Ramstein-Miesenbach is a town in the district of Kaiserslautern in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany, adjacent to the U.S. Ramstein Air Base. History As a result of the State of Rheinland-Pfalz administrative reform, Ramstein-Miesenbach, which has a population of approx. 9,200, was created on 7 June 1969 from the independent villages of Ramstein and Miesenbach. City designation was awarded in 1991. Ramstein-Miesenbach is the administrative center of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") of Ramstein-Miesenbach which, with its approx. 19,100 inhabitants, is the largest Verbandsgemeinde in Kaiserslautern district. Ramstein During Roman times there was a village on the old east-west road north of the Western Palatinate swamps. Ceramic shards, coins and the remains of a Roman villa were found near "Unterschernauer" Mill, thus demonstrating that people have lived in this area since Roman times. Ramstein is first mentioned in a document dated 2 June 1215. With this document Emperor Frederic II, the grandson of Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, gave to his knight Reinhard von Lautern the protector's rights of the Ramstein church along with its two subsidiary churches in Weilerbach and Spesbach. This knight's successor, Siegfried von Hohenecken, transferred the protectorate to the "Deutschorden" (Knights Order) in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. In 1366 the knight Johannes von Ramstein lived in Ramstein. He served the counts of Veldenz and had his own court. In the 14th century Ramstein became part of the area under the Palatinate Elector. In a document dated 18 October 1387 Ramstein was the center of the Ramstein court and administrative area. The village and the court belonged to the Lautern district. Court seals were found dated 1674 and 1774. After the invasion of the French in 1793 the court was dissolved. The Napoleonic Administrative Reform made Ramstein and Landstuhl into one mayoral district. Ramstein became its own mayoral entity in 1818. Ramstein was almost completely depopulated in the Thirty Years War of the 17th century. Nine families settled in the area again in 1684. In 1802 there were 368 people in Ramstein. Economic hardship in the 1850s and 1860s forced many people to emigrate; however, by 1900 the population had grown again to 2000. In addition to farming, peat harvesting became an important industry in the 18th and 19th century. After the railroad was built in 1868 many Ramstein men started working in the coal mines of the Saarland. The textile industry arrived in Ramstein in the 19th century. The former farming and artisan