Rüsselsheim am Main

Rüsselsheim am Main is the largest city in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany, in the state of Hessen. It lies on the Main between Frankfurt and Mainz, only a few kilometres from the river's mouth at Mainz, and it includes the suburbs of Bauschheim and Königstädten. It is one of seven special status cities in Hessen, meaning that it carries out several functions that counties normally provide. Its source article traces the foundation to a Frankish colony in the first half of the 5th century, and the first written mention, as Rucilesheim, comes from an inventory of royal hunting rights around the year 840. The settlement grew from a holding of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, and in 1435 Count John IV is recorded as the first to cultivate Riesling there. The city is internationally known for the car maker Opel, whose first cars were built there in 1899. Its population grew from 1,422 in 1829 to a record of 63,000 in 1978, driven by post-war refugees and by workers drawn to the Opel factories.