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Ostrach lies between the Danube and Lake Constance, about halfway between Sigmaringen and Ravensburg. It lies on the brook of the same name, which passes through a narrow pass between the glacial moraines left by the Rhine Glacier at the end of the last ice age. The landscape is hilly and wooded. Abandoned quarries to the north and south of the village of Jettkofen have created small lakes.
History
The first mention of Ostrach occurs in 851. In the 13th century, the area passed gradually from the Holy Roman Empire into the hands of the monastery of Salem.
The railway line Altshausen-Ostrach-Pfullendorf opened in 1875. The last freight train passed through Ostrach on 31 July 2002.
On 1 January 1975 the surrounding villages of Burgweiler (with Dichtenhausen, Hahnennest, Ochsenbach, Waldbeuren, Ulzhausen, Egelreute), Einhart, Habsthal (with Bernweiler), Jettkofen, Kalkreute, Laubbach, Levertsweiler, Magenbuch (with Lausheim), Spöck, Tafertsweiler (with Bachhaupten, Eschendorf, and Gunzenhausen), Wangen, and Wirnsweiler were incorporated into Ostrach.
Mayors
1975–2007: Herbert Barth (CDU)
2007–2023: Christoph Schulz (CDU)
since 2023: Lena Burth (independent)
Sons and daughters of the town
Eduard Schmid (1861-1933), politician (SPD), 1919-1924 Lord Mayor of Munich
Reinhold Frank (born 1896-1945), born in today's district Bachhaupten, lawyer, resistance fighter against national socialism, executed after the failed Hitler assassination of 20 July 1944
