Location

The municipality lies northeast of Lauterecken at the mouth of its eponymous river, the Odenbach, where it empties into the river Glan in the North Palatine Uplands. Odenbach also lies on Bundesstraße 420. The village lies on both sides of the Glan where the valley floor's elevation is 155 m above sea level. The valleys are squeezed somewhat into a narrow gap by various mountains. Foremost of these on the Glan's left bank are the Bennerberg (308 m) and the Bornberg with its outliers stretching towards Meisenheim, while on the right bank are the Galgenberg (326 m above sea level) and the Hagelkreuz (357 m). Furthermore, in the gore formed by the Glan and Odenbach is the plateau of the Hellerwald and the Streit. The municipal area measures 800 ha, of which 465 ha is farmed, 233 ha is wooded (municipality's share, 54 ha), 83 ha is settled or used for transport, 8 ha is recreational and 11 ha is open water.^[3]

Neighbouring municipalities

Odenbach borders in the north on the town of Meisenheim, in the east on the municipalities of Reiffelbach and Becherbach, in the south on the municipality of Adenbach, in the southwest on the municipality of Cronenberg and in the west on the municipality of Medard.

Municipality’s layout

Odenbach's appearance up until the early 19th century was characterized by its girding wall with two gates, the Obertor (Upper Gate) and the Untertor (Lower Gate), and three defensive towers. In the village core, the mediaeval street network has remained largely preserved. With only a few exceptions, most of the village's buildings were destroyed in the great fire of 1733. The village wall was razed in 1828, and only a few bits of it remain today. Thereafter, the village spread out in the course of the 19th century beyond the former village moat along the newly built Grabenstraße (“Moat Street”), Adenbacher Straße and Glanstraße. After the Second World War, the municipality opened three new residential areas, beginning in 1953 the one in the rural cadastral areas known as “Im Schofel” and “In Kohlenstein”, a few years later the one in the rural cadastral area known as “In Burghöhl” and in the 1970s the one in the rural cadastral area known as “Am Schächerweg”. The loam- an loess-rich Glan valley floor, as well as the heights stretching towards Roth, make for outstanding conditions for agriculture. The mountain slopes on the Glan's left bank and the Odenbach's right – a rural cadastral area known as “Igelsbach” (literally “Hedgehog’s Brook”) – offered the best chances for winegrowing, which was mentioned as early as 893. By the late 19th century, vineyards took up some 10% of the area within Odenbach's limits. As a result of the changes to agricultural structure, winegrowing came to an end in the 1960s. The woodlands, which still make up roughly one third of the municipal area, served the local farmers before the First World War as a further support for their endeavours. Foremost among its boons to them was of course firewood for private use, but it was also useful for tanbark harvesting, and it yielded the wood that was needed for building and woodworking. The shift to other energy sources, however, has led to a relative loss of importance for the woodlands.^[4]

Antiquity

The earliest traces of settlement in and around Odenbach go back to the New Stone Age. Archaeological finds from the Bronze Age that followed, however, have been rather sparse, but they become richer again with the rise of the Celts. From the early Iron Age (Hallstatt times, about 800-500 BC) comes the burying ground that was unearthed on the Galgenberg. Furthermore, digging work in 1934 at the “Hellerwald” sporting ground brought to light another burying ground, this one from the later Iron Age (La Tène times, about 500 BC to AD 1), which long lay on a homestead in the cadastral area known as “Im hintern Spitzwasen”, whose foundation remnants are known. Finds of ancient coins show that there was uninterrupted settlement here in the transitional period between Celtic and Roman times. Indeed, Roman roads once ran along the heights to the Roßberg and the Ebernburg either side of the Glan. Unearthed during clearing work in the cadastral area known as “Im Neuberg” was one of the most important troves: some 150 gold coins attributed to the East Celtic tribe of the Leuker. After Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, the inhabitants adopted Roman culture. The State Museum in Speyer keeps a bronze statuette of Minerva found in Adenbach and another of Mercury found in Odenbach. During the Migration Period, between about AD 375 to 550, the Medard-Odenbach area must have been a refuge.^[5]

