History
Meiningen was first mentioned in 982. Emperor Henry II donated Meiningen in 1008 to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Würzburg, and it remained for 534 years part of Würzburg. The town was first mentioned in 1230 as a city. Meiningen in 1542 came to the House of Henneberg and then in 1583, to the Ernestine duchies.
Between 1680 to 1918, it was the capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. The fairy tale collector and writer Ludwig Bechstein was an archivist in Meiningen. One of the princesses of Saxe-Meiningen, Adelheid Louise Theresa Caroline Amelia von Sachsen-Meiningen, became the wife of the King William IV of Great Britain in 1818. She is the namesake of the Australian city Adelaide. The first Meiningen Court Theatre opene in 1831. The city was connected by the Werra Railway with the German railway network in 1858. By the beginning of the 20th Century, the existence of several large banks led to Meiningen becoming an important financial center in Germany.
The Duchy was abolished at the end of the First World War. During the Second World War, Meiningen was the location of a prisoner of war hospital. A heavy air raid on Meiningen on February 23, 1945, by the USAF caused 208 deaths, destroyed 251 houses and two bridges, and damaged 440 buildings in total. Meiningen was liberated by American armed forces in April 1945. In July 1945, the town was included in the Eastern occupation zone along with the rest of Thuringia.
After German reunification, Meiningen became the district town of Schmalkalden-Meiningen. In the Dreißigacker district, new businesses and the new Meiningen Hospital were constructed. In 2003, the city was connected to the Autobahn No. 71.
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