Horn - Rathaus

Horn (since 1970 part of Horn-Bad Meinberg) was founded by Bernhard III, Edler Herr zur Lippe, after 1230. It was first mentioned in 1248. Horn was located on the old road, that run from Cologne to Hamlin - and today is known as "Bundesstrasse 1" (B1).

Horn got strongly fortified with a surrounding wall and a moat. The castle, was part of this fortification, though it was later used as a kind of retirement home by several widows of the House of Lippe.

Armed conflicts over the city took place in particular during the Soest feud (1444–1449) and during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). In 1864, large parts of the city were destroyed in a fire, about 60 houses burnt down including the town hall.

The stately neo-Gothic Rathaus (town hall) was built in 1865/1866 by the architect Wilhelm Lakemeier from Steinheim after the previous building had been destroyed by fire two years earlier. The front of the market, designed as a front, shows two avant-corps, which are crowned by triangular gables decorated with pinnacles. At the northeast corner facing Mittelstrasse, there is a four-storey polygonal corner tower.

During the witch hunts from 1554 to 1661, 47 cases of witchcraft and sorcery are documented in Horn. At least 24 people were executed in the centre of the market.