Landkreis Schwäbisch Hall

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Central Contact

Landratsamt Schwäbisch Hall
Münzstrasse 1
74523 Schwäbisch Hall
Phone: 0791 755-0
Fax: 0791 755-7362
E-Mail schreiben

PO box address:
Postfach 11 04 53
74507 Schwäbisch Hall

History of the Schwäbisch Hall District

At the end of the Old Empire (Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation), the territory of the modern-day Schwäbisch Hall District contained several dozen religious, secular and aristocratic domains which were all handed over to Württemberg as compensation between 1802 and 1810. 

They included, for example, estates of the Princes of Hohenlohe, the Prussian Crown (through Bavaria), the counties of Limpurg and Oettingen, the monasteries in Murrhardt, Lorsch and Adelberg, the Comburg Knights’ Chapter, the Ellwangen Provostry, the German Order, the Imperial Cities of Hall, Gmünd and Dinkelsbühl, and finally the estates of many knights belonging to the Altmühl, Kocher and Odenwald Knight Cantons.

Only in the south were there a few legal titles which had previously been in the possession of the Duchy of Württemberg, for example part of the Bailiwick of Westheim, which it had acquired through the Reformation of Murrhardt Monastery, or parts of the County of Limpurg, which it had been purchasing since 1780. The largest area was the territory of the Imperial City of Hall (approx. 500 km²). The historical settlement structure divided into numerous small units can still be seen today in the extremely large number of dwelling places which were combined in 104 mostly small municipalities before the local authority reforms in the early 1970s.

The then Elector Friedrich had created his own state called Neuwürttemberg from territories assigned to Württemberg as a result of the Principal Decree of the Imperial Deputation. Neuwürttemberg owned almost the entire area of the district. After accepting the royal dignity, Friedrich amalgamated his two states of Altwürttemberg and Neuwürttemberg in 1806 to form the unified Kingdom of Württemberg, which he divided into administrative units (Oberämter) in 1810 after several attempts.

The Hall Administrative Unit, which primarily incorporated the former imperial city territory, had already been formed in 1802/03. The Gaildorf Administrative Unit was established in the County of Limpurg in 1806.
The formerly Prussian and then Bavarian Crailsheim and Blaufelden Administrative Units finally followed in 1810. The official seat of Blaufelden Administrative Unit was moved from Blaufelden to Gerabronn in 1811. These four Administrative Units, which were renamed Districts in 1934, were retained up until 1938.

The Act on the Division of Württemberg dated 1 October 1938 dissolved a total of 27 Districts, including Gaildorf and Gerabronn. With the County of Limpurg, large parts of Gaildorf District were allocated to Backnang District while the rest of the former Administrative Unit were assigned to Hall District which was also extended to include Bühlertann and Bühlerzell (previously Ellwangen Administrative Unit), as well as individual municipalities from the Künzelsau and Öhringen Districts.

The much bigger Crailsheim District acquired 31 of the 35 Gerabronn municipalities along with Ettenhausen and Simprechtshausen (previously Künzelsau) District.