Ostfildern - Town of new ideas and of unreserved mutuality

 

Situated right in the centre of Greater Stuttgart – not far from Stuttgart, Esslingen on Neckar and the Filder Communities – Ostfildern covers 22,81 square kilometres.

This district town houses more than 37.000 inhabitants. It is amongst the youngest of towns in Baden-Württemberg and continuously growing. During the course of 1975’s reforms in the county administration sector Ostfildern was founded in clubbing together four communities.

Each of these communities looks back on 800 to 900 years of history. So Parksiedlung estate as part of Nellingen is comparatively young. Just 50 years have passed, since it came into being in order to fight housing shortage due to the Second World War. Yet the youngest part of town is Scharnhauser Park. When the US-Army left Nellingen Barracks in the early 1990s, the former military premises was developed to an attractive modern residential area.

Scharnhauser Park was not simply invented by those creative people and copywriters, but it spans 200 years of county history, with its origin lying in Körschtal – a valley near Scharnhausen. There Duke Carl Eugen built a neo-classical manor house surrounded by a landscape garden including a game reserve. Later on, King William I. established the Royal private stud by extending into the area. Today the tradition of breeding the famous Arabian horses is continued by the Land Stud Marbach. This area hardly ever has been open to the public. Hedges, fences or a barbed-wire fence prohibited trespassing. It was not until 1998 that the last piece of fence was pulled down, thus clearing the way for the pilot-project, featuring a combination of urbanism, ecology, habitation, work, child-friendliness and leisure time. Here the surrounding nature is allowed to sprawl into the urban space. In 2006 this urban development plan won the German Town Award. And Ostfildern’s citizens are enjoying the urban setting in a rural environment.

In the past the communities were agriculturally formed, by now economical progress is the essential characteristic of the town. Ostfildern is proud to call itself the centre of print and publishing industry of the area. Dr. Cantz’sche Druckerei (Print), MairDumont-Verlag (Publisher) and the Verlagsgruppe Fink (Publishing Group) are located here - attracting supplying firms covering the whole media industry, including numerous advertising agencies. Further focus lies on engineering, the automotive supplying industry and transport.

Of course, Ostfildern has a lot to offer in the cultural field and excels in vivid cultural activities. Despite its short history, Ostfildern supplies for Cultural facilities which are known beyond the town borders – for example the town’s school of music, the adult education centre, the public library and its four local branches, the gallery, the town archive and the culture department. Next to cultural diversity, a pleasure in experimenting and finding new or untrodden paths may be noticed.

Societies, associations and clubs always have been of great importance and cultivate cultural identity in Ostfildern. Numerous music societies, choirs and initiatives are to be mentioned, of which the school of music only is one voice. Music enthusiasts are to be found in two accordion-clubs, five trombone choirs, several bands, twelve choirs and several orchestras. To match children’s needs and interests, there is a special arts and crafts workshop, or a circus, a theatre, several sport clubs and more.

 

Who is playing music?

_ Municipal school of music
_ Accordion-Club Scharnhausen- Accordion Orchestra Nellingen
_ Band of the Catholic Church >oneSound<
_ block flute orchestra >da capo<Ostfildern (association)
_ YMCA Trombone Choir Nellingen- YMCA Trombone ChoirRuit
_ Ensemble Christian Hoppe
_ Protestant Church Choir Nellingen
_ Protestant Church Choir  Scharnhausen
_ Protestant Church Choir Ruit
_ Protestant-methodist Church Choir Nellingen
_ Protestant-methodist Church trombone choirNellingen
_ Protestant Church Trombone Choir Kemnat
_ Protestant Church Trombone Choir Scharnhausen
_ ‘Filderharmony e.V.’ – municipal orchestra of Ostfildern
_ Choral society Harmony Nellingen
_ Chamber Choir Ostfildern
_ Catholic Church Choir Kemnat
_ Male-voice Choir Ostfildern
_ Music Society 1927 e.V.
_ Municipal band Ruit
_ Singers’ Club Ruit 1863
_ Singers’ Joy Scharnhausen
_ Singers’ Club Liederkranz Kemnat 1842 
_  ‘Singvolution’
_ ‘Swingin’ Harmony’
_ Beat and Tone, protestant Church Parksiedlung

 

Further cultural protagonists
_ workshop for children
_Theatre club ‘Kulissenschieber’
_ ‘Kickfair’
_ ‘Schapanesen’
_ ‘Jugendhaus L-Quadrat’: children’s circus
_ Breakdance group ‘Flashrockers’
_ Hip Hop Girls
_ Dialect Theatre
_ Schwäbischer Albverein Scharnhausen >Körschtaler<
_ Kemnat choir  >Schäferkarra<

 

Places of interest / What to see

_ Buildings on the former military airfield, Scharnhauser Park 

_ Former monastery

_ Steps in open country, Scharnhauser Park

_ Site of the former landscape garden show Scharnhauser Park

_ Little Palace and Temple of Cupid, Scharnhausen 

_ Town Hall by the architect Jürgen Mayer H. (housing art gallery, public library, adult education centre, school of music, citizen centre hall) 

_ Centre near the former tram depot (now housing theatre, adult education centre, school of music, meeting facilities for the elderly), Nellingen 

_ Office building Zeppelinstraße Kemnat