History of the district Graben
The place name "Graben" is most likely an original job title: "am Graben" (namely at the moat of the castle, where the village was built, or at the ditch of the Pfinz, which drops here in the Rhine valley). All other name interpretations arise from wishful thinking, just like a Roman camp or a Franconian Urdorf, founded by a certain Grawo. That the place is older than its first documentary mention from the year 1306, suggest the size of the district, the extensive forest ownership and the rich commons in earlier times. Grabener landlord was possibly early Bishop of Speyer.
Graben was first mentioned in a document in 1306: The Ubstadter "noble servant Swiger" promised on March 22, 1306, the Baden Margrave Rudolf the right of first refusal at his part of the village of Graben. Four years later, on November 26, 1310, Swiger's brother Dietrich also sold all his estate, inherited from his father Gerhart, to the Baden Margrave. Although there were still some quarrels between the Ubstadtern and the Margrave, but in two documents from 8 and 16 August 1312, the sale of the castle and the village Graben were finally sealed. Graben had been part of the Margraviate of Baden since 1312, but since the early 15th century the castle and the Amt Graben have been under fief for more than 300 years (until 1746) under Electorate of the Palatinate and the Margrave of Baden. From the appearance of the building again and again as "lock" designated on the left bank of the Pfinz, to which today only the designations "lock road" and "lock place" remind, we know next to nothing. It was probably a sober building, but it fulfilled its purpose well.
Even the office Graben, which was abolished in the beginning of the 18th century and added to the new residence city of Karlsruhe, was always anything but impressive: It consisted of the three villages Graben, Liedolsheim and Rußheim, which is why the 1901 created coat of arms of the community Graben the horseshoes, as village sign of Liedolsheim and Rußheim, with the "talking" used for the village and official name Graben spades (= grave logs) had united. The office building was located in the south of the castle district on today's Schlossplatz and formed part of the castle belonging to the building. The effects of the Reformation meant that the inhabitants of Graben assumed the new doctrine of faith through the introduction of the Reformed faith, which was ordered by Margrave Charles II of Baden-Durlach in 1556.
The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) brought much distress and misery also over ditch. Around Bruchsal, population losses averaged 80 percent. "Anno 1622 1150 acres of arable land were cultivated, after peace 1648 only 296 acres. 135 buildings were destroyed, 1622 had 145 citizens, 1648 were only 42 resident. "The wars in connection with the Reunionspolitik of France under Louis XIV and the Palatine succession war had devastating consequences for ditches. So destroyed on March 31/1. April 1675 the French from the fortress Philippsburg, which was in the French hands since the Peace of Westphalia (1648), dig the castle, and in the spring of 1689 they burned down the whole village "except for a single old house". Quiet,
The purely agricultural character of the community Graben has been preserved until the beginning of the 20th century. The cultivation of the special crops tobacco and asparagus on the sandy soil of the Grabener district is attributable to the fact that the structural change in agriculture was slow. Already in 1912, 86 hectares of tobacco were cultivated here, and before and after the Second World War, Graben was one of the most important cultivation areas with almost 100 hectares of tobacco acreage.
The year of crisis in 1960 in tobacco growing, caused by the blue-leaf disease with heavy crop damage and the settlement of industrial and commercial enterprises have subsequently caused some farmers to give up his business and accept a job at one of these farms. The asparagus industry was not affected by this development. The first asparagus fields were created in 1913 in Graben. After the First World War, asparagus farming was strongly promoted and supported by Agricultural School Graben. 1929 the first Grabener asparagus market took place. The acreage was then at 20-30 hectares