Baunatal is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is a comparatively young town which arose from fusion of the formerly independent municipalities Altenbauna, Altenritte, Großenritte, Guntershausen, Hertingshausen, Kirchbauna and Rengershausen in 1966. In 1999, the town hosted the 39th Hessentag state festival. Geography Geographic location Baunatal directly borders on the south of Kassel and is located to the west of the valley of the Fulda river. West and northwest the town borders on the Habichtswald with the Baunsberg (413,4 m above sea level) in the north. Baunatal got its name from the Bauna river, which traverses the town from the northwest to the southeast until it flows into the Fulda near Guntershausen. Neighbouring communities Baunatal borders in the north on the municipality of Schauenburg and the urban district of Kassel, in the east on the municipality of Fuldabrück, in the southeast on the municipality of Guxhagen, in the south on the municipality of Edermünde and in the west on the town of Niedenstein. History The Volkswagenwerk Kassel was built in 1957 on the former premises of the Henschel & Son company in Altenbauna. In 1960, just one year after start of production, the number of employees exceeded 6,000. Due to this rapid development the residential area and housing demands were rising. As a consequence of this the three municipalities Altenbauna, Altenritte and Kirchbauna fused into Baunatal on 1 January 1964. On 1 July 1966 with incorporation of Großenritte, Baunatal received town privileges by the Government of Hesse. First mayor of the new founded town was Horst Werner. At this time the number of inhabitants was 11,705 and the number of employees of the Volkswagen factory was about 13,400. On 1 October 1971 the municipality of Hertingshausen joined Baunatal. On 1 August 1972 finally the municipality of Buchenhagen, which was a fusion of Guntershausen and Rengershausen, joined Baunatal. The population of Baunatal was about 19,300 in 1972. Currently () the number of inhabitants is . Transport Baunatal is connected to the city of Kassel by trams and buses. The town also has its own bus network called StadtBus Baunatal which is operated by the Regionalverkehr Kurhessen GmbH (RKH). In addition the quarters Rengershausen and Gunterhausen are connected to the national rail network and provide connection to the Main–Weser Railway and the Frederick William Northern Railway by means of the RegioTram Kassel. Baunatal is connected to the