Weilrod is a municipality made up of several villages in the northwest Hochtaunuskreis lying in the Weil Valley in Hesse, Germany.

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Weilrod
Municipality
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Weilrod within Hochtaunuskreis district
Weilrod Show map of Germany Weilrod Show map of Hesse
Coordinates: 50°20′N 8°25′E
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Darmstadt
District	Hochtaunuskreis
Government
• Mayor (2017–23)	Götz Esser[1] (FW)
Area
• Total	71.16 km2 (27.48 sq mi)
Highest elevation	626 m (2,054 ft)
Lowest elevation	210 m (690 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)[2]
• Total	6,652
• Density	93/km2 (240/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	61276
Dialling codes	06083, 06084
Vehicle registration	HG, USI
Website	www.weilrod.de

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The earliest written record of a village in the area is of Mauloff ("Mulefo") in 1156. The imposing round tower at the castle ruins in Altweilnau has been dated to about 1200.

The merger of the individual communities into the greater community of Weilrod took place in 1972.

The name Weilrod stems on the one hand from the river Weil, a brook that forms Weilrod's and neighbouring Schmitten's landscape, and on the other hand from the German word Roden – "clearing".

Both these name stems are also found in constituent communities' names:

• Neu- and Altweilnau (Weil + Aue ["floodplain"])
• Rod an der Weil (Rod(-en) + Weil)
• Riedelbach (Roden + Bach ["brook"])

The village of Mauloff has a rather interesting name origin, according to the local lore, anyway. Since the name Mauloff does not fit any usual German name pattern, it affords wonderful fodder for legends and quaint stories. One of these stories holds that the village was originally nameless, and that to give it a name, the mayor called a meeting, deciding beforehand that the first word out of anyone's mouth would be the village's new name. Those gathered for the meeting, however, sat there without uttering a word. At last, the mayor ran out of patience and shouted "Maul off!" (roughly "Mouth open!" ie "Say something!", using Maul – more commonly the zoological word for mouth – and off, a variant of auf).

Mauloff had its first documentary mention in 1156 as "Mulefo", a stopping place on the mediaeval road through the heights, the Rennstraße.

During the economic boom in the 1950s, the villages that now make up Weilrod were a favourite local recreation area for people who lived in the nearby Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region. Since then, tourism has dropped off noticeably. Nevertheless, the landscape in the municipal area attracts hikers and cyclists, for which a certain amount of credit must go to the Weiltalweg, a trail through the Weil Valley.

The loudspeaker manufacturer Canton Elektronik GmbH was founded in Weilrod and still has its headquarters there. Other companies in the community are Mania (tool technology), Grünauer Maschinen GmbH and AZ (Armaturen-Zimmermann, founded in Hasselbach).