Waisenhausplatz ("Orphanage Square")

Under Frederick II Jacob, a home for Homburg's orphans was built on the corner of today's Waisenhausstraße. Semi-completed by 1721, it was not until 1742 that the first five orphans could be admitted. Either way, the residents of Homburg were not prepared to support the landgrave's project and so he had to rent out the building for the first several years. After 1742, however, the founder's progressive ideas made the house well known beyond Homburg's city limits and the donations slowly increased. The "Landgravial Foundation" still exists today, being at home in a building erected on the town's outskirts in 1966. The Baroque-style orphanage building was raised and rebuilt in 1823, although the area on Waisenhausstraße remained mostly unchanged.