The municipality of Ottmarsheim is located south of Alsace, Mulhouse at 17 km and 7 km from the German border Neuenburg am Rhein.
The village of Ottmarsheim was born along the old Roman road linking Basel to Strasbourg.
The discovery in 1909 of a necropolis the 6th and 7th centuries proves that the area has been inhabited since the early Middle Ages.
The village was formed probably in the 8th century and it probably owes its name to St Othmar, abbot of St. Gall, who owned houses and land in nearby villages.
The first mention of the name appears in 881 Ottmarsheim in a manuscript from the Abbey of Murbach, who owned the village.
Later, the region of Ottmarsheim was the Habsburg heritage and the center of its possessions in Alsace.
Also, Rodolphe Altenburg, ancestor of this dynasty, founded there in the 11th century abbey and built an abbey between 1020 and 1040 Wonder of the Romanesque architecture, it was built on the model of the Palatine Chapel of Aix -la- Chapelle. It was consecrated in 1049 in honor of the Virgin by the Alsatian Pope Leo IX, the parent with the founder.
Modest and mainly agricultural village from its origin, Ottmarsheim seen between 1851 and 1941, its population gradually decline. But the story will change the lives and economy of Ottmarsheim and surrounding villages. Indeed, at the end of the First World War, the Versailles Treaty authorizes France to develop hydropower rivers. With the completion of the Grand Canal d' Alsace ( 1947), the construction of a hydroelectric power plant EDF (1948-1952 ) and the creation of the Port (1955), the second port of Alsace, develops an important industrial activity (Novartis, EDF, Pec Rhin, agricultural silo... ).
Also, a small farming village of 500 inhabitants in 1945 demographic and economic decline, its population will be multiplied by four to meet the needs of large industries that have settled in the town.
Today Ottmarsheim account in 1891 at census of 2011, which enjoy a variety of facilities and where to live. And by its community, people have a wide range of activities to exercise whether sporting or cultural.
