Heilbronn

Heilbronn, a town of Württemberg, situated on the right bank of the Neckar, in a beautiful and fertile region, 28 miles by rail N. of Stuttgart. The streets of the old medieval town are narrow, and the houses have quaintly ornamented gables and tapering pinnacles. The church of St Kilian, partly Gothic and partly Renaissance; the old town-hall; the Diebsthurm ('Thief's Tower'), in which Götz von Berlichingen was confined; and the house of the Teutonic Knights, now a barrack, are the principal buildings. The chief industries include the manufacture of silver-plate, paper, sugar, salt, chicory, and chemicals, and there are iron and other metal foundries and machine-shops. Fruit and wine are largely grown. Commercially the importance of Heilbronn depends upon its trade in groceries, corn, and wood, and upon its fairs for cattle, leather, wool, and fruit. In the vicinity gypsum and sandstone are quarried. Heilbronn is first mentioned in 741; in 1360 it became an imperial town; it suffered during the Peasants' War and the Thirty Years' War, and in 1802 it fell into the hands of Württemberg. Pop. (1875) 21,208; (1890) 29,941.