Frankfort-on-the-Main (Ger. Frankfurt-am-Main), a wealthy commercial city in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, formerly a free city, long famous as the place of election of the German emperors, and the seat of the Diet from 1816 till 1866, is situated on the right bank of the Main, 22 miles from its confluence with the Rhine at Mainz, and 112 SE. of Cologne by rail. Pop. (1800) 40,000; (1867) 78,000; (1875) 103,315; (1885) 154,513—43,663 being Catholics and 1554 Jews; (1890) 179,850. The city has of late been much extended and improved, and many handsome public and private buildings have been erected; but the oldest part still contains many narrow and crooked streets, with quaint, high-gabled houses. The fortifications have been replaced by ornamental promenades; the river is bordered by broad quays; and the ancestral house of the Rothschilds is now the solitary relic of the famous Juden-Gasse, the ghetto of Frankfort. The Roemer or town-house, a Gothic edifice of 1405–16, contains the Kaisersaal or imperial hall, where each newly-elected emperor held his public banquet, at which he was waited upon by the high officers of the empire. On the walls hang the portraits of the emperors from Conrad to Leopold II. The coronation took place in the cathedral of St Bartholomew (13th to 16th centuries), which also contains the chapel in which the Electors (q.v.) voted. The palace of the Prince of Thurn and Taxis (1730) was the meeting-place of the North German Diet from 1816 till 1866, while the Constituent Assembly of 1848–49 met in the church of St Paul. The Saalhof stands on the site of an earlier palace of the Carlovingsian kings; the chapel dates from the 12th century. The new exchange was opened in 1879, the opera-house in 1880, and there are several other imposing new public buildings, besides museums, art-galleries, a public library, numerous churches, and many charitable and educational institutions, including two conservatories of music. One of the squares is adorned with a statue of Goethe, a native of the town; in another is the elaborate Gutenberg monument, commemorating the invention of printing. Frankfort is connected with the suburb of Sachsenhausen, on the left bank of the Main, by seven bridges (three railway bridges), the oldest of which was built in 1342. The city lies at the junction of seven railways, which since 1888 have converged in the new Central Station, one of the largest and handsomest in Europe; it is the focus of many important roads; and it has direct water-communication with the North Sea, viâ the Main and the Rhine. The commerce has thus at all times been considerable; and in the 16th century the Frankfort spring and autumn fairs, now insignificant except as leather and horse markets, were among the most important in Europe. The chief articles of trade are colonial wares, iron and steel goods, leather, hides, skins, coals, wine, and beer. The manufacturing industry has largely developed since the town became Prussian. Sewing-machines and other machinery, chemicals, soap and perfumery, iron goods, straw and felt hats are among the chief manufactures. Its chief importance, however, is due to its position as one of the leading money-markets of the world. The aggregate capital of its bankers, many of whom are Jews, is said to be about £20,000,000, and the annual transactions in bills of exchange about £12,000,000.
Frankfort is said to owe its name to Charlemagne, who led his Franks across a ford here to attack the Saxons beyond the Main. It was early recognised as a suitable place for national meetings, and in 794 Charlemagne convoked a council here. From 843 till 889 it was the capital of the eastern Frankish kingdom. In 1257 Frankfort was made the first free city of the German empire, and it also became the most important. In 1356 Charles IV. confirmed by the 'Golden Bull' (carefully preserved in the city archives) the right, which it had enjoyed since the days of Frederick Barbarossa (1152), of being the place for the election of the German emperors. The city embraced the Reformation in 1530; and in 1558 certain of the Protestant princes of Germany issued a declaration known as the Frankfort Recess in favour of the Augsburg Confession. Frankfort lost its independence in the Confederation of the Rhine, and from 1810 till 1813 it was the capital of a temporary grand-duchy. It recovered its privileges as a free city in 1816; but in 1866, having espoused the Austrian cause in the seven weeks' war, it was seized by the Prussians (July 16th), a fine of 6,000,000 florins was imposed on it, and on October 18th it was formally incorporated with Prussia. The Peace of Frankfort, which ended the Franco-German war of 1870–71, was signed 10th May 1871 at the Swan Hotel by Prince Bismarck and Jules Favre. See works by Horne and Grotefend (1882–84).