surrounded by Catholic neighbours. The Counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg died out in 1736, whereupon Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Kassel found themselves at odds over the village. In 1771, Dudenhofen was annexed by the County of Hesse-Kassel. Above the main entrance to the Baroque Evangelical church is therefore found Hesse-Kassel's coat of arms. Underneath the arms is the inscription Was unter Hessens Lust Erbprinz Wilhelm gebaut, sei Dir, o wahrer Gott, zur Pflege nun vertraut (“That built under Hesse’s desire Hereditary Prince William, be it trusted unto Thee, O true God, for its care”). Meant here is William IX. In 1807, the Amt of Babenhausen along with Dudenhofen passed to French administration. In 1811, Dudenhofen was absorbed into the Grand Duchy of Hesse. In 1896 the Rodgaubahn (railway) with a railway station in Dudenhofen opened. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many young men emigrated to the Americas to seek their fortune. Today, agriculture, except for asparagus growing, plays no further rôle. Population development In the Thirty Years' War, the village's population suffered great losses. In 1622 alone, 155 of the 430 inhabitants lost their lives. In 1631 the Plague claimed 104 victims. Only 26 inhabitants lived to see the war end. In 1681, Dudenhofen had 38 households and 139 inhabitants. In 1834 there were 1,139 people in the village, almost all Evangelical but for one long established Jewish family, the Reinhardt family, that was driven out of the village in 1938 shortly after Kristallnacht. In 1939 there were 2,120 inhabitants and in 1970, 4,628. In late 2007 the constituent community had 7,967 inhabitants. Nieder-Roden The centre that is now Rodgau's biggest constituent community had its first documentary mention as early as 786 when the Rotaha Monastery was bequeathed to the Lorsch Abbey. The name might go back to the Siedlung auf einer gerodeten Aue (“Settlement on a cleared floodplain”), but it is also likely that it comes from the Rodau, which runs through the community, and which rises in Rotliegend near Urberach. During floods, it was once known to run red (rot in German). Whereabouts the monastery lay is to this day unknown. Finds, however, confirm that people were settling in what is now Nieder-Roden long before the Christian Era. In the Middle Ages, the surrounding woodlands belonged to the Wildbann Dreieich, a royal hunting forest, one of whose 30 Wildhuben (special estates whose owners were charged with guarding the hunting forest) was