Untere Wassergasse Half-Timbered Houses on the Rednitz

In addition to the imposing Faber-Castell factory, the half-timbered house ensemble in Upper and Lower Wassergasse is a real eye-catcher.

Beautifully restored half-timbered houses built right on the river. Due to the many walkers in the nearby Wiesengrund, a local recreation area, and the narrow path, you may have to push your bike here.

The first pencil makers had been in Stein near Nuremberg since 1719. In 1758, the carpenter Kaspar Faber settled there and in 1761 also began making pencils. These were sold on the Nuremberg market. In 1851, his successor, Lothar Faber, introduced a pencil standard that still sets the standard for the entire pencil industry today. He was knighted in 1881 for his services. Faber built a prestigious company headquarters at Faber Castle. For the company's 100th anniversary in 1861, the branch in Geroldsgrün was opened, initially as a slate factory. Lothar Faber became a pioneer of the trademark protection law in Germany in 1874 (May 1875) with a petition to the German Reichstag "for the creation of a trademark protection law". Lothar's granddaughter Ottilie married Alexander Graf zu Castell-Rüdenhausen in 1898. After Lothar's death (1896) they took over part of the company and after Lothar's widow's death in 1903 they took over the whole company, which resulted in the new company name Faber-Castell (Count Alexander changed his name to Alexander von Faber-Castell). In 1905 Alexander von Faber-Castell introduced the pencil brand "Castell" for particularly high-quality pencils. In 1931/1932 the Johann Faber pencil factory was taken over; this also involved a stake in the largest pencil factory in the world, "Lápis Johann Faber" in Brazil. In 1935 the fountain pen company Osmia in Dossenheim was acquired by A.W. Faber-Castell.[3] During the Second World War, Osmia GmbH produced war materials instead of fountain pens.[4] In 1948 the international breakthrough was achieved with the introduction of the TK pencil for technical drawing.During the 1960s and 1970s, production of highlighters and fiber pens began. Between 1880 and 1975, Faber-Castell was one of the world's most important manufacturers of slide rules.Source: Wikipedia