The district named after a brook
Today's Alpirsbach sub-village Rötenbach is named after a stream that was first mentioned around 1100 in the foundation report of the Alpirsbach monastery and is known today as "Rötenbächle". The village, which developed on both sides of the Kinzig in the course of the Middle Ages and was mentioned for the first time in the 14th century, was under the control of Alpirsbach Monastery from the beginning. Rötenbach, a very agricultural settlement, was the seat of the monastery's lower court and had more inhabitants than Alpirsbach until the 16th century.
Rötenbach, which also formed a court with Alpirsbach in post-monastic times, included the Krähenbad, the Nollen and Dieboldsberg, the farms in the valley of the Rötenbächle and on the Brandsteig, as well as the farms on the Reichenbächle and on the Stemmelbach, which are now connected to Schiltach. Until the second half of the 19th century, rafting was an important branch of the economy in Rötenbach. After the abolition of the Alpirsbach monastery office at the beginning of the 19th century, Rötenbach, like Alpirsbach, was subordinate to the Oberndorf district. In 1901 a town hall was built, in 1907 a schoolhouse, both of which fell victim to the extension of the main street at the beginning of the 1970s. In 1938 Rötenbach was incorporated into Alpirsbach against the will of its population. The Rötenbächle industrial estate, the sewage treatment plant and the open-air swimming pool form an important part of the Alpirsbach community as a whole. Attractive new residential areas were built on the slopes of Adelsberg and Dieboldsberg in the 20th century.