Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Heilbronn

HEILBRONN, a town of Württemberg, situated on the right bank of the Neckar. The streets of the old medieval town are narrow, and the houses have quaintly ornamented gable-ends and tapering pinnacles. The church of St. Kilian, partly Gothic and partly Renaissance; the old town hall; the Diebsthurm (“Thief's Tower”), in which Götz von Berlichingen was confined; and the house of the Teutonic Knights, now a barrack, are the principal buildings. The chief industries include the manufacture of silver plate, paper, sugar, salt, chicory, and chemicals, and there are iron and other metal foundries and machine shops. Fruit and wine are largely grown. Commercially the importance of Heilbronn depends on its trade in groceries, corn, and wood, and on its fairs for cattle, leather, wool, and fruit. In the vicinity gypsum and sandstone are quarried. Heilbronn is first mentioned in 741; in 1360 it became an imperial town; it suffered during the Peasants' War and the Thirty Years' War, and in 1802 it fell into the hands of Württemberg. Pop. about 43,000.