Much of the Hodenbachtal (Hodenbach valley), laid out as a recreational area, lies within Steinbach's municipal limits.

[4] The centre now known as Steinbach am Glan was originally made up of two linear villages (by some definitions, “thorpes”), one on each side of the brook, that eventually met and grew together.

[6] As far back as prehistoric times there were people in the area that is now Steinbach am Glan, as clearly witnessed by archaeological finds made within municipal limits.

A row of six untouched barrows from the late Hallstatt culture stretches along the ridge of the Steinberg as far as the municipal limit with Henschtal.

From the Imperial Domain (Reichsland) around Castle Lautern, kings split certain parcels off to donate them to various ecclesiastical and secular lordships.

The Count bestowed a great many estates and landholds upon the monastery, including the Münchweiler valley, where Steinbach lay.

As a fief from the Hornbach Monastery with its centre at Glan-Münchweiler, all this area's villages passed first in 1323 to the Raugraves in the Nahegau, and thereafter, in 1344, to the Archbishop of Trier and the Breidenborns in 1388.

At the same time, Abbot Ulrich of the Hornbach Monastery granted Jörge von der Leyen, a Burgmann of Castle Lautern, the Münchweiler valley.

A man named Baldewin von Frutzweiler stood in the late 15th century as the Burgmann at Lichtenberg Castle.

According to a 1391 document, Count Friedrich III of Veldenz enfeoffed this Baldewin with a rental income of 8 pounds in Lichtenberg currency.

The younger Baldwin, Tilman's brother, now appeared in the record under the name Baldewin von Zweibrücken.

This younger Baldewin was married to Jutta von Wadenau, whom he granted his Lichtenberg Castle fief in 1441, a deed confirmed by Count Friedrich III.

Only in 1773 did the comital couple of Franz Karl von der Leyen and Marianne née Dalberg move the residence from Koblenz to Blieskastel.

A Steinbach inhabitant, Isidor Triefus, brought the craft of diamond cutting to the Western Palatinate in 1888, thereby laying the groundwork for the region's economic upswing in the earlier half of the 20th century.

When Homburg was grouped into the autonomous Saar area after the First World War, the Canton of Waldmohr remained with the newly formed Free State of Bavaria – the Kaiser had been overthrown and so had the Bavarian king – and thereby with Weimar Germany.

Hitler's success in these elections paved the way for his Enabling Act of 1933 (Ermächtigungsgesetz), thus starting the Third Reich in earnest.

[12] As can still be recognized today in the construction technique of the older parts of both Steinbach am Glan's centres, a great number of the villagers in the 19th century made their living from agriculture.

Four Jewish residents who had remained were deported to the Gurs internment camp in the south of France in 1940, whence they were later transported to Auschwitz; they did not survive the Holocaust.

In the course of the 20th century, ever fewer villagers earned their livelihood at agriculture, until now, this endeavour plays only a very minor role in the municipality’s economy.

In the time of the Reformation, Steinbach, along with all the dwellers of the Münchweiler valley, had to adopt on the lord's orders Lutheran beliefs, leaning as the Leyens did mainly towards Palatinate-Zweibrücken's views when it came to religion, at least at first.

In 1588, though, when Palatinate-Zweibrücken, then headed by Duke Johannes I, commanded all its subjects to convert to Calvinism, the Counts of Leyen resisted this order within their lordly domain.

The diamond on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side of the chief stands for the history of diamond processing in the municipality while the hammer and pick on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side of the chief refer to Steinbach am Glan's history as a coalmining centre.

The other two charges below these are municipal landmarks, the great limetree and the belltower before which it stands, endowed by Countess Marianne von der Leyen in 1788.

[19] The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[20] Standing before Countess Marianne von der Leyen’s belltower is a great limetree.

Beginning there are three Nordic walking trails of various difficulty levels belonging to the Haselrech Nature Fitness Park, which was laid out by the Kusel district in 2006.

On the way out of the village going towards Börsborn is a hydrotherapeutic wading basin based on Father Sebastian Kneipp’s model.

Already by the 18th century, agriculture could no longer claim to be the only, nor even the most important, income earner in the municipality, for it was then that in Steinbach, as in so many nearby places, too, that exploitation of the underlying coal seams began.

Steinbach collieries, however, did undergo a revival in Weimar times because the Saar had been politically and economically separated from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles.

In the late 19th century, diamond processing (cutting and polishing) grew into a particularly important branch of industry, which can be traced back mainly to a Steinbach native, Isidor Trifuß.

Beginning about 1960, though, the industry found itself on a downswing due to, more than anything else, competition from countries with lower wages, but also to some extent to the international diamond trade's requirements.