A productive mineral spring is located in the centre of Niederselters, giving Selterswasser its name. The Selters spring was first mentioned in 772. In 1581, the city physician of Worms, Jakob Theodor Tabernaemontanus, dedicated ten pages to the Niederselters acidic spring in his spring chronicle Neuw Wasserschatz, thereby laying the groundwork for the spring’s fame and the subsequent development of a distinguished resort business.
Besides the rather unimportant taking of the waters, the Electorate of Trier ran a quickly growing water shipping business, sending the water in crocks from the Kannenbäckerland (a small nearby region in the Westerwaldkreis, well known for its ceramics) to Scandinavia, Russia, North America, Africa and even, as confirmed for the year 1791, as far as Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. From the placename “Selters” on the crocks then soon arose the name “Selters Water” as a brandname for mineral water of worldwide repute. The Duchy of Nassau took over Niederselters as a welcome source of income and further expanded the export business. After the duchy was annexed by Prussia in 1866, the water’s name was changed to Königlich-Selters (“Royal Selters”), and when the monarchy ended, the water was given yet another name, Staatsquelle Niederselters (“Niederselters State Spring”). The state of Hesse, as Prussia’s legal successor, sold the spring in 1970, whereafter it changed owners ever more quickly, and in 1999 the bottling at the fountain in Niederselters was shut down. Since 2001, the community of Selters has owned the spring.
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