The village of Ochsenberg is part of the municipality of Königsbronn in the district of Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Geography
Ochsenberg is situated in the eastern part of the Swabian Jura, on the western edge of the Härtsfeld plateau at an altitude of 617 m above sea level (town hall).
History
General
The first documentary evidence dates back to 1538. Years before the abbot Melchior Ruff, who was active in the Königsbronn Abbey, had already settled woodworkers, charcoal burners and day labourers on a clearing in today's hamlet. The village name originates from the "oxen (Ochsen) pasture for the abbey, up on the mountain (Berg)." 1572 Ochsenberg was annexed to Königsbronn.
In the tax audit protocol of 1733 is written: "All the buildings in this hamlet are the very least in the whole monastery office, none of them is built of bricks and all of which are covered with straw".
Around 1800, the houses were still not made of bricks and were only covered with straw, and the water was only sparsely available from ponds or vats. In 1817 a major fire destroyed ten houses completely. 1849 Ochsenberg became an independent municipality. With the commissioning of the Härtsfeld water pipe on 11 November 1891 Ochsenberg receives a permanent drinking water supply from the wells in Itzelberg.
In 1910 the construction of today's town hall took place, which also serves as a schoolhouse and fire brigade depot. The supply of electrical power is ensured by UJAG (Ueberlandwerk Jagstkreis) from 1917 onwards. The forester Wilhelm Braun from Oberkochen was shot by poachers in the Falchen forest on 1 August 1926, a memorial stone commemorates the event.
Until 1963 the churchgoers had to walk to Königsbronn, as the Kirchenweg (church path) still bears witness to today. On 23 June of the same year, after 2 years of construction, the Johanneskirche (church of St. John) was consecrated by pastor Traugott Scheytt, the church windows were designed by Hans Bäurle. On 1 February 1972 Ochsenberg is incorporated into Königsbronn. With the age-related felling of the 175-year-old linden tree on 9 May 1974, the redesign of the Lindenplatz (linden square) began. In 1976 the village receives the collective connection to the sewage treatment plant in Itzelberg. The Staatliche Maschinenhof (state machinery yard), which was relocated from Königsbronn, was inaugurated on 20 May 1977. The newly built gym and multipurpose hall is ceremonially opened on 31 March 1979. In 1988 they celebrated 450 years of Ochsenberg.
School, Protestant recreational home
Initially the school lessons were held in private rooms. From 1910 school lessons were held in the newly built town hall and schoolhouse. In 1964 a new building was erected and the old classroom in the town hall was converted into a kindergarten. For 12 years one teacher taught the 1st to 4th primary class in one room at the same time. Since 1976 the children travel by bus to the school in Königsbronn.
In 1981 the school building, which had been unused until then, was rebuilt and extended into a Protestant recreational home with 53 beds.
Due to the low occupancy rate, the complex was rented to the district of Heidenheim from the end of 2015 until autumn 2018 and refugees were accommodated there. Since autumn 2018 the municipality of Königsbronn has rented the building and uses it as a subsequent accommodation.
Youth hostel
Planned as a motel at the beginning of the 1960s, the building was abandoned as a shell at the end of the 1960s. In the mid-1970s, the building was extended and converted into a youth hostel with 110 beds, which opened in 1977. On 31 October 2005 the hostel closed, in February 2014 it was demolished.
Ammunition depot, solar park
For a planned ammunition depot of the Bundeswehr (Armed forces of Germany), a forest area east of the village was cleared in 1963. The construction of the 19-hectare site took place in 1964-65:
Administrative district with guard/service building and technical area
11 concrete storage halls
29 larger and 8 smaller ECM (earth-covered magazine) Stradley ammunition storage facilities (bunkers) 2 small ammunition warehouses 25 m2 and 50 m2
In December 1998 the ammunition depot closed, in 2010 the bunkers were demolished.
From February 2014, a solar park with 40,000 modules was built on the unused site, which will supply up to 3,000 households with electricity. The commissioning takes place in May.