Ober-Olm's neighbours are Mainz-Layenhof, Mainz-Finthen, Mainz-Drais, Mainz-Lerchenberg, Mainz-Bretzenheim, Mainz-Marienborn, Klein-Winternheim, Mainz-Ebersheim, Nieder-Olm and Essenheim.

In AD 97, the former consul Vejento had a temple built for the forest goddess Nemetona near his Klein-Winternheim landholding, a richly furnished Roman settlement in the Ober-Olm cadastral area of Villenkeller.

Many ecclesiastical and monastic institutions had landholdings in the municipality, including, for example, Eberbach Abbey, the Maria Dalheim monasteries in Mainz, the Dominicans and the Carthusians, the White Ladies (an order of nuns devoted to Mary Magdalene) in Mainz and All Hallows’ Monastery in Wesel.

Jews had lived in Ober-olm and surrounding small towns for hundreds of years, from at least the time of the Middle Ages.

For a brief time, antisemitic laws were less rigorously enforced in Obel-olm than in neighboring large cities such as Mainz and Frankfurt.

But as antisemitic laws became more harsh -- for example, when Jews were no longer permitted to have checking accounts to conduct business -- Jewish residents were not able to make a living and suffered greatly.