The two communities Pemberville and Rödinghausen are officially “forever connected friendly communities” since March 23, 1995.

About 170 years ago, the first Rödinghausers came to North America to start a new life there. Many of them moved to Pemberville in Northwest Ohio.

After this connection had nearly faded from memory, the impulse for the renewal came from Wilhelm Niedermeier from Rödinghausen, who had received a completely unexpected visit from relatives from Pemberville in 1989. First investigations showed that at least 23 Rödinghauser surnames can be found in and around Pemberville. In August 1993, a first group traveled from Pemberville to Rödinghausen, with following visits taking place at irregular intervals, including celebration for the partnership’s 20^th anniversary in September 2015.

In the school years 1996/1997 and 2000/2001, a total of three student exchanges took place.

In 2005, the square in front of the “Haus des Gastes” was named “Pemberville-Platz”, the “Pemberville stone” was unveiled and the corresponding street sign was erected.

The partnership is intended to serve in particular the related families on both sides of the Atlantic. The community of Rödinghausen is proud of the fact that connections between families, communities, countries and even continents are cultivated in this way.

On Rödinghausen

Rödinghausen (Low German: Ränghiusen) is a municipality in Northeast North Rhine-Westphalia and lies approximately 19 miles north of Bielefeld. Rödinghausen, with a population of almost 10,000, is the smallest municipality in the East Westphalian district of Herford (administrative district of Detmold). The municipality in its present boundaries was created in 1969 by merging five independent municipalities of the Rödinghausen administrative area. However, the settlement of the present municipal area in the fertile Ravensberger Land was first documented in writing as early as 851.

Original German-language text provided by the Municipality of Rödinghausen