In the War of the First Coalition, there was fighting in the area around Grünstadt between 1793 and 1795 with the occupiers changing among the Austrians, the French and the Prussians. In 1794, the man who would later become Field Marshal von Blücher, but who at this time was a colonel in the Prussian Red Hussars, procured quarters in the town. According to local lore, he rode his horse up the outdoor stairway that then stood at the (now former) town hall and made a speech to the townsfolk.