History of the “Ochsen” before 1900

3. Early development, building form and operating logic

The rural inn as a multi-purpose business

The historic “Ochsen” cannot usefully be understood as an isolated inn. Hospitality, the house’s own farming and the sale of sausages and other processed meat products are established parts of its history. Surviving family and house records also document fields, meadows, orchards and woodland, together with cattle, pigs and chickens. This combination corresponded to a widespread rural model in which supply, processing and hospitality were closely connected.

A business relying solely on food, drink or accommodation could be vulnerable in a mountain village where demand was seasonal, transport difficult and agriculture uncertain. A mixed operation could spread risk: if one part of the household economy performed poorly, other activities could help absorb the pressure. Agriculture, livestock keeping, food processing and hospitality therefore offered a broader economic base than any single activity on its own.

Architectural context

Historic multi-purpose buildings of this kind often brought living space, storage, food processing and hospitality under one roof. Large roof spaces could be used for supplies, substantial cellars for cool storage, and robust stairs and load-bearing walls for heavy loads. In buildings of this kind, solid construction was primarily practical rather than decorative.

Ground-floor and ancillary areas may have been used particularly intensively for business: dining room, kitchen areas, storage and work rooms, with access connected to deliveries or livestock. Upper floors were more likely to have carried residential and accommodation functions. Such historic room arrangements can continue to influence a building long after later alterations.

The house as a node in local movement

An inn in a topographically demanding location such as Hohenstaufen was not important only to the village itself. It formed part of a wider pattern of movement between village, market and town. Travellers could need a meal, a place to sleep, shelter for an animal, or simply somewhere to wait for weather conditions to improve and exchange information.

4. Topography, the ascent and transport geography

Seven kilometres was a significant journey

The distance between Göppingen and Hohenstaufen seems modest today. Before 1900, however, it represented a real expenditure of time and effort depending on weather, time of day and load. Travel relied on animal power, walking and roads whose condition was strongly weather-dependent. Every uphill kilometre mattered to a heavily loaded cart.

The climb as a practical constraint

Historical descriptions of local roads make clear that the climb to Hohenstaufen was not an easy approach. A steep road placed considerable demands on animals, vehicles, carters and travellers. Rain, mud, snow and ice increased the effort and risk and could make the route extremely difficult at certain times of year.

For an inn at the end of such an ascent, this difficulty could itself create demand: where the terrain forced people to stop, there was a need for food, warmth, drink, shelter for animals and accommodation. The location was therefore not only a disadvantage but also part of the economic setting in which the inn operated.

The inn as a stopping point

Although complete business records do not survive for every year, it is historically plausible to view the “Ochsen” as a place where travellers could do more than eat: they might rest animals, recover from the journey, wait for the weather, exchange information, make contacts and, where required, stay overnight.

A useful position within the local road network

Hohenstaufen was not situated on a major long-distance trade route, but it was a destination regularly approached from Göppingen: for livestock-market business, church occasions and, later, history-focused day trips. Each of these activities generated movement and therefore needs that a well-run inn could serve.

6. Early telephony and the historic “Telefon Nr. 2”

A short telephone number with historical value – and clear limits

The later 19th-century history of the house also includes early telephone access. Surviving material records the “Gasthaus und Metzgerei z. Ochsen” with the striking notation “Telefon Nr. 2”. Very short numbers of this kind belonged to early local telephone systems and are an instructive reminder of the technological changes taking place at the time.

One point is particularly important for the chronology of the operators: Telephone No. 2 is already documented for the period before Karl Mayer. It must therefore not be used as evidence that Karl Mayer was running the “Ochsen” in 1903 or 1906. In this account, 1907 remains the documented starting year of his tenure; earlier dates, where they appear in other material, are treated as conflicting source information rather than silently merged into the chronology.

The telephone number continued to evolve in the 20th century, with later forms including 262 and eventually 8062. That later development belongs mainly to the history from 1900 onward.

7. Livestock trade, markets and the inn as a place of negotiation

The inn as a place for business

In an age without telephones, bank accounts or commercial registers in the modern sense, business was often conducted across a table. A village inn was not only a place to rest; it could also provide space for negotiation, price discussions and transport arrangements. In south-west Germany, the “Leikauf” – a drink marking the conclusion of an agreement – was a social practice with practical economic significance.

