The Obermittweida hammer mill was located below the junction of Kleiner Mittweida and Großer Mittweida. In 1546 it was first mentioned as an ironworks with a Zerrennfeuer. The owner Matthes Schumann also owned another ironworks, which was located downstream at the mouth of the Roßbach. In contrast to many other Erzgebirge hammer mills, the owners of Obermittweida were not entitled to lower jurisdiction. However, they were privileged with the lower hunting justice. Obermittweida was subordinate to the municipality of Mittweida.
In 1588, Wolf von Elterlein took over the burnt down smelter, for which he received the concession to build a blast furnace in 1594. The hammer also owes its nicknames Wolfshammer or Hammer Löwenthal to him, because the von Elterlein family wore a lion in their coat of arms.
After the facilities had been repeatedly destroyed by floods (including 1661) and fires (including 1613, 1667, 1673 and 1724), in 1731 Dr. Andreas Nietzsche developed the hammer mill, which soon received the name Nietzschhammer, which is still used today. In 1788 there was a blast furnace in Obermittweida, two fresh and stick fires, a tin fire and a tin house.[1] The ironworks was in operation until 1860. After that the property was dismantled. A small shovel hut worked until 1878, before the narrow valley floor became a center for paper production and wood grinding. The valley became known as a summer resort with the Casino Nitzschhammer convalescent home. The latter was used as a country year camp during the Second World War and as a children's convalescent home "Oskar Schieck" during the GDR era.
The area around the former hammer is now flooded by the lower reservoir of the Markersbach pumped storage plant. The residents were evacuated from 1968 and the buildings in the flood area were demolished.
(Wikipedia)