The third quarter of the nineteenth century was a crucial period of transition in Frankfurt's communal identity. In 1850, the townsfolk spoke with the broad Frankfurtisch accent and their families had been there for generations; by 1870, most residents were immigrants. The city-republic, whose citizenry had dominated, ceased to be a social reality. Annexation by Prussia and the subsequent loss of Frankfurt's sovereignty in 1866 practically abolished the socio-economic and political privileges enjoyed by the citizens for generations. With the introduction of freedom of residence, immigration swelled the city's population. Moreover, Frankfurt's degradation to a Kreisstadt under Wiesbaden's jurisdiction, a city regarded by many townsfolk as much inferior, seriously affronted their pride.

Not all changes, however, were brought about under external pressure, or commenced after 1866. The republic had introduced freedom of trade in 1864, albeit decades later than adjoining communities like Bockenheim, in the Electoral Princedom of Hessen-Kassel, which had lifted guild control as early as 1822. By 1860, Frankfurt was no longer contained within the medieval fortifications. Residential suburbs such as Westend, and industrial satellites like Griesheim, Höchst, Fechenheim and Offenbach had emerged, mostly beyond the border of the city-state, diversifying the city's topography long before the government was ready to acknowledge the change. Frankfurt's expansