Mertzwiller

This village of plain is located at the accesses of the low timbered hills, into full heart with the valley of Zinsel. As for many of its neighbors, the existence of the village is attested since very moved back times.
Excavations reveal that at the time Roman, the village was located on a transportation route connecting Mittelhausen to Gundershoffen.
The village will be devastated by War the Thirty Year old and the inhabitants will seek refuge in forest. In 1645, the village is still deserted, the grounds remain in waste lands and much of batches are null and void. Repopulation is done gently and must much with immigration.
At the XIXème century, the commune, then typically agricultural and forest, becomes an industrial borough with the creation of textile manufactures and the installation of forging mills which will be then repurchased by DE DIETRICH.
The area of Niederbronn-Mertzwiller was, between 1750 and 1850, that where the demographic pressure was strongest. It is at this period that the ''workman-peasants will appear'' cultivating the ground and working with the factory.
The Franco-German conflicts of 1870 and 1914-18 will save the village relatively. On the other hand this one is mainly destroyed at the time of the Second World war. Indeed, with its strategic position on Zinsel, Mertzwiller becomes a major stake and a point of obliged passage. That will involve hard combat which will make the most touched town of it canton of Niederbronn.