town. The reader furthermore learns something about the Palatinate woodlands, the iron-ore mining in the Ledenwald (forest) and the Guldenbach (brook), which has this name only from Rheinböllen on down, being called the Volkenbach farther upstream. By the late 17th century at the latest, Rheinböllen was a Schultheißerei together with Dichtelbach and Erbach. In the 18th century, Electorate of the Palatinate posted the local tollkeeper who collected the road tolls. In 1794, Emperor Napoleon annexed the Rhine's left bank, which would remain French for two decades. The Bürgermeisterei ("Mayoralty") of Rheinböllen thereby became the Mairie (also "Mayoralty") of Rheinböllen. The brewer and innkeeper Johann Jakob Mades served as maire (mayor). In 1804, the French emperor visited the Hunsrück in person, and young citizens from Rheinböllen, Dichtelbach, Ellern, Mörschbach and Kleinweidelbach had to ride out to meet him. When allied troops crossed the Rhine on New Year's Night 1813–1814 near Kaub, France's hegemony in the region fell, and the Rhineland became Prussian. On the day that followed, New Year's Day 1814, Prince William, Field Marshal Blücher and Field Marshal Gneisenau rested at the Evangelical rectory for a few hours. After the Congress of Vienna, the earlier Mairies of Argenthal and Rheinböllen, along with Liebshausen, were merged to form the Prussian Amt of Rheinböllen. Friedrich Mades, Johann Jakob Mades's son, became the mayor and served in that capacity until his death in 1851 – 35 years all together. Less than a century later, the village lived the blackest day in its history. On 16 March 1945, the Second World War was in its death throes, at least in Europe. On this morning, a handful of SS men rather ill-advisedly decided to try to hold off the American advance on Rheinböllen, and to that end, destroyed an American tank. By way of response, the remaining tanks, supported by artillery, let loose a furious barrage on Rheinböllen. Some 25 properties did not survive the onslaught and were utterly destroyed. All that was left standing of the Evangelical church was the surrounding wall. The Catholic church's tower, too, was struck, but somehow managed to stay standing. Amazingly, only one citizen was killed, but thirty families were left homeless on this day. After the war, Rheinböllen's skyline changed lastingly owing to steady growth. In rapid succession, one building zone after another sprang up, and the population rose sharply. In 1946, the year when Rheinböllen became part