Edenkoben's status as an administrative and cultural centre for the surrounding villages is reflected in the presence of several high-grade schools. The little town also has a considerable cultivation and trade in wine. Outside the primary (agricultural) sector, industries include the manufacture of automotive exhaust systems and of doors. In former times there was a sulphur-spring here called Kurbrunnen.
Edenkoben is overlooked, on its west side, by the imposing Friedensdenkmal, from the top of which visitors can enjoy a fine view across to the Rhine. Originally constructed to celebrate German unity in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, the memorial was renamed Friedensdenkmal (Peace Memorial) after 1945, when celebration of German military victories fell out of fashion in Europe: at the time of writing the Friedensdenkmal contains a small restaurant. The inscription on the Unification / Peace memorial reflects the determination of the German government in 1871 to downplay the extent to which the Treaty of Frankfurt resulted from military victory by Prussia. Given the frequency with which the German-speaking Rhenish provinces had been devastated by French armies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was in this region easy to emphasize the defensive nature of German unification.
Notable residents
Johann Adam Hartmann (1743–1836), frontierman, emigrated to the Americas at the age of 16