Heidelberg-Kirchheim 3.17

Kirchheim is a southern district town of the city of Heidelberg in north-west Baden-Württemberg, Germany.HistoryFirst traces of a settlement here derive from vessels found dating back to 3500-1800 BC and Germanic tribes settled here during the early Roman period known as the "neckarsuebische". The town is first mentioned in the year 767 AD as Chirichheim in the Lorsch Codex. It belonged to the Kurpfalz and formed the heart of an administrative unit called Zent. The early medieval village was composed of three fields, where related settlements were combined by the formation of a central church of representatives of the "fraenisch" kingdom. Hence the name Kirchheim.The village was largely destroyed in the Thirty Years' War and reconstruction efforts were subsequently thwarted when the village was once again burned during the Palatine war of succession. Kirchheim repopulated slowly, with 350 people in 1766 and 2,000 in 1861. The building of a station on the Rhine Valley Railway in 1865 brought industry to the village. In 1920 Kirchheim was annexed to Heidelberg at which point building boomed and the population swelled to 8,000.Today, Kirchheim has 5 buslines and one tramline. With a population of 15,683 it is on the way to becoming the largest district in Heidelberg.Neighboring TownsThe following towns border Kirchheim Leimen, Sandhausen, Rohrbach and Pleikartsfoersterhof which all part of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis.