 Wanfried was raised to town on 30 August 1608 through Hessian Landgrave Moritz’s privilege, and was granted market rights, too.In 1616, the town of Wanfried was named in the "Verzeichnis der fürnembsten Städte Europas" (“Directory of Europe’s Finest Cities”) as an important trading centre.As a starting point for shipping on the Werra, whose river system had been secured by locks at Eschwege and Allendorf, the town grew into a trading centre in which wares of all kinds were traded.