1890

In 1890 Sebastian Kneipp met the Würzburg pharmacist, Leonhard Oberhäußer. They became close partners and good friends through their shared conviction of doing good using naturopathic medicine and healing remedies. Using natural plant essences and other pure ingredients as a base, they created the formulas that still to this day constitute the basis for Kneipp’s products.


1891-1897

Sebastian Kneipp entrusts his friend and fellow apothecary with the legacy of his lifelong studies and grants him the exclusive, worldwide and permanent rights to develop, produce and sell pharmaceutical, cosmetic as well as dietary products “under the name and with the image of Father Sebastian Kneipp.” This contract forms foundation stone for the Kneipp Group of today.

The years up to 1897 see further declarations and contracts. The first product to be manufactured in the “Engel” Chemist’s in Würzburg is the Kneipp pill to counteract constipation. This is swiftly followed by herbal teas, fresh plant juices, plant powders, tinctures, oily extracts as well as the so-called “specialities” (ready-made pharmaceutical products) rosemary wine, stomach ease and Flatuol. Leonhard Oberhäußer also takes charge of distribution of the Kneipp products.


1897-1919

After Sebastian Kneipp’s death in 1897, Leonhard Oberhäußer continues to produce natural remedies and personal care products according to Kneipp’s formulas and successfully promotes sales of the products abroad, too.


1919 - 1945

The company now trades under the name of Kneipp Mittel Zentrale. In the second generation of the family, Leonhard Oberhäußer’s son, Hermann Oberhäußer, takes over the position of Managing Director. Kneipp Mittel Zentrale flourishes and moves into its own premises in rooms in Ludwigstraße 9 in Würzburg, opposite the City Theatre. The company also begins to supply drugstores in 1920.


1945-1951

After the night of bombing in March 1945 shortly before the end of the Second World War in which the City of Würzburg is almost completely devastated, the company finds temporary premises on the site of the Würzburg vinegar factory.
Kneipp Mittel Zentrale splits from the “Engel” Chemist’s to become an independent company. Hermann Oberhäußer’s nephew Luitpold Leusser and his fiancée Mareille Bene, who later becomes his wife, take over as Managing Directors.
Later a general partnership is formed with Hermann Oberhäußer and Luitpold Leusser as equal partners. Erika Oberhäußer, Hermann Oberhäußer’s daughter, follows her father’s footsteps in 1951 but later withdraws from actively running the company.


1951 – 1979

In the third generation, the pharmacist Senator Luitpold Leusser manages the company that now trades under the name of Kneipp-Heilmittel-Werk. In 1958 the company moves to Steinbachtal 43 in Würzburg, a tavern formerly popular with hikers, where the company headquarters have been located ever since. In the same year, a house is purchased in Bad Wörishofen in which an information point for the public is set up: the “Wörisana House.” Starting in 1960, the pharmacist Leusser holds an annual symposium for doctors and pharmacists in Bad Wörishofen on the subject of Kneipp therapy.
In the 70s business begins to boom: distribution channels are extended to include drugstores and food retailers. Turnover doubles annually and rises from approx. DM 4 million to over
DM 50 million a year. A new site is built in Würzburg-Heidingsfeld and a subsidiary opens in the Netherlands.


1979-1996

From 1979 production is moved to the site in Würzburg-Heidingsfeld where oil baths, bath salts and plant juices are manufactured.
In Steinbachtal 43 a small bath department is equipped with bath tubs to test new formulas. This is later extended to house the Kneipp Health Centre where massage, fango mud packs and Kneipp treatments are carried out by medically trained specialist staff. A sauna and Turkish steam bath are added in the late 80s.
In 1980 Luitpold Leusser founds the tea factory in Bad Wörishofen in the existing distribution warehouse. One of the reasons for this is the feeling that the Kneipp Group should also have close ties with Bad Wörishofen, where Sebastian Kneipp based his activities.
In 1991 a terrible fire completely destroys the tea factory. Immediately after reconstruction of the building, full production is resumed in 1992.


1996-2001

Luitpold Leusser dies on 23.10.1996. His wife Mareille Leusser, Erika Oberhäußer and her niece Susanne Boecker (daughter of Gisela Bolch, née. Oberhäußer) and her husband Fritz Boecker assume leadership of the Kneipp Group.
Subsidiaries are set up in USA, Switzerland and Austria. A new modern production site with central warehouse is built in Ochsenfurt-Hohestadt near Würzburg. The laboratories for quality control, analytical development as well as the departments research and development, drug licensing and medicine also relocate to the new site in 1999/2000.
In 2000 the Kneipp Group becomes an associate of the European Health Centre (Sebastian Kneipp Institute) in Bad Wörishofen.


2001

Mareille Leusser and Erika Oberhäußer retire from the company.
Paul Hartmann AG of Heidenheim joins Kneipp. The Hartmann Group holds 80 percent of company shares and Susanne Boecker 20 percent.
At the beginning of 2002 Fritz Boecker leaves the company to be followed by Susanne Boecker a year later. Considerable expansion of international business takes place.


2005

On 11 May Dietmar J. Salein becomes the Managing Director of the Kneipp Group. Strategic redirection and repositioning take place in line with the guiding principle “Kneipp works. Since 1891” with a focus on the original main target group of 50 years plus.

2008

April: the HARTMANN AG takes over the remaining 20% shares of Susanne Boecker. Kneipp is a 100% subsidiary of HARTMANN

June: In presens of Erika Oberhäußer the production site in Hohestadt is named "Werk Oberhäußer" as a tribute to the roots of the company Kneipp and the achievments of the founding family Oberhäußer.