The New International Encyclopædia/Gelnhausen

GELNHAUSEN, gĕln'hou-zen. An ancient town in the Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau, situated on the River Kinzig, 27 miles northeast of Frankfort. It is surrounded by walls, and its most interesting buildings are the Church of Saint Mary, built in Transition style in the thirteenth century, and recently restored; the Rathaus; and a building dating from the time of Frederick I., and supposed to be a guild house. On a small islet in the Kinzig lie some well-preserved parts of an Imperial palace erected by Frederick I. in the twelfth century. The town has also a monument to Philip Reis, the alleged inventor of the telephone and a native of Gelnhausen. The town once had the rank of an Imperial city, and was the temporary residence of several emperors. Population, in 1900, 4589.