On May 1, 1889, Luise Dyckerhoff (1844-1937) and Elise Kirchner founded the "Haushaltungsschule der Portland-Cement-Fabrik Dyckerhoff & Söhne"(Dyckerhoff GmbH) in Amöneburg.

The first headquarters of this institute was located in one of the company's small workers' cottages at what was then Blumenstraße 12, not far from the company premises. The school was primarily aimed at the daughters of the 700 or so workers employed by Dyckerhoff at the time.

However, girls whose parents did not work in the cement factory were also accepted, provided there were enough places available. After finishing elementary school, the young people were to receive a domestic training that prepared them for their future life as a housewife and mother. In addition, attending the housekeeping school could help unmarried women to earn a living as maids, as a good education made it easier to find a decent job.

When Luise Dyckerhoff, the wife of the co-founder of the cement factory, Gustav Dyckerhoff, founded the institute at the suggestion of her friend Elise Kirchner, there was only room for nine pupils. In the following years, the number grew to over 20. As the building at Blumenstraße 12 quickly became too small, the school moved to the much larger, purpose-built building at Blumenstraße 14 at the beginning of the 1890s.

It was probably in 1912 that the school moved into the building of the former elementary school, which the Dyckerhoff company had acquired from the city of Mainz, to which Amöneburg had been incorporated in 1908, and had converted to meet the requirements of the home economics school. The ten-month course, which always began in May, covered various household skills such as cooking, baking, washing, ironing, sewing, knitting, mending and tailoring. In addition, the girls were taught gardening and, through the school's own "infant school", i.e. the kindergarten, were introduced to dealing with children and their upbringing. The lessons were divided into a theoretical and a practical part, whereby the practical part clearly predominated.

On the whole, no more than one hour a day was spent on theory, which included, for example, nutrition or price calculation. After all, the aim was not to "educate" the girls, but to impart knowledge that would be useful in their everyday lives.

It was undoubtedly social convictions that prompted Luise Dyckerhoff and her husband to found and finance the home economics school, including the kindergarten and the "boys' nursery" that was added shortly afterwards. However, these were probably not the only reasons.

There was also the hope of preventing the relatively high and quite common fluctuation in the workforce, especially during the summer months, by tying them more closely to the company. In addition, considerations such as those set out by Fritz Kalle in his book "Die hauswirtschaftliche Unterweisung armer Mädchen in Deutschland und im Ausland" (The domestic instruction of poor girls in Germany and abroad) may have played a role. Kalle was of the opinion that the worker's performance would be improved by sensible housekeeping.

A healthy and balanced diet and the wife's ability to sensibly divide up the wages that the husband brought home until the next payday would make the worker stronger and healthier because he was satisfied and balanced, felt connected to the family, therefore did not - or less often - go to the pub and certainly did not waste his money on immoral activities. This in turn, Kalle noted, was "also of direct benefit to the employer".

In 1914, the housekeeping school, for the establishment of which the Dyckerhoff company had been awarded the silver medal for "Social Welfare" at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris, celebrated its 25th anniversary.

The year 1914 was a turning point in several respects: On the one hand, the First World War broke out, the fatal consequences of which did not spare the Haushaltungsschule, and on the other, Elise Kirchner and Luise Dyckerhoff retired from their posts. They handed over the management of the institute to the next generation.

The housekeeping school had to close in the 1920s. It was replaced by a sewing school and a kindergarten, which was closed in 1981. In 2006, the "Dyckerhoff Villa Bambini" was founded, continuing the tradition.