For inns in a livestock-market setting, this could create additional economic value: alongside food and drink, the inn offered a sheltered place for conversation and negotiation. This connection is historically plausible for the “Ochsen”, although no detailed accounts of such individual market transactions survive.

Market days and seasonal demand

Hospitality before 1900 was strongly seasonal. Winter brought less through traffic; summer generally brought more. Market dates could produce far more business on a single day than a quiet week. An inn prepared with sufficient supplies, seating and an effective kitchen was better placed to benefit from such peaks in demand.

The meaning of the name

The name “Ochsen” fits naturally into the agricultural environment of the late 18th and 19th centuries. Oxen were important draught animals, slaughter animals and animals traded on regional livestock markets. The name alone does not prove that this was the precise reason for the choice of house name, but linguistically and economically it fits the historical setting of Hohenstaufen remarkably well.

8. Butchery and sausage sales in the history of the business

Historically established: agriculture, livestock and sausage sales

The house’s own farming and the sale of sausages and other processed meat products are documented parts of its history. Surviving records also mention fields, meadows, orchards and woodland, together with cattle, pigs and chickens and a broad system of self-sufficiency. Each activity must nevertheless be dated separately: the surviving evidence does not take every branch of the business equally far back.

More than a sideline

In the history of the “Ochsen”, meat and sausage processing was closely connected with agriculture, livestock keeping and hospitality. It formed an important part of the house’s economic chain: animal products from the household or the surrounding region could be processed, preserved and used or sold as food.

Butchery made it possible not only to provide fresh meat but also to turn animal products into forms that could be stored, transported and sold more effectively: cured meat, sausages, smoked products and provisions. Each processing step kept more of the value creation within the household business.

Processing as well as slaughter

The economic advantage lay in processing and preservation. For a connected household business, it was logical to link kitchen, stores and sausage sales closely. The exact dishes served in every early period are not fully documented.

Substantial meat dishes, soups, broths, stews and processed meat products were well suited to travellers engaged in physical work – cattle traders, carters, walkers, market visitors and labourers. Hospitality depended in part on providing what people needed after a demanding journey.

Skills before modern refrigeration

Before electric refrigeration, meat processing required considerable practical knowledge. Salt, smoke, airflow, season, room temperature and experience all affected keeping quality. Much of this knowledge was transmitted through family and craft practice rather than written manuals.

Seasonal patterns of slaughter and processing

Before industrial refrigeration, the calendar strongly influenced slaughtering practice. Larger slaughtering operations were favoured in colder months, when meat remained naturally cooler. Butchery therefore followed a seasonal rhythm, with different working patterns in autumn and winter than in summer, when fresh products had to be used more quickly.

9. Kitchen, stores and self-sufficiency

Self-supply from agriculture, garden and household production

The house’s system of self-sufficiency is well established in the surviving history. Vegetables came from the house’s own garden and were supplemented by purchase or exchange when necessary. Grain came from the house’s own fields or was likewise obtained through exchange. The agricultural property included fields, meadows, orchards and woodland.

Livestock included cattle and pigs as well as chickens. The household produced its own eggs, milk and butter. A private well and the distillation of spirits are also part of the surviving house history. Supply therefore rested on a broad combination of own production, storage, exchange and supplementary purchasing.

Household provisions and food for guests

The close connection between agriculture, storage, meat and sausage processing and the kitchen allowed the house to supply itself flexibly. Home-produced food could serve the family and the business, while purchasing and exchange supplemented what was not available in sufficient quantity. No complete menu or purchasing books survive for the early period to document every individual use.

Food storage as an essential task

For rural inns in the 19th century, keeping supplies was an important part of annual planning. Dried or salted meat, preserves, sausage stocks, flour and fats could help bridge seasonal fluctuations. At the “Ochsen”, this general economic pattern fits particularly well with the documented combination of agriculture, livestock, self-sufficiency and sausage sales.

10. Crisis years, hunger and resilience

1816/17 as a major test

The hunger crisis of 1816/17 is an important reference point in the history of rural businesses in Württemberg. The “Year Without a Summer” followed the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in April 1815; its atmospheric effects contributed to crop failures in Central Europe, severe price increases, acute food shortages and a major wave of emigration from Württemberg.

For an agriculturally based business such as the “Ochsen”, such a crisis would have created substantial pressure; detailed house accounts from those years are not currently known. A business depending only on paying travellers would have been especially vulnerable, while a household with fields, livestock, stores and processing had a wider range of resources.

