Soltszentimre
is located 20 km northeast from Kiskőrös, 14 km south from Szabadszállás and 50
km west from the county capital Kecskemét. The village is flanked to the east
with an area of sand hills of Little Cumania, to the west with a sodic plain.
Inner
area: 156 ha
Outer
area: 4304 ha
Number
of inhabitants: 1422 (1st January, 2000)
Number
of flats: 659
The
year of origin of the former settlement Szentimre is not known. The former
village was near the church ruin today referred to as Csonka tower („mutilated
tower”). The Roman Empire stretched as far as the line of the Danube, therefore
the Romans erected defensive towers (contra castrum) on the eastern side of the
river. It is possible that the Csonka tower was built on the site of such a
defensive tower. This area was already at the time of the occupation of the
Carpathian basin by the Hungarians a populated place. This is proved by the
bone plate ornament of a wooden saddle (from the time of the conquest) found on
Sándor Blaskovits’s estate. This object can be visited in the National Museum
today.
The
exact time of the erection of Csonka tower cannot be determined.
In
1408 the name of the settlement was mentioned in a charter.
About
1529 it was devastated together with other surrounding settlements. In the
Turkish tax register 1559 Szentimre was mentioned with six houses.
Szentimre
belonged to the county Fejér, then Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun.
In
1890 the biggest landowner’s legal successor Oszkár Ivánka sold most of his
estate to a 85 member purchase company. Therefore plots of 30-60 hectares - or
even smaller ones - were created. This meant the basis of the creation of the
present village. Pusztaszentimre belonged that time to the outer area of the
community Akasztó.
On
15th February 1919 it was officially separated from Akasztó and became an
independent community of the name Pusztaszentimre.
Since
May 1922 the village has been called Soltszentimre.
The
reformated church was built in 1936, the RomanCatholic church in 1937.
In
1950 the nursery school with a day nursery was opened.
In
1969 the new school with four classrooms was built. Its gymnasium was built
between 1978-80.
In
1989 the pipelines for water, in 1992 for gas were built up. Over half of the
flats is on the phone.
