as part of the archbishopric of mainz, heinrichsthal passed at secularization in 1803 to the newly formed principality of aschaffenburg, with which it passed in 1814 (by this time it had become a department of the grand duchy of frankfurt) to bavaria. in the course of administrative reform in bavaria, the current community came into being with the "gemeindeedikt" (“municipal edict”) of 1818.