Böblingen


Böblingen is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, seat of Böblingen District. Sindelfingen and Böblingen are contiguous.

History

Böblingen was founded by Count Wilhelm von Tübingen-Böblingen in 1253. Württemberg acquired the town in 1357, and on 12 May 1525 one of the bloodiest battles of the German Peasants' War took place in Böblingen. Jörg Truchsess von Waldburg attacked a force of 15,000 armed peasants; 3,000 were killed. By the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the population of Böblingen had been reduced to 600.
After the establishment of the Kingdom of Württemberg, Böblingen became the seat of an Oberamt in 1818. The town was connected to the railroad network in 1879, allowing industrialization to take place. In the context of administrative reform in 1938, Böblingen Oberamt became Böblingen Landkreis.
During World War I, an airbase was established. It went into service on 16 August 1915. It had a significant impact on the further development of the city. In 1925 the airbase became the Landesflughafen of Baden-Württemberg called Böblingen Airport. The aircraft pioneer Hanns Klemm established his company "Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau GmbH" next to it. Until the Second World War it was the major employer in Böblingen.
During World War II, the town had a Luftwaffe airbase and military barracks. On 1 September 1939 the airbase was the home station for the I/JG 52 flying the Bf109 E-1 fighter aircraft.
On the night of 7 October 1943 during World War II, Allied air forces dropped 408 incendiary bombs and 35 high explosive bombs, killing 20 men, 12 women, 12 children and wounding 200 people. 1,735 people lost their homes and 70 percent of the old town was destroyed. In July 1944, another attack followed, killing 36 more civilians.
In 1945 the district town of Böblingen fell into the American zone of occupation and belonged to the newly founded state of Württemberg-Baden, which merged in 1952 in the present state of Baden-Württemberg.
After the currency reform of June 20, 1948, a dynamic reconstruction began. The population tripled in just two decades. With the settlement of future-oriented companies such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard as well as medium-sized companies, which have also settled on the Hulb since the 1970s, strong economic growth began in parallel with the increase in population.
In 1962, Böblingen was designated a Große Kreisstadt. Its current boundaries were established in 1971 when the it was merged with the municipality of Dagersheim.

Population history

Transport

Böblingen is easily reached by multiple forms of transport.
;Air
Böblingen is about 20 minutes away from Stuttgart Airport via S-Bahn.
;Automobile
The interchange between the federal freeways A 8 and A 81 lies northeast from Böblingen. A 81 leads past the north of the city. The exits are Böblingen Ost, Böblingen/Sindelfingen, Böblingen Hulb and Ehningen. Federal highways B 464 and B 14 run by the city.
;Rail
Böblingen station is situated on the Gäu Railway from Stuttgart to Singen. Regional trains serve the city every hour.
;Local bus and rail
Local public transport within Böblingen operates under the uniform prices and coordination of the Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund Stuttgart. The S1 S-Bahn line connects Böblingen with Stuttgart and its S-Bahn network. The travel time to Stuttgart is about 25 minutes.
In 1996, the Schönbuchbahn line to Dettenhausen was re-activated. In 2004 the reactivation of the Rankbachbahn line to Renningen began and since 2010 it has been served by line S60 of the S-Bahn.
In addition to the main rail station, the following stations also serve the city: on S-Bahn line S1: Goldberg and Hulb; on the Schönbuchbahn line: Danziger Street, Böblingen Süd, Heusteig Street and Zimmerschlag. Numerous bus routes operate in the city, and are also under the VVS.

U.S. military

is a US base where headquarters are located for Marine Corps Forces, Europe, 'Marine Corps Forces, Africa and the 1st Battalion of the US Army's 10th Special Forces Group. This former German military installation was the home of the US Army's 7th Army Support Command until mid-1969 and its VII Corps successor VII Corps COSCOM. Later, units of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division were stationed here as part of VII Corps.

Education

has two lower levels of school, Kindergarten and elementary school, and three upper levels of school, Werkrealschule, Realschule and Gymnasium. Parents decide, at the end of the fourth grade, which level of school the child should attend based on academic performance and aptitude.
In Boeblingen there are:
The Böblingen–Sindelfingen area is the location of several large enterprises:
Böblingen/Sindelfingen can be called a center of both automobile and computer industries. Daimler develops and manufactures its Mercedes brand of luxury cars here.
Hewlett-Packard and IBM develop computer systems, software and electronic products in the area. Böblingen was once also a major center of European computer manufacturing, with an IBM semiconductor and printed circuit board lab and an HP computer systems manufacturing operation. Most of those electronics-production sites have either been closed or moved to other locations.

Sports

The Sporthalle served as one of two playgrounds for the FIBA EuroBasket 1971.

International relations

Böblingen is twinned with:
All twinned cities compete in a twin town Olympiad every 3 years, excluding Sömmerda.

Sons and daughters of the city