1858: Town Hall in the Fürstengarten - the eventful history of the Stadthof
The Stadthof between the town hall and Frankfurter Strasse was redecorated in 2015. In view of the financial circumstances, its appearance did not change fundamentally. As we still see it today, it is still relatively young. You can't tell by looking at it that there is a knot of city history there.
The history of the Stadthof begins in the middle of the 18th century. The town stretches westwards along Frankfurter Strasse. In 1748, the Lutheran church is consecrated, which borders the Stadthof to the east as the "town church". In 1759, after years of absence, the princely Eisenburg court returned from Birstein to Offenbach. However, Prince Wolfgang Ernst II does not choose the uncomfortable old palace on the Main as his residence, but a more comfortable "town house" on Frankfurter Straße, opposite Aliceplatz.
From the windows on the street side, Her Serene Highness looks out onto the "Frankfurter Tor", which closes off the town to the west. It was not demolished until 1768. To the north, a courtyard and garden area extends behind the house. However, this area could only become a town courtyard after 1858, when the town acquired the princely estate in order to establish the mayor's office there. The princely family no longer needed it. They were disempowered in 1816 and the former royal seat of Offenbach now belonged to the Grand Duchy of Hesse.
Until 1921, when the Büsingpalais was acquired, the mayor's office would work in the building at Frankfurter Straße 31. It paid 35,000 guilders for it. It is now officially referred to as the "Stadthaus". The Offenbach coat of arms with the oak tree is emblazoned above the entrance door. On the first floor, the municipal savings bank is on the left and the city treasury on the right. The mayor's office is on the second floor, with the poor relief office at the top. The police station, registration office, building authority, trade office and commercial court are housed in two side buildings.
The fire station with hose tower is built on the north side of the princely garden. The fire department remains there until 1962. The fire department then moves into a new station on Rhönstraße, which is said to be located in the geographical center of the city. The air raid shelter, which was built next to the fire station during the war and from which relief and rescue operations were controlled during and after the air raids, survived the move for many years.
In 1873, the Oberrealschule is built on the west side of the Stadthof, where the town councillors can now also meet in the assembly hall. In 1884, it became a grammar school, from which the Leibniz School and the Rudolf Koch School later emerged. The school stood where the Chamber of Industry and Commerce built its prestigious headquarters in 1957. The building still stands today, now with the unwieldy address "Platz der deutschen Einheit". The former school was still called "Oberrealschule am Stadthof".
When many Offenbach residents were made homeless by air raids during the Second World War, the city administration was also one of those "bombed out", as it was called at the time. Both the old town hall and the Büsingpalais official residence were destroyed by bombs. The administration found shelter in the Oberrealschule, but after three months it too was destroyed.
What was left of the administration moved into the fire station, which strangely enough survived the war. It remains there until 1950, when the former hospital at Kaiserstrasse 18 can be used as the official headquarters. The Justice Center is now located there. The Stadthof becomes a spacious and popular parking lot. People park free of charge in the shade of old trees.
It is not until 1971 that the city administration returns to where it once started. Offices scattered across the city are housed in a new town hall. When it was inaugurated on July 10, 1971, the Hessian Minister President Albert Osswald came to congratulate him and 15,000 Offenbach residents celebrated a public festival in the newly designed town courtyard.
Lothar R. Braun