Middle Ages

After the Franks had finished taking the land, a Merovingian prince donated the lordship over St. Medard to the Bishopric of Verdun on the Meuse sometime about the year 600. While the Church of St. Medard was the hub for local missionary efforts, Odenbach was the administrative hub. On 20 May 841, Odenbach itself had its first documentary mention. Out of the lordship's Vogtei grew bit by bit the Gericht (court, or court district) of Odenbach, the same as the territory later known as the Ämter of Odenbach and Lauterecken. After the Frankish Imperial partitions in 843 and in 870, the Bishopric of Verdun found that it was somewhat less than straightforward to hold onto East Frankish holdings. Upon the accession of Bishop of Verdun Albert I of Marcey in 1156, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, guaranteed Verdun's rights. To strengthen the claim to the lordship, a moated castle was built on the gore of land at the Odenbach's mouth in the same century, although its buildings were torn down in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) by Spanish occupiers. By the mid 19th century, most of what was left had fallen into ruin. One remnant still stands today, however, the ruin of a tower known as the Weiherturm. Remnants of other old buildings, too, still bear witness to the village's centuries-long history. The castle belonged to the St. Medard estate, which itself belonged to the Bishop of Verdun. It later became the seat of the Barons of Fürstenwächter. The Verdun holding around Medard and Odenbach eventually formed along with those around Baumholder and Wolfersweiler, the Remigiusland and the Amt of Veldenz on the Moselle the County of Veldenz. In 1444, the County of Veldenz met its end when Count Friedrich III of Veldenz died without a male heir. His daughter Anna wed King Ruprecht's son Count Palatine Stephan of the House of Wittelsbach. By uniting his own Palatine holdings with the now otherwise heirless County of Veldenz – his wife had inherited the county, but not her father's title – and by redeeming the hitherto pledged County of Zweibrücken, Stephan founded a new County Palatine, as whose comital residence he chose the town of Zweibrücken: the County Palatine – later Duchy – of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. This state in turn met its end in 1798 after French Revolutionary troops had occupied the German lands on the Rhine’s left bank.^[6] Odenbach had already become the seat of a Schultheiß by 1387.

Modern times

Duke Johann I freed the villagers of Odenbach and a few of the outlying villages from serfdom in 1579.^[7] In 1596, they were also granted market rights.^[8]

Population development

In 1566, there were 69 families registered at Odenbach, while in 1609 there were 62. In the latter case, they were broken down as follows: one innkeeper, twelve craftsmen, fourteen farmers, eleven winegrowers, five day labourers, two herdsmen and two gatekeepers. The events of the Thirty Years' War led to considerable loss of life and property. In 1656 (eight years after the war ended), only 23 families were left in Odenbach. On the occasion of the 1719 census, it was noted that there were 344 souls (some 76 families), of whom 30 were Catholic, 243 were Reformed and 71 were Lutheran. There were also four Jewish families. A huge demographic shift came about somewhat more than 120 years later that saw the village's population rise threefold. In 1843, 1,079 souls were counted, of whom 110 were Jewish. Besides the odd swing, either up or down, this population level has remained steady until the present day. This level was held steady only by the outflow of people, both to German cities and industrial centres and overseas, mainly to the United States. Until the Second World War ended, roughly one third of the inhabitants were farmers, each with a plot of between 5 and 20 ha, while another third worked in trades. The remaining third of the population was made up of both people in learned professions and day labourers. Today, only 12 commercial concerns can still be found in the village, mainly family businesses and small businesses. Most Odenbach inhabitants in the workforce work elsewhere. As for farms, only two now remain.

The following table shows population development since early Bavarian times for Odenbach, with some figures broken down by religious denomination:^[11]

Municipality’s name

The oldest name known for Odenbach is drawn from the village's location on the now like-named brook and can presumably be traced back to the pre-Germanic name for the stream, Audina. According to researchers Dolch and Greule, writing in 1990, Odenbach's first documentary mention came in an 841 document that named Uotenbach. Other names that the village has borne over time are, among others, de Odenbahc (893), de Ottenbach (1194) and Odenbach (1222). According to Dolch's and Greule's research, the name is made up of the syllable —bach (German for “brook”), as with many other places in the region, to which is prefixed what was originally a personal name, either “Odo” or “Otto”, possibly the village's founder.^[12]

Municipal council

The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.^[14]

Mayor

Odenbach's mayor is Helga Becker.^[1]

Coat of arms

The municipality's arms might be described thus: Vert a bend sinister wavy argent between a bend wavy of the same between two grapevines of the field, and a grapevine of the field.

The arms are modelled after the imprint of a court seal used as early as 1490. The bend and the bend sinister (slanted stripes) are meant to illustrate the Odenbach emptying into the Glan. The arms have been borne since 19 October 1853 when they were approved by King Maximilian II of Bavaria.^[15]

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:^[16]

• Protestant parish church, Kirchhofstraße 29 – aisleless church, 1764/1765, architect Philipp Heinrich Hellermann, Zweibrücken; tower 1508 (ground floor from the 14th century), floors added 1766
• Hauptstraße 7 – town hall; sandstone-framed plastered building with arcade hall, about 1570; characterizes village’s appearance (see also below)
• Hauptstraße 24 – former rectory; stately building with hipped roof, 1788, architect Friedrich Gerhard Wahl, Zweibrücken; open shed with stables (see also below)
• Hauptstraße 41/43 – three-sided estate, 1818; two buildings with half-hipped roofs, one-floor side building, two-part gate complex; together with Hauptstraße 45 characterizes village’s appearance
• Hauptstraße 45 – three-sided estate, 1820; two buildings with half-hipped roofs, roofed gate complex; together with Hauptstraße 41/43 characterizes village’s appearance
• Kirchhofstraße 19 – former synagogue; one-floor plastered building with timber-frame gables, marked 512 (= 1752); women’s gallery 1835, Late Baroque paintings
• Obere Glanstraße, at the graveyard – gravestone, sandstone slab with relief, marked 1616
• Waldwegstraße – bridge; one-arch quarrystone-block bridge, marked 1748
• Jewish graveyard (monumental zone) – enclosed area, possibly laid out in 1845; 74 sandstone gravestones, great variety of shapes, 1846 to 1938, since 1974 a common grave with bones from the old graveyard in Lauterecken

Regular events

Until a few years ago, Odenbach held its kermis (church consecration festival, locally known as the Kerb) on the third Sunday before Saint Bartholomew's Day (24 August, and thus the kermis would have been held in late July or early August), but the municipal council then decided to change this longstanding custom and fix the festival's timing at the third Sunday in August. After the village youth hold a parade, the focus shifts to the kermis square (Kerbeplatz), where the Straußpredigt, a kind of “sermon”, is delivered. This is a rhyming summary of the year's events in the village. On Martinmas (11 November), the Martinsumzug (a parade) is held in late afternoon, and attended by many children, even from outside the village. Around the beginning of Advent, the association of local clubs holds a Christmas Market. The gymnasium at the primary school serves as a venue for celebratory events and concerts.^[23]

Clubs

Odenbach has the following clubs:^[24]

• Angelsportverein — angling club
• Arbeiterwohlfahrt — workers’ welfare organization
• Deutsches Rotes Kreuz — German Red Cross
• Förderverein Freiwillige Feuerwehr — fire brigade promotional association
• Förderverein zur Erhaltung der Synagoge — Promotional Association for Preserving the Synagogue
• Hundeverein — dog club
• Karnevalverein — Carnival club
• Landfrauenverein — countrywomen's club
• Männergesangverein/Gemischter Chor — men's singing club/mixed choir
• Musikverein — music club
• Protestantischer Kirchenchor — Protestant church choir
• Schützenverein „Edelweiß“ — shooting club
• Turn- und Sportverein — gymnastic and sport club
• VdK — social advocacy group
• Verkehrsverein — transport club

Economic structure

In bygone days, Odenbach's economy was characterized by the factors covered in the next four sections.

Education

Duke Alexander of Palatinate-Zweibrücken issued an edict in 1505 requiring his subjects to send their children to school to learn to read and write, but not beyond the age of 13 (in early-16th-century German: “…zu schulen thun laßen lern schreiben und leßen, aber nit über XIII jare des schulers alters…”). The earliest verifiable school intendant was mentioned in 1566. Shortly thereafter, the municipality built a school building on Kirchhofstraße, which was used until 1828. About 1710, the Lutheran community also hired its own teacher. The teacher taught classes at first at the village hall until a suitable building was acquired on Kirchhofstraße. In Duke Gustav Samuel's time (1718-1731), the Catholic community, too, hired its own teacher. Since the municipality had a small population, the means to run such a school system any longer could not be raised. After a short time, classes ended. After the 1818 Protestant Union, which saw the Lutherans and the Calvinists unite into one denomination, a boys’ school was established at the old Calvinist school and a girls’ school at the old Lutheran school. The two schools soon outgrew their venues, as can be seen in a report: “In Odenbach are found two schoolhouses, of which the one is assigned for teaching boys and the other for teaching girls. Neither is fit for the requirements, but exceptionally bad is the location of the girls’ school, which contains only one parlour and a dark kitchen. This room serves as both the classroom and the livingroom for the schoolteacher with five children and a maid, and quite often as a kitchen.” The municipality built a roomier schoolhouse in 1828 on Untergasse with two classrooms and the requisite teachers’ dwellings. Since a third teaching post needed to be filled by 1862, the municipality acquired a building on Grabenstraße that, after remodelling, came to be known as the Kleines Schulhaus – “Little Schoolhouse”. In 1960, all classes were transferred to the new school building in the cadastral area “Auf dem Hubacker”. Today, only the primary school classes are taught there.^[29] Odenbach also has one kindergarten.

Transport

As far back as Celtic times, there must have been a bridleway from Trier going towards Worms by way of Odenbach. The village was linked to the Roman road network by way of Becherbach to the Hochstrooß (Hohe Straße in Modern High German or “High Road” in English) that led from Kreuznach to Otterberg, and likewise by another such road from Kreuznach by way of the “Hub” to Baumholder, the so-called Grumbacher Straße. A path through the Hellerwald (forest) linked Odenbach with Otterberg. All of these road links still existed until the 19th century, then losing their traditional importance as the valley roads were extended. Work began on the roadbed for the Odenbach valley road in 1835 from Schneckenhausen, ending in Odenbach ten years later. The local linking road to Roth and Reiffelbach got a new roadbed in 1885. In 1938, on military grounds, the Nazis expanded the road now known as Bundesstraße 420. In 1896, the Glan Valley Railway (Glantalbahn) from Lauterecken to Staudernheim came into service, and only a short time later, in 1903-1904, was double-tracked for strategic reasons throughout the Glan valley. Nevertheless, in 1986, passenger service on the local railway came to an end, with goods service ending, too, a few years later.^[30] Running through the village today is Bundesstraße 420. The stretch of the Glan Valley Railway running through Odenbach is out of service. On its tracks, visitors may ride draisines. Serving Lauterecken is a railway station on the Lauter Valley Railway (Lautertalbahn).

Sons and daughters of the town

• Philipp Wilbrand Jakob Müller (b. 1771 Odenbach; d. 1851 Odenbach)

From 1792 to 1811 vicar in Odenbach, from 1811 to 1851 pastor, Müller was also deacon of the deaconry of Lauterecken in 1820. From youth he also dedicated himself to a secondary occupation in the natural sciences, especially botany. His correspondence with the botanist Johann Wilhelm Daniel Koch is nowadays kept at the Palatine Museum for Natural History (Pfalzmuseum für Naturkunde or Pollichia-Museum) in Bad Dürkheim. In later years he gave himself over with fondness to entomology. Various publications bear witness to his work in this scientific endeavour. In the Entomologische Hefte, published at Frankfurt am Main in 1803, which can be considered the groundwork for a later description of the fauna of the Department of Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in German), he put together the whole first issue containing a monograph on the hister beetles, and in the second issue he also wrote a monograph about Dorcatoma (a genus of beetles). Other than these, there were also many other publications about beetle and other insect species. He was a member of a few natural research societies, foremost the one at Leipzig. In 1818, he belonged to the Union Synod, which oversaw the union of the two Protestant denominations, Lutheranism and Calvinism, into one.^[31]

Famous people associated with the municipality

• Georg Ulrich Geyßel (b. 1622 in Schwarzenbach; d. 1699 in Odenbach)

From 1671 to 1699 pastor in Odenbach and inspector of the Claße Meisenheim, Geyßel was also from 1671 to 1674 and again from 1678 until his death (1 February 1699) Assistant of the Reformed High Consistory in Zweibrücken.^[32]

• Georg Friedrich Ludwig Müller (b. 1734 in Kleeburg; d. 1811 in Odenbach)

From 1760 to 1764 professor at the Gymnasium in Zweibrücken, from 1764 to 1811 pastor in Odenbach, in 1783 inspector of the Claße Meisenheim and in 1798 local consistory president for the Obermoschel consistorial church, Müller was also, beginning in 1806, local consistory president in Rockenhausen. He was one of his time’s foremost minds. Besides his mother tongue (German), Müller mastered the ancient tongues of Latin, Greek and Hebrew as well as French and a few Oriental languages. Besides theology, his favourite scientific fields were mathematics, astronomy and botany. His library held a wealth of works – 2,580 volumes – with some works dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, among them four incunables. The books dealt with not only theology and philosophy but also various natural sciences and the humanities. Müller’s library is nowadays owned by the Library of the Evangelical Regional Church Council (Evangelischer Landeskirchenrat) in Speyer.^[33]

• Ernst Ludwig Ferdinand von Fürstenwerther (b. 1737 in Meisenheim; d. 1821 in Meisenheim)

Fürstenwerther, as the eleventh of eighteen children from a comital family, was one of the holders of the castle in Odenbach, a member of the Régiment Royal Deux-Ponts in the Seven Years' War and, later, a participant in the American War of Independence, in which both he and his brother Karl Leopold were recognized for their outstanding service. The two of them were decorated personally by George Washington, receiving a high order.^[34]

• Friedrich Gerhard Wahl (b. 1747 in Annweiler; d. 1826 in Kaiserslautern)

Master builder (construction above and below ground) in the service of the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, Wahl spent his youth in Odenbach, and later administered the Duchy’s whole road network. He also became well known as a master churchbuilder, building among other churches the one in Odenbach.^[35]