' War and later disputes, but had to be demolished in 1785. The final current building was divided up as follows: On the first floor were the meat and bread benches, on the 1st floor the general dance and banqueting hall, on the 2nd floor the meeting room of the town fathers and also the courtroom. Today, the town hall houses the town administration and the town archives.

6th passage through the upper gate

The so-called Totenzwingerweg was laid out in 1543. This led from the old town to the second cemetery near the Kreuzkirche. The first, laid out around St. Peter's Church, was overcrowded. In 1329, the Old Town was no longer big enough for the inhabitants and the Upper Suburb was created. This is evidenced by the mention of an "Albrecht vor dem Tor".

There were no surnames at that time, but there were local or activity-related additions. After the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), this was extended once again. A third town gate, the new Törlein, is mentioned in 1582. This was located just outside the town, towards Colmberg by the bridge over the new moat. It was destroyed by Tilly's troops in 1632.

7 We continue along the city wall to the passageway in Pfannenstielgasse

The construction of the town wall was completed around 1318. A ring of walls was necessary in the Middle Ages "to raise the town". The town wall is a wall about one meter thick, made of rough stone, which used to have a continuous brick-covered walkway. This is where the watchmen made their rounds and called out the hour. How helpless the rural population must have been - without such fortifications - in the face of looting and pillaging by roving troops.

8 Now we go to St. Peter's Church

There is reason to believe that the first baptized Christians in our area, around the year 1000, were content with a wooden church on the site of today's St. Peter's Church. It was not until 1432 that the church tower and nave began to be built with coarse-grained blown sandstone. The walls are only grouted, but not plastered. The organ loft was added in 1605 and the two side aisles in 1630. A cemetery was laid out around the church in 1542. Due to lightning and wild fires, "the church tower was completely burnt to the ground in 1517, along with the four bells, which even melted and disintegrated". In 1594, the roof of the nave and the entablature and the battens had to be renewed. Later reports also state that in 1643, as a result of a strong thunderstorm and terrible winds, the house of God was in such a state of "penitence" that it was no longer possible to sit in a dry place. It is also reported that on the night of June 5, 1722, a lightning bolt struck the bell rope and killed the 50-year-old sacristan Thomas Röder and the 36-year-old shoemaker Esaias Reich. A sexton's daughter and a shoemaker's apprentice were unharmed, while the sexton's sister was thrown to the ground. Fortunately for the church, because it was a cold flash. The church originally had not just one but "four" altars, which suggests a Catholic history. In the mid-1960s, the last one was replaced by the current altar. The baptismal font is made of reddish Main sandstone. The organ in St. Peter's Church is not the first, but the third organ. The first was built by Martin Schonat (Bamberg) in 1606-1607. The second was built in 1719-1721 by Johann Christoph Crapp. The present organ was delivered by the organ builder G.F. Steinmeyer in Öttingen during the major church renovation in 1877. It is equipped with two manuals, a pedal and 20 stops.

9. the Lower Gate

On the inside, facing the town, a steep staircase leads to the former living quarters where the two night watchmen were housed. Next to the gatehouse is a round tower with a conical roof and a "lantern" like the one on the upper gate. The weather vane bears the date 1970 (last renovation).

The history of the gate :

At the beginning of the Peasants' War in 1525, the inhabitants of Leutershausen moved to Sulz Abbey. At the time, the latter was a home for noble women and daughters of the Franconian landed gentry who, given the abundance of children in families at the time, were to dedicate themselves to the pious service of the church if they did not marry early. The new monastery received many donations and possessed an extensive right of tithe of twenty villages. As it was only run by twelve nuns and a mistress, the Leutershauseners had an easy time of it. They also received support from the episcopal-eichstätt Dombühl, which was in dispute with Sulz over ecclesiastical matters. The nuns and their servants fled to Ansbach under the protection of Margrave Casimir. This left the convent buildings empty and exposed to blind destruction. The plunderers made a rich haul: 50 head of cattle, 22 horses, 60 pigs, 310 sheep and lambs, plus 40 cartloads of hay and straw, feather beds and household utensils. They hid all this behind the walls of the church fortress in Dombühl. Finally, they burned down the church and the monastery. When Margrave Casimir learned of this, he was furious and moved forward with his troops from Ansbach. After an eight-day siege, he conquered the church fortress of Dombühl. The nun preacher, who was in league with the marauders, was brought to Feuchtwangen on Casimir's orders and beheaded on the market square. As punishment, the Lower Tower of Leutershausen was torn down and the town was left to the margrave's troops to plunder for days. Only much later did the Margrave give permission to rebuild it. Today, the lower gate houses the "Rural Museum". The town wall is still well preserved on both sides of the gate.

10. the lower suburb

Construction from 1580

11. the "Gustav Weisskopf Monument"

The monument, erected in 1991, commemorates the great achievements of Gustav Weißkopf, an aviation pioneer born in Leutershausen. He achieved the first powered flight in history on August 14, 1901 in Fairfield, Connecticut, USA, with a self-built flying machine. Almost 2 1/2 years before the Wright brothers' flight! The replica here on the obelisk shows the legendary flying machine "No. 21". Gustav Weißkopf had been at sea and had studied the flight of birds. He decided to stay in the USA. Born in Leutershausen on January 1, 1874, he died of a heart attack at the age of 53. The "Gustav Weißkopf Flight History Research Association", Leutershausen, has set itself the task of researching Weißkopf's life, work and achievements and giving him the recognition he deserves.

Well, we've come to the end of our tour of the city.

This town guide was compiled by Werner Stenzel of the Leutershausen local history association. The data is taken from the Leutershausen local history book or comes from tradition.