Salm is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Gerolstein, whose seat is in the like-named town.
Geography
The municipality lies in the Vulkaneifel, a part of the Eifel known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
Near the village rises the river Salm, which empties into the Moselle near Klüsserath.
History
In 1225, Salm had its first documentary mention in an agreement between Gerhard von Blankenheim and Abbot Heinrich von Himmerod dealing with the donation of an estate to Himmerod Abbey, which was reached on the cobbled road between the abandoned village of Hundswinkel and Bremescheit (Prümscheid). It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that the village's beginnings reach back somewhat further, but an entry in Prüm Abbey's directory of holdings, the Prümer Urbar, that supposedly mentions Salm is at the very best doubtful. It would, however, make the village centuries older, since it dates from 803.
Salm's early history speaks of well-off townsmen, whose wealth, however, suffered later as the village's population grew. Throughout the ages, the leading sources of income were agriculture and forestry. In the case of the latter, the broad forests even afforded a livelihood in logging.
In the 13th century, the villages of Salm and Hilscheid and the estate of Muckenberg were held by the Counts of Manderscheid.
In 1238, Salm had a church under the patronage of Heinrich, Lord of Manderscheid-Kerpen. In 1608, Kyllburg townsman Petrus von Salm donated to the church the silver-gilt monstrance. By 1687, patronage was being exercised by the nobles of Roben and the heirs of Melbaum. By 1743, it was the Countess of Manderscheid.
On 11 October 1803, during the time of French rule, the Salm Mill (Salmer Mühle), which had belonged to the Counts of Manderscheid, was sold for 186 Thaler. By 1815, Salm belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia. Both before and after the Prussian takeover, extensive surveying and mapping were undertaken, first under Colonel Tranchot (1803-1813) and then under Generalmajor von Müffling (1816-1820).
The Year Without a Summer – 1816 – struck the Eifel hard, bringing famine, floods and weather damage along with it. Snow was still lying on the ground into June. Hay was only harvested in September, and the grain only ripened in October. That same month came frost, and by early November, snow was falling once again. The next year, 1817, the Eifel dwellers suffered under the lingering effects of the foregoing year's disastrous and unusual weather patterns. Common foodstuffs were not so common, and cost much more than usual. People were so hungry that they were eating livestock fodder and roots. The Prussian government helped ease the crisis by making available two million Thaler, and ensuring the poor their daily bread by buying up great quantities of grain from East Prussia.
In 1856, the whole lower village was destroyed in a great fire. One man, who had fallen asleep on some hay, was burnt alive.
Between 1869 and 1871, the Trier-Cologne railway line was built, putting the Ruhr area within much easier reach. The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) gave railway building the highest priority. This same time saw the decline of the Eifel's iron industry and an outflow of people to the new industrialized areas. In 1872, there were even advertisements in local newspapers exhorting people to emigrate to the "New World".
In 1887, there was yet again hardship due to the weather. This time it was drought and frost. The latter wrought devastation to fruit crops mainly in the dales, while sparing those higher up. The potato crop was very bad, and the price of potatoes soared that year as a result. Oats likewise yielded a very poor harvest, and the hay failed altogether. Six years later, in 1893, agriculture suffered once more. Summer and autumn were very dry, resulting in a dearth of fodder. Many farmers felt forced to sell their livestock off. Thin brushwood was being crushed and cut up for livestock fodder.
The year 1899, however, was in every respect a good year for farmers. The turn of the 20th century was an uneventful time until the First World War. A savings and loan institution was established in 1903 and a fire brigade in 1910.