Waldbröl

View from the market place with the Roman Catholic (l) and Protestant (r) churches

In 1131, the place was mentioned for the first time, as Waltprugele in a papal deed of ownership for the St. Cassius abbey in Bonn. In this document Pope Innocent II confirmed the Church's ownership and the ecclesiastical tithe (which later evolved into land tax and wealth tax). Back then, this housing estate belonged to the sphere of influence of the first counts of Berg, as well as of the first counts of Sayn. In the same year, construction began on a new Protestant church, whose steeple survives to the present day.

In 1174, Waldbröl came under the governance of Homburg, which was owned by the counts of Sayn. However, the property situation between the counts of Berg and of Sayn remained controversial.

The first reference to a Waldbröl citizen was in a document of 1212, when a priest named Wolradu resided there and made a donation to St. Michael's abbey in the Berg county.

In 1261, the knightly Isengarten dynasty was mentioned for the first time, followed by Diezenkausen in 1300 and Beuinghausen in 1323. They were long term ministers of the counts of Sayn and Berg and had received fiefs from them in the area of the modern town.

In 1314, Waldbröl experienced an epidemic plague and a big famine. The first modern districts of Waldbröl were mentioned in 1316. In 1575, almost all today's districts were drawn on the map by Arnoldus Mercator.[upper-alpha 1]

By the Treaty of Siegburg, Waldbröl went to the duchy of Berg and was attributed to the Windeck authority. When Johann Wilhelm, the last duke of Berg-Mark, died in 1609, the Treaty of Xanten attributed the Berg County (including Waldbröl) to the duchy of Pfalz-Neuburg of the Wittelsbach family.

Between 1816 and 1932, the town of Waldbröl was the residence of the head of the district authority and seat of the Prussian Administrative District of Waldbröl existing at that time.

On December 15, 1906, the extension of the Wiehl Valley railroad[2] was brought on steam from Wiehl to Waldbröl, linking Waldbröl to the German railway network.

Since 1952 Waldbröl has been entitled to bear the town coat of arms as described in §2, section 2, of the main statute of the town: "On a green ground a black oak tree, bearing leaves and acorns, between two small silver shields. At the base of the tree a silver brook flows. The left-hand shield bears an inverted blue ploughshare; the right-hand shield bears a red lion rampant, with blue teeth and claws and a forked tail."

• District Hospital
• District court
• Centre for a Buddhist religious community, in the former armed forces academy is the European Institute of Applied Buddhism, The EIAB.[3] 20 monks and 30 nuns live there as apprentices of the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. He is the best known Buddhist after the Dalai Lama.

• Witham (United Kingdom)
• Jüterbog (Brandenburg)
• Świebodzice (Poland)

• Protestant church with 12th century Romanesque style steeple and 12th century baptismal font
• Catholic church
• Bruchhausen Mill (Bruchhauser Mühle)
• "The Wall: (aka "the Hitler Wall"), a remnant of Robert Ley's megalomaniacal projects during the Nazi era, offering an panoramic view of Waldbröl and a magnificent distant view over the landscape of upper Berg county. It was a part of the projected Adolf Hitler School. In the early 1980s, unknowns painted the slogan "No more war!" in huge letters upon the wall. Recently the wall got a complete overhaul and the slogan was re-painted. The wall is now officially approved as a "Monument To Peace".
• In 1863, a monument was erected in the vicinity of the Protestant church in honour of Prussian King Frederick William III: a donation from the Waldbröl district on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the struggle for independence of the Prussian state. The inscription reads: "Dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm III. der Kreis Waldbröl – 17. März 1863 (Dedicated to King Frederick William III The Waldbröl district - March 17th, 1863)"
• Terminal station of the heritage-protected Wiehl Valley Railway (Wiehltalbahn); historic steam locomotive 'Waldbröl' (Sorry, German only).[2]
• Since autumn 2015, there is a combined youth hostel/nature discovery park on the area of the former Nutscheid-barracks at the Nutscheidstraße – between the southwestern edge of the heart of the town and the Herfen urban district: Panarbora. The roughly one-mile (1635 m) long canopy pathway of the park runs at a height of max. 131.2 ft (40 m) and has an access- and viewing tower 111.5 ft (34 m) high.

• Elementary schools in Waldbröl-Hermesdorf, Waldbröl-Isengarten and Waldbröl-Wiedenhof
• Common main school, Waldbröl
• Municipal middle school, Waldbröl
• Comprehensive school, Waldbröl
• Hollenberg grammar school, Waldbröl
• Business college of upper Berg county, Waldbröl
• Roseggerschule, special school for educationally handicapped students
• Nursing school of the Waldbröl county hospital

Cattle market, village fair, St. Martin's market, Christmas market, historic train rides on the Wiehltalbahn.

• Free Evangelical Community
• Baptist Church (Registered association)
• Mennonite Brethren
• Plymouth Brethren
• Apostolate Community of the United Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Registered association)
• Jehovah's Witnesses[4]

• Village community Boxberg
• Village community Brenzingen
• Society for tourism and town embellishing Waldbröl (Registered association)
• Waldbröler MGV 1862 (Registered association)
• Zither circle, Waldbröl
• Singing society, Waldbröl
• Badminton club, Waldbröl
• Chess association 1928 (Registered association), Waldbröl
• Swimming association (Registered association), Waldbröl (1935/59)
• Sports community for invalids (Versehrtensportgemeinschaft Waldbröl), Waldbröl
• TuS 06 Waldbröl (Registered association)
• Tennis club "Tennisfreunde am Schornstein (Registered association)" (tennis friends at the chimney)
• Town sport organization, Waldbröl
• Outdoor sport association (soccer), Waldbröl
• Misc. wildlife and nature societies
• Förderkreis Zur Rettung Der Wiehltalbahn (Society for the Preservation of the Wiehl Valley Railway)

• Otto Budde, Waldbröl – wie es wurde, was es ist, Gummersbach 1981
• Otto Budde, Das Dorf der Väter, Gummersbach 1987
• Gottfried Corbach, Geschichte von Waldbröl, Cologne 1973