Wintersheim

The municipality lies in Rhenish Hesse about 9 km west of the Rhine, between Mainz and Worms. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Rhein-Selz.

In 766, Wintersheim had its first documentary mention in the Lorsch codex. On 17 June 766, a man named Hairdin made the first gift to the Lorsch Abbey of a vineyard that yielded 4 Ohm – about 160 L – of wine. Following over the next 40 years were 17 further donations of vineyards. Winegrowing, therefore, must have played an important rôle in the Wintersheim municipal area in the 8th century.

In 1467, Landgrave Hesso von Leiningen-Dagsburg died. His holdings fell to his sister Margarethe von Leiningen-Westerburg. Her brothers, who were styled von Leiningen-Hartenburg, raised fierce opposition to this, and Margarethe had to call on Elector Palatine Friedrich I for help. She promised the Elector in a partition agreement in 1471 half of the disputed 19 villages for his successful support. After Margarethe's death, her son Reinhard I of Leiningen sold Elector Palatine Philip “the Upright” a share of the villages in question. Among the sold villages was Wintersheim, which thereby became Palatine. Wintersheim received in 1589 a court and village charter. It can be found in the Hessian State Archive, Darmstadt (Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt) in the “Weistümer” collection under the number 118. In the framework of the Napoleonic Wars, there came the first invasion by French Revolutionary troops. The end of Electoral Palatinate rule came after 1796. Wintersheim was assigned to the canton of Oppenheim.

Wintersheim, Eimsheim and Dolgesheim were united in 1801 at the lowest level of French administration and were given a common mayoralty. With the adoption of the Act of German Confederation, Wintersheim passed with the third province, later known as the Province of Rhenish Hesse (Provinz Rheinhessen), to the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Samuel Dettweiler became Wintersheim's first mayor in 1836. The founding of the Dorn-Dürkheim-Wintersheim savings and load association followed in 1872, and of the consumer association in 1873. In 1875 came the founding of the singing club Einigkeit (“Unity”)

• 1906 Building of the water supply network and the Wintersheim watertower
• 1913 Connection to the electricity grid
• 1926 Gymnastic club's founding
• 1954-1958 Flurbereinigung
• 1972 Assignment to the Verbandsgemeinde of Guntersblum
• 1976 Wintersheim gets its own Dorfgemeinschaftshaus (“village community house”)
• 1988 Canal and road building
• 1989 Renovation of the Town Hall (built 1829)

Thomas Bischmann is the Ortsbürgermeister, elected in May 2019.^[1]

The municipality's arms might be described thus: Azure a windmill's windshaft and four sails attached thereto in saltire argent.