DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Niedersachsen	Lower Saxony
Landkreis: Osnabrück

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Bad Essen is situated at an elevation of 90 m at the river Hunte and Mittelland canal in the district Osnabrück of southwestern Lower Saxony.

The earliest mention of Essen is found in a document of 1075. Even older are today's districts of Hördinghausen (mentioned as Ordinchusen in 969), Rabber (mentioned in 1033) and Wehrendorf (mentioned in 1068). The parishes of Essen, Barkhausen and Lintorf were founded around 1100. The castle of Wittlage was founded in 1309/13 as a stronghold of the prince bishops of Osnabrück. After the secularisation of 1802/03 the area at first became part of the Electorate of Hannover but already in 1806 was incorporated into Prussia. One year later, in 1807, it became part of the Napoleonic kingdom of Westphalia. After the defeat in 1813 of the French the area was returned to the Kingdom of Hannover by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. With Hannover it passed to Prussia in 1866.

The earliest reports of salt production in Essen date from the year 1200. A new saline was then founded in 1447. This was the basis for the spa of Essen, which was officially recognized in 1902 when the name of the municipality was officialy changed to Bad Essen. The official status of a state-approved spa was granted in 1977. After the discovery of a new saline spring Bad Essen now also has a thermal saline spa.

The present municipality was formed in 1974 by the unification of the communities of Bad Essen, Barkhausen, Brockhausen, Büscherheide, Dahlinghausen, Eielstädt, Harpenfeld, Heithöfen, Hördinghausen, Hüsede, Linne, Lintorf, Lockhausen, Rabber, Wehrendorf, Wimmer and Wittlage. The municipality has a total population of about 15,700 (2002).

The old water mill [above left] is the popular landmark of Bad Essen. A mill on this site was already mentioned in 1359. The present building was erected around 1780. The mill-wheel has a diameter of 5 metres. The grinding gear of the mill was reconstructed in 1984. Since 1985 the mill is open to the public.
[http://www.badessen.de/staticsite/staticsite.php?topmenu=35&menuid=73]