Kelsterbach

Kelsterbach (ˈkɛl.stɐˌbax) is a town in Groß-Gerau district in Hessen, Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located on Frankfurt's southwestern outskirts at a bend on the left bank of the river Main, right where a small brook, called the Kelster (and Bach means "brook") joins the river. After the Frankfurt–Mainz railway line was built, this formerly mostly agricultural village was transformed by the great number of large factories that located here, bringing along with them a great upswing in the town's population. In the decades following the Second World War, many businesses that were related to Frankfurt International Airport moved to the town. Kelsterbach is home to 16,565 people (). The town is an important centre for logistical service providers and chemical production. In 1952, it acquired the status of "town." The town lies on the south side of the Main and west of the Frankfurt City Forest. The original village centre, commonly known as the Lower Village (Unterdorf) borders sharply on the considerably bigger housing developments commonly known as the Upper Village (Oberdorf), which arose only after the railway and industrialization came early in the 20th century over the 17 m-high Kelsterbach Terrace, which stretches 8 km west from the Frankfurt City Forest. The town is part of the Greater Frankfurt Region (Stadtregion Frankfurt) as well as the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region. Kelsterbach borders in the west on the Hattersheim am Main constituent community of Okriftel (Main-Taunus-Kreis), in the north on the Frankfurt am Main (district-free city) constituent communities of Sindlingen, Höchst and Schwanheim, in the east and south on the airport lands, and in the southwest on the town of Raunheim. Kelsterbach consists of only one constituent community. Until a short time ago, Kelsterbach was deemed to be the place where Europe's earliest anatomically modern humans had been found. A Cro-Magnon skull that became known as the "Lady from Kelsterbach", reputedly dated to 32,000 years ago, vanished without a trace amid the scandal over the anthropologist Reiner Protsch, and was likely a fake.