Why mixed rural businesses could be more resilient

Economic diversity was a practical response to uncertainty. A household relying on a single source of income was exposed if that source failed. Combining arable farming, livestock, storage, slaughtering or processing and hospitality could spread risk across several areas. Such a model could not prevent shortage, but it could help absorb pressure from a downturn in one part of the business.

Other periods of strain in the 19th century

1816/17 was not unique. The 19th century brought other periods of agricultural pressure in Württemberg, including the hunger years of 1846/47, livestock disease and the wider uncertainty associated with the transition from subsistence-oriented to increasingly market-oriented agriculture.

11. Staufer memory, the Hohenstaufenverein and early tourism

From mountain village to a place of historical interest

During the second half of the 19th century, Hohenstaufen changed not only economically but symbolically. The village and mountain were increasingly viewed through their association with the Staufer dynasty. Medieval enthusiasm, national historical narratives and regional identity gave the mountain a cultural significance beyond everyday village life.

The Hohenstaufenverein

The Hohenstaufenverein, founded in 1833, gave this historical interest an organised form. The society promoted attention to Staufer sites and helped make the mountain better known beyond the immediate region. Greater visibility meant more potential visitors for local hospitality businesses.

The Barbarossa Church as a cultural attraction

The local church also became increasingly connected with the historical symbolism surrounding Hohenstaufen. Visitors interested in the Staufer past encountered not only ruins and the mountain skyline but also places of interpretation, symbolism and rest.

Possible changes in the clientele

For local inns, including the “Ochsen”, this development probably brought additional visitors. Alongside local residents and business travellers, they may have included day visitors and people with a historical interest in Hohenstaufen. The exact composition of the house’s guest groups is not documented.

12. Wilhelm Raabe and the “Ochsen zu Hohenstaufen”

Literary visibility from 1873

The historic “Ochsen” occupies a distinctive place in the cultural record because Wilhelm Raabe names it repeatedly in his novel Christoph Pechlin, published in 1873. Raabe sets an extended part of the story in Hohenstaufen and distinguishes explicitly between two inns in the village: the “Ochsen” and the “Lamm”.

This is particularly interesting for the history of the house because the real “Ochsen” is independently documented in archival material long before 1873. Raabe’s novel is nevertheless a literary source, not an official record. It cannot prove that individual celebrations actually took place or that every architectural detail matched the real building. What it does show directly is that Raabe used the “Ochsen zu Hohenstaufen” as a named and repeatedly described setting.

The narrative context

Raabe’s Hohenstaufen episode brings travellers, villagers and a wedding party together. The “Lamm” and the “Ochsen” serve as two explicitly named locations in the story. While the wedding at the Ochsen is accompanied by music and dancing, the events become increasingly turbulent.

For the history of the house, the important point is not whether every element of the plot reflects a real event. What matters is that Raabe repeatedly uses the “Ochsen zu Hohenstaufen” as a specific and recognisable location.

Literary interpretation and historical limits

From a literary perspective, the Ochsen can be read as a setting in which different characters and social groups meet. For the real history of the business, however, the repeated naming of the place is the secure core of the evidence. The novel alone cannot establish the actual clientele, social profile or day-to-day operation of the historical inn.

13. The “Ochsen” in village life

More than a place to eat and drink

In smaller communities, the dining room of an inn could be an important place of communication. News was exchanged, contacts made, information from Göppingen and beyond passed on, prices discussed, services arranged and disputes negotiated. Before widespread telephones, notice boards and daily newspapers, the inn was one of the places where information naturally came together.

Informal administration and sociability

Where village public life did not take place in modern municipal buildings, an inn could acquire a semi-public role. It was accessible, heated, familiar and connected with food and drink. Local officials, clergy or market supervisors might use such spaces for conversations that were more public than a private household but less formal than an official office.

Clubs, celebrations and larger rooms

Organised associations became increasingly important during the 19th century. Shooting clubs, singing societies, agricultural associations and gymnastics clubs all needed meeting space. Inns with larger rooms or halls could benefit from weddings, meetings, rehearsals and celebrations, creating additional demand for food, drink and space.

Inns as points of contact for visitors

For people unfamiliar with a village, inns were among the most important public places to find food, wait, obtain information and, where offered, stay overnight. Hohenstaufen had several inns, including the “Ochsen” and “Lamm” known from Raabe’s literary account. The “Ochsen” was therefore part of the village infrastructure that brought local residents and visitors into contact.

15. Continuity, family and the transfer of knowledge

Why rural businesses rarely survive without adaptation

A house does not continue for centuries simply because its walls remain standing. Knowledge, relationships, reputation and a practical understanding of the business must also be transferred. A closed inn can be taken over by someone else, but regular customers, supplier relationships and craft knowledge cannot be replaced as easily.

The “Ochsen” brought together many different areas of expertise: agriculture, storage, livestock procurement, butchery, hospitality, pricing, knowledge of local customers and dealing with visitors from outside the village. Such a combination is difficult to replace from outside.

Reputation as an intangible asset

An inn depends not only on buildings but also on trust. People choosing where to eat, trade, celebrate or stay overnight relied on reputation, particularly in rural areas where personal and family relationships mattered greatly.

Generational change: risk and opportunity

Every change of generation in a family business brings both risk and opportunity: knowledge, working style and networks must be transferred, but a new generation can also adapt the business to changing conditions, new groups of guests and new forms of operation. The later history of the “Ochsen” can be read as a sequence of such transitions.

16. Open questions and further research

Sources that could provide further insight

• licence files or official permissions concerning the inn from the 18th and early 19th centuries
• fire-insurance records and cadastral material documenting changes to the main building
• tax lists, estate books or local accounting fragments from family or parish archives
• church records and family material relating to ownership and name continuity
• early photographs of the hall, the façade or butchery areas
• evidence of market and trading relationships with Göppingen, Ulm or Stuttgart
• records of the Hohenstaufenverein mentioning local inns
• travel descriptions, walking guides or school-excursion reports from the late 19th century mentioning Hohenstaufen

Why further research would be valuable

The denser such small-scale sources become, the more precisely the transition can be described from an inn embedded in an agrarian household economy to a business serving an increasingly important destination for history-focused day trips.

Comparison with other inns of similar size and location would also help distinguish what was typical of rural multi-purpose businesses in the region from what was specific to the “Ochsen”.

17. Sources and further reading

Primary anchor sources

• House and family records of the Goldener Ochsen, including historical documents and photographs relating to agriculture, livestock and the household’s self-sufficiency.
• Building appraisal of 1865 with the wording “alt Ochsen 80 Jahre”.
• Rudolph Friedrich von Moser: Beschreibung des Oberamts Göppingen, Stuttgart/Tübingen 1844.
• Early telephony: surviving historical material recording the “Ochsen” with “Telefon Nr. 2” before Karl Mayer’s documented tenure; the number is therefore not used to date the beginning of his period as operator.
• Wilhelm Raabe: Christoph Pechlin, first published in 1873. Particularly relevant to the history of the house are chapters 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 22, together with Raabe’s use of “chambers bespoken” in chapter 10. Direct links and short original passages are documented in the Wilhelm Raabe section.

Regional and cultural-historical context

• Material relating to the history of the Hohenstaufenverein and 19th-century reception of the Staufer dynasty.
• Local and church history of Hohenstaufen, especially the Barbarossa Church and its role in 19th-century historical commemoration.
• Economic and social history of Württemberg in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially rural hospitality and butchery.

How the evidence is assessed

Direct evidence relating to the house, regional sources and broader historical relationships have different evidential weight. Established facts about the “Ochsen” are therefore distinguished from general context and cautious interpretation.

18. Conclusion

Before 1900, the surviving evidence shows that the “Ochsen” was more than simply an inn serving food and drink. It formed part of a multi-purpose rural household economy in which farming, livestock, food processing, hospitality and transport conditions all interacted. Wider regional developments – including periods of crisis, historical commemoration and the beginnings of visitor traffic – provide important context for that history.

That complexity is precisely what makes the history of the house valuable. Its documented household economy included its own fields, meadows, orchards and woodland, cattle, pigs and chickens, as well as garden produce, eggs, milk and butter. Sausage sales, a private well and the distillation of spirits are also part of the surviving history. Hospitality formed the part open to guests of this wider household business, while Hohenstaufen’s growing importance as a destination for history-focused day trips probably brought additional visitors to local inns.

Raabe’s “Ochsen”, finally, is more than a passing literary reference to an individual house. In the novel it becomes a setting in which different characters and social groups meet. For the real history of the business, however, the secure evidence is the repeated naming and description of the “Ochsen zu Hohenstaufen”; broader conclusions about its actual clientele or social role remain literary interpretation.