The Domäne (demesne) goes back to a court of law of a Königssondergau (royal district) dating back to the Merovingian Age. This royal district had its origin in the settlement of this site by Germanic tribes near the Rivers Rhine and Main towards the end of the Roman Empire. In the Carolingian Age, the court located at the site of today's Domäne became a law court of the German Reich, where death sentences were pronounced and executed on behalf of the Emperor.

The Königssondergau was governed by two small-holdings, the castle of Dreieichenhain (the seat of its imperial forestry commission) and the Domäne Mechtildshausen (the site of its farming activities), which furnished emperors and kings with agricultural products.

The Domäne was situated on the medieval "via regia" (Royal Road), the important west-to-east link that led from Western Europe via Mainz and Frankfurt to Saxony and further East. This road was known by the name it still carries today in the district of Wiesbaden, namely the "Steinern Straße".

The Domäne was mentioned for the first time in a document from the 12th century. It experienced a varied history, at times belonging to the Archbishopric of Mainz, the Lords of Eppstein and the Principalities of Nassau and Hesse-Darmstadt. When the State of Hesse was created in 1945, it became its owner as the democratic legal successor to the feudal order.

In 1987, the present managers leased the Domäne from the State of Hesse.