Steglitz witnessed the construction of the first paved Prussian country road, in 1792. The former village profited largely from its location on the Imperial Highway , today , which follows a trading route that dates back to the Middle Ages. The old stretched from the far west of Germany through Aachen and Cologne to Berlin, then continued on eastward to end some two hundred miles northeast of Königsberg in East Prussia. The village of Steglitz was also boosted significantly with the construction of the line of the Prussian state railways in 1838. This was the first railroad in Prussia and ran between Berlin and Potsdam. The Steglitz area was included in the southern line of Berlin's rail and transit systems from around 1850.