The restaurant today known as "Storchen" was first mentioned in the 17th century as "Zum kleinen Bären" (little bear).
From 1655 to 1664 the restaurant was owned by Peter Farbet until his death. His widow and son tried to continue in his stead, but the son had stolen a chalice from church and had to leave the city and the widow had to sell the restaurant to a businessman from Freiburg.
In the 18th century, ownership of the restaurant changed several times. Eventually the name "Zum kleinen Bären" was changed to "Zum Salmen" (salmon). The restaurant got the name because of the many salmons in the nearby river "Elz".
Joseph Hummel, the first owner of the restaurant "Zum Salmen", served more than 17.000 liters of wine between 1700 and 1705 - an average of 50 liters per day.
Records cannot confirm this, but it is assumed that after further changes of ownership, the restaurant "Zum Salmen" was closed for good.
In 1864, the brewer Karl Hoch opened a restaurant in the same building where he sold his homemade beer. He named it "Zum Storchen" because of the stork's nest on the roof.
Many different brewers tried their luck, but in the end August Mutschler bought the building, produced his own "Mutschler beer" and different tenants sold his beer in the restaurant.
For many gererations the restaurant was owned by the Mutschler family until Wilfried Oschwald bought the building in 1981. He then turned the restaurant to a music bar. Often, when locals visit us nowadays, they share their memoies and tell stories of that time.
After many different tenants, Wilfried Oschwald renovated the "Storchen" in the 90's. The whole building had to be demolished and only the front of the building could be saved.
Wilfried Oschwald used many of the old components and worked them into the new building, one example are the beams carrying the ceiling.
After long and intense research, the restaurant sign, thought to be lost in the war, was rebuilt and mounted on the house front, where it can still be seen today.
In 2013, the construction work for the new hotel began. The "Storchen" got 22 extra hotelrooms, a conference room and a sauna in the process.
On september 13 in 2013 we, the Trienen-family, opened the "Restaurant I Hotel Zum Storchen". In may 2014 the new hotel could be opened for our first guests.