Emskirchen

The coat of arms of the municipality Emskirchen. Since 1962, the municipality uses a coat of arms said to have been granted in 1552 during the Margrave War.

The municipality of Emskirchen is in Middle Franconia, approximately 35 kilometers to the northwest of Nuremberg, at the river Mittlere Aurach. The oldest documented reference to this municipality, then called Empichiskirchen, dates back to 1132. In those days it was named after Empichi, the founder of its church. In 1158, the small town, then part of the Duchy of Franconia, was called Emskirchen. In 1400, Emskirchen was granted the right to hold a market, i.e., the privilege of holding a permanent market, a weekly market or an annual fair. This was an important step for the town’s economic well-being.

Emskirchen benefitted from its location near the trade route between Nuremberg, Würzburg and Frankfurt. Initially, the inn "Goldener Hirsch" (Golden Deer) on Emskirchen’s central market square served as horse-changing station for the stagecoaches. In 1623, the inn was upgraded and became a coaching inn (with post house). This considerably increased the importance of Emskirchen as transportation hub. During the Thirty Years’ War, however, the town was looted several times, for the last time in 1631, and was nearly completely depopulated after that. In the aftermath of the war, 160 Protestants were displaced from Austria because of their faith and settled in Emskirchen, which was virtually deserted at that time and rebuilt the town. In the second half of the 17th and the first half of the 18th century, a substantial number of Huguenots, persecuted in France due to their Protestant faith, also settled in Emskirchen. Its location near the trade route enabled the town to rise again in no time. In the meantime, the post had opened up to the general public, and while only letters had been sent via the post house at first, transportation of people and goods was offered from 1705. Around 1746, Johannes Eckart came to Emskirchen. This is where he continued his training with the innkeeper and master brewer Friedrich Kurr in the inn "Goldener Hirsch" (Golden Deer). Following the death of the innkeeper, Johannes Eckart took over the inn in 1753 and was appointed Imperial Postmaster in 1757. This marked the beginning of the Eckarts’ "postmaster line".

Originally a wooden structure, the well on Emskirchen’s market square, which was used to water the horses of the post house and as water supply for all Emskirchen, was replaced by a stone fountain with a Hercules statue in 1800/1801. This fountain had been bought from the neighboring municipality Baiersdorf. The fountain statue had been transported to Emskirchen on a three-horse carriage owned by Maria Christina Eckart and driven by her son Carl August.

In 1861, the construction of a railway line between Nuremberg and Würzburg was authorized in Munich. The railway heralded the end of the post house. The construction work on the railway route led to another short-lived upswing in Emskirchen. From 1862 to 1865, a bridge for crossing the river Mittlere Aurach was built here. For a long time, this bridge with a height of 37.5 meters, was the highest bridge in Bavaria. Upon inauguration of the railway line in the summer of 1865, Emskirchen’s time as transportation hub was over. All members of the Eckart family left the town between 1850 and 1870.

Panoramic shot of Emskirchen, undated.