In the years 1890 to 1894, a 150-acre parade ground was created for the built in Erlangen Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment No. 19 south of the New Infantry Barracks on the road to Buckenhof. Until 1938, artillery, Rhineland and armored barracks were built on this site.
After the Second World War, the parade ground was taken over by the US Army, which also built apartments and an airfield there. After the withdrawal of the Americans in 1994, the city of Erlangen acquired the area and built there the new district Röthelheimpark. 25 hectares of the area were declared a nature reserve in 2001 for the protection of rare and threatened plants.
In the south, another 11 hectares of ecologically valuable open space, which is not protected, are seamlessly connected. This area is now being developed step by step, whereas a citizens' initiative is resisting. The Federal Nature Conservation Union has filed a lawsuit in May 2012 against the development plan.
