REUTLINGEN, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Württemberg, situated on the Echatz, an affluent of the Neckar, near the base of the Achalm and 36 m. by rail S. of Stuttgart. Pop. (1905) 23,850. It is a quaintly built town, with many picturesque houses and a fine Gothic church of the 13th and 14th centuries dedicated to St Mary, which was restored in 1893–1901; it contains in the choir a replica of the Holy Sepulchre and a sculptured stone font, and has a tower 240 ft. high. Reutlingen has three other Evangelical churches, a Roman Catholic church, a town hall, and several monuments, including one to the emperor William I. and another to Friedrich List. The industries of the town are numerous, and include the spinning and weaving of cotton, dyeing and bleaching; also the manufacture of leather, machinery, furniture, shoes, paper, clothing, hardware, bricks, beer and woollen goods. Hops, vines and fruit are grown in the neighbourhood. Reutlingen has several schools and educational establishments, including a celebrated homological institute. It is also famous as the place where Pastor Gustav Werner (1809–1887) founded his Christian Socialist refuge, which has become widely known in philanthropic circles.
Reutlingen, which is first mentioned in 1213, became a free imperial town in the 13th century and was fortified by the emperor Frederick II., remaining loyal to him and to his son, Conrad IV. A member of the league of Swabian towns, its citizens defeated Count Ulrich of Württemberg on the 14th of May 1377. Later it joined the Swabian League and was favoured by the emperor Maximilian I. It came into the possession of Württemberg in 1802. An explosion which took place on the 27th of December 1852 destroyed many houses in the town.
See Rupp, Aus der Vorzeit Reutlingens und seiner Umgegend (Stuttgart, 1869); Hochstetter, Führer durch Reutlingen und Umgebung (Reutlingen, 1901); and Zwiesele, Geognostischer Führer in der Umgegend von Reutlingen (Stuttgart, 1897).