It was founded by a man from Livonia named Gerhardt Wilhelm von Reutern after he had been badly wounded in the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1814 while serving as an officer in the Russian army; as a result, he had to have his right arm amputated.

He came to convalesce with his brother's inlaws at the Schwertzellsche Haus in Willingshausen, where he met and got to know the lady whom in 1820 he would wed, Charlotte von Schwertzell.

He procured an honorary stipend from the Russian Imperial Family, which afforded him financial independence.

Two music festivals take place each year in the constituent community of Loshausen, the "World Music Festival der Klangfreunde" on the first weekend of August, and "Rock im Park" in July.

Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) B 254 (Homberg – Fulda) is about 6 km east of town.