Editing Groß-Gerau (section)

==History==
Already by [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] times, the area forming today's town of Groß-Gerau had great importance. A [[fort]] in the area of the constituent community of Auf Esch ensured a bridgehead for the Roman provincial capital of Moguntiacum (Mainz), even before the [[Limes Germanicus|Limes]] was established and southern Hesse became Roman. Federal Highway (''Bundesstraße'') B44 from the southern tip of the old pheasantry (at Auf Esch) to Dornheim corresponds exactly with the old [[Roman road]] from Mainz through Groß-Gerau to [[Ladenburg]]. It led to the fort's south gate. With the founding of the ''Civitas Auderiensium'' (Dieburg), the fort was forsaken. The camp ([[Vicus (Rome)|vicus]]) remained and became a market village. The fact that this vicus and the later mentioned Wasserburg Dornberg (moat-ringed castle) corresponded very closely in location would be no accident.

The ''Gerauer Mark'' (Gerau March, the woods between Wallerstädten and Messel) had its first documentary mention in one of Mainz Archbishop [[Hatto I, Archbishop of Mainz|Hatto I]]'s donation documents in 910. In the time that followed, the Lords of [[Dornberg]], held sway in the region, likely doing so as the [[Hohenstaufen]] emperors' vassals in the Frankfurt Palatinate (in 1160, a moat-ringed castle is mentioned in what is now the Dornberg area). After the Lords of Dornberg died out came the Counts of [[Katzenelnbogen]] as their successors. The new overlords managed to procure town rights for Groß-Gerau in 1398. In 1479, Count Philip the Elder died without a male heir and the county passed to Hesse. In 1578, building work on the Town Hall was begun. This was where the ''Schöffengericht'' ("Jurymen's Court") and the ''[[Schultheiß]]en'' (roughly "[[sheriff]]s") appointed by the [[Landgrave]]s sat. Groß-Gerau's town church was burnt down in 1634 by Imperial troops during the [[Thirty Years' War]]. Landgrave Ludwig VI of Hesse-Darmstadt renewed Groß-Gerau's town rights in 1663 for a payment of 24000 [[Rhenish guilder|Gulden]]. These rights included the abolition of compulsory labour, market stall levies, representation in the ''[[Landtag]]'' and the right to drive [[Jew]]s out of the town.

In the 19th century, [[industrialization]] began in Groß-Gerau, too, as elsewhere. Given the connection to the ''Hessische Ludwigsbahn'' ([[railway]]) with the [[Darmstadt]]-[[Mainz]] stretch in 1858 and the [[Frankfurt am Main]]-[[Mannheim]] stretch in 1879 (the ''Riedbahn''), a multifaceted industrial life sprang up. The town became headquarters to [[metalworking]] businesses (FAGRO), [[Cannery|canneries]] (Helvetia), [[cheese]]makers (Groß-Gerau is where "Mainz" cheese is made) and the [[sugar]] industry. From 1869 to 1871, Groß-Gerau was the epicentre of a series of mostly weak [[earthquake]]s. A plan to connect two local railway stations and the surrounding communities together with a [[tram]]way in the late 19th century fell through, and there are still no trams in the town even now.

Recently, the town's, and more particularly the district's economic situation has worsened. Relatively high debt loads and strict controls of public institutions (especially at the district level) by the government presidium in [[Darmstadt]] have led to this.<!---A POV comment added by a German editor? Just remember I only translated it!--->

The name Groß-Gerau means "Great Gerau", and the town shares its name with the village of Klein-Gerau – "Small Gerau" – a constituent community of Büttelborn.

===Population development===
({{small|Each time as at 31 December}})
* 1998 - 23,000
* 1999 - 23,147
* 2000 - 23,349
* 2001 - 23,342
* 2002 - 23,565
* 2003 - 23,600
* 2004 - 23,519
* 2017 - 25,496