Rodgau is a city in Germany, located in the state of Hesse. It's part of the Offenbach Rural District. Rodgau is the biggest city in this district, both in size and how many people live there.

Exploring Rodgau's Location
A Look at Rodgau's Past
- From Farms to Factories
- Building a Community
Understanding Rodgau's Government
- Rodgau's Coat of Arms
Rodgau's Sister Cities
Culture and Fun in Rodgau
- Festivals and Traditions
Getting Around and Learning in Rodgau
Images for kids
See also

Exploring Rodgau's Location

Position of Rodgau within the Rhine Main area

Rodgau is in an area called the Rhine Main area. It is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) southeast of Frankfurt am Main. The city covers an area of 65.04 square kilometers (25 square miles). It is about 130 meters (426 feet) above sea level. The land here is mostly flat, with no big hills.

Millions of years ago, this whole region was under the sea. Over time, the water left, and the land rose. This left behind soil that is mostly sandy.

How Rodgau Was Formed

Rodgau is made up of five villages that used to be separate. On January 1, 1977, these villages joined together. They became the municipality of Rodgau. Then, on September 15, 1979, Rodgau officially became a city.

The five former villages are now called urban districts. From north to south, they are: Weiskirchen, Hainhausen, Jügesheim, Dudenhofen, and Nieder-Roden. A small creek called the Rodau flows through the city from south to north. The city of Rodgau got its name from this creek. The ending -gau means area or district. The word Rod- hints at the past landscape. The German verb roden means cutting down trees to prepare land for farming.

Rodgau's Neighbors

Rodgau shares its borders with several other towns:

Obertshausen (to the North)
Hainburg and Seligenstadt (to the East)
Babenhausen, Eppertshausen, and Rödermark (to the South)
Heusenstamm and Dietzenbach (to the West)

People and Climate in Rodgau

In 2008, Rodgau had 43,047 people living there. About 10% of these people came from other countries. They represent 52 different nations. About 39% of the people are Catholic, and 25.5% are Protestant. The rest (35.5%) have other religions or no religion.

The weather in Rodgau is usually mild. The average temperature is about 10.5 °C (51 °F). It also gets less rain compared to other parts of Germany.

Some local people speak a special kind of German called a Hessian dialect (German: Hessisch). This dialect has a unique sound and special words. It is related to other dialects in southern Germany. In the past, almost every village had its own dialect. Today, fewer people speak the true dialect. Most people speak regular German with a local accent.

A Look at Rodgau's Past

Outlines and urban area of the city of Rodgau; dark green: forest; light green: fields, meadows; red: buildings; blue: creek, lake.

The first settlements in this area were built in the 8th century. The names of these settlements were first written down in documents in the 12th and 13th centuries. Over time, different owners controlled the villages.

During the Reformation, the people in the village of Dudenhofen became Protestant. However, all the other villages in Rodgau remained Catholic. This difference meant that people from Dudenhofen often married partners from other Protestant towns like Babenhausen. They did not have many relatives in the Catholic Rodgau villages.

Around 1830, the villages had about 4,000 people in total. By 1939, this number grew to about 11,500. It then jumped to about 34,000 in 1970 and around 45,000 by the late 2000s.

From Farms to Factories

In the past, people in Rodgau were mostly farmers and craftsmen. Each family owned land to grow their own food. When land was passed down, it was divided among the children. This meant most families had very small farms and were often poor.

Then came the Industrial Revolution. The Rhine Main area became a big center for working with metal and making leather goods. Many men found jobs in factories. This helped improve living conditions for some families.

After World War II, the Rhine Main area became very important. It was a central location with good transport links. Many companies moved here because of the Frankfurt Airport and the motorways. These roads connected the region to all parts of Germany.

From the 1960s onwards, the Rodgau villages grew rapidly. Many small and medium-sized companies started or moved to the area. This created many jobs. New houses were built, and people from other parts of Germany and other countries came to live and work here. The prices for land increased a lot in the 1970s. All these changes greatly improved the living conditions for people.

Building a Community

As the villages grew, they formed one large urban area. In the late 1970s, the municipality of Rodgau was created. Slowly, the people from the old villages and the new residents began to feel like they belonged to one Rodgau community.

Many foreign people first came from Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Later, people came from Yugoslavia and Greece, and then from Turkey. Often, the men came first to earn money and send it home. In many cases, their families later moved to Germany. They settled down, became German citizens, and bought or built houses. Only a few went back to their home countries. Their children went to German schools and are now a regular part of the community.

Understanding Rodgau's Government

Seats of the Rodgau parliament by political parties.

The way the formerly independent villages were run became centralized. The new city hall is in the central part of Rodgau, in Jügesheim. There are also smaller offices in each former village, called Anlaufstelle. These offices help citizens with smaller tasks.

The head of the city is the mayor. The city's parliament has 45 seats. Here are the results from the 2006 elections:

CDU	SPD	All.'90/Greens	Bürger/FWG¹	FDP	Dt.Liste²
47.7%	31.1%	9.9%	4.2%	3.9%	3.2%
22 seats	14 seats	4 seats	2 seats	2 seats	1 seat

¹ Bürger/FWG stands for Bürger/Freie Wählergemeinschaft. This is a group of independent citizens who focus on local issues.
² Dt. Liste stands for Deutsche Liste. This is a conservative party. Many people and other parties say this party has views similar to Neo-Nazism.

Rodgau was governed by an alliance of the CDU and FDP parties. However, after the 2006 parliament elections, some members left the CDU group. This caused political issues that affected the mayor elections in 2009. A new mayor from the SPD party took office in April 2010.

Rodgau's Coat of Arms

Coat of arms of Rodgau

The coat of arms was given to the city in 1978. It represents the former villages and their religion. A silvery band runs from the bottom left to the top right. This band shows the Rodau creek. The five stars on the band represent the five villages located along the creek.

In the top left, there is a Luther rose. This is a religious symbol. It stands for the Protestant religion of Dudenhofen. In the bottom right, there is a wheel. This is not a religious symbol. It represents the Catholic religion of Weiskirchen, Hainhausen, Jügesheim, and Nieder-Roden.

Both symbols also represent the past owners of the villages. The rose stands for the Count of Hanau and later the Count of Darmstadt. The wheel comes from the archbishop of Mainz. The rose is on one side of the creek, and the wheel is on the opposite side. This shows that the villages used to have disagreements because of their different religions.

Rodgau's Sister Cities

Rodgau has special friendships with cities in other countries. These are called "twinned cities" or "sister cities."

Puisseau, France
Hainburg, Austria
Nieuwpoort, Belgium
Donja Stubica, Croatia

Culture and Fun in Rodgau

Dudenhofen: Framework hous and protestant church.

Rodgau's culture is shaped by its beautiful nature and its many clubs. It is very common in Germany for people in Rodgau to be members of one or more clubs.

These associations focus on things like singing, sports, orchestra music, soccer, breeding pet animals, dancing, and many other activities. There are about 50 clubs in Rodgau where people meet and spend their free time. These clubs are a very important part of the city's social life. They help people from the former villages keep their local identity. The clubs welcome new members who want to share their interests and make friends.

Rodgau is surrounded by large forests. On weekends, many people go for walks or bike rides on the paths through the woods. There are often places for sports or having a barbecue. The city administration keeps these areas clean and tidy.

Because Rodgau used to be separate villages, it does not have its own theaters or museums. However, there are famous ones in nearby cities. For example, Frankfurt has the Senckenbergmuseum (natural history). Offenbach has the Ledermuseum (leather crafts). Darmstadt has a theater. Rodgau does not have famous buildings, but it has some architecture typical for the region. The old churches and timber-frame houses in the villages are interesting to see.

There are five Protestant churches and six Catholic churches in the city. For Muslims, there are two mosques, one in Nieder-Roden and one in Jügesheim.

Rodgau has two cinemas, many restaurants with different kinds of food, bars, and some dance floors.

Festivals and Traditions

Once a year, in January and February, the whole region celebrates carnival. The local names for it are Fasenacht or Fastnacht. This is mostly a tradition in Catholic areas. The local names come from a period called Fastenzeit (a time of fasting) before Easter. The celebrations always end on Tuesday midnight. The fasting period then begins on the following Wednesday, called Aschermittwoch.

In autumn, each village has a special weekend to celebrate. This celebrates the opening of their church. These feasts are called Kirchweih or, in the local dialect, Kerb. In the past, big autumn fairs were held on these weekends. Young people from nearby places would go to these feasts to meet, have fun, dance, and make friends.

During late spring and summer, many small feasts are celebrated on weekends. These often happen in the forests at the barbecue places. Local clubs and even political parties arrange them. They are open to everyone. People go there to socialize, eat, and drink some beer.

The most special and expensive vegetable from this region is asparagus. It grows well in the sandy soil. Asparagus is picked in May and June. Because of the same soil, the region also has many potato dishes. Some are very special and only available on certain occasions. One example is Bauernkeeskuche (farmers cheese pie). It is a salty potato pie made with bread dough.

Getting Around and Learning in Rodgau

Traffic routs of Rodgau. Orange: Motorway; red: B45; green: Railway; yellow: Important streets.

How People Travel

Most people in Rodgau travel by car. Many residents work in nearby cities like Frankfurt, Offenbach, or Hanau. They use the motorway A3, which runs through the north of Rodgau.

The B45 road runs along the east side of the city from north to south. This road is like a motorway and connects all the urban districts to the A3 motorway. It also links to Offenbach, Frankfurt, and Hanau to the north, and Darmstadt to the south. The suburban railway line S1 goes to Offenbach and, since 2003, directly to Frankfurt. There is also a bus system that connects the urban districts. Rodgau is easy to reach by road from most parts of Germany. This was a big reason for its fast growth in the past.

News and Information

Rodgau does not have its own daily newspaper. People read the Offenbach-Post and the Frankfurter Rundschau. Both newspapers have extra pages about Rodgau. The Offenbach-Post supplement is called Rodgau-Post and comes out every Thursday.

There are also two free weekly papers delivered to every house: the Rodgau-Zeitung and the Bürgerblatt. The Dreieich-Spiegel is another free paper that includes information about Rodgau. A city magazine called mein rodgau comes out every three months. It has articles about people, sports, culture, and lifestyle.

For radio news, people listen to the radio station Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) on channels 1 to 4, You FM, and hr-info. Other popular radio stations include Hit Radio FFH and Radio Primavera from the nearby city of Aschaffenburg.

Healthcare and Doctors

Rodgau does not have a hospital. The closest clinic is about 7 kilometers (4 miles) away in Seligenstadt. There are not many specialist doctors in town. Patients often need to go to nearby cities to see doctors for special conditions, like heart diseases. There is a medical emergency center in Dudenhofen. It provides quick help in cases like a heart attack.

Schools and Learning

The city has many kindergartens and primary schools in each urban district. There is a secondary school (high school) in Dudenhofen. For colleges and universities, students go to nearby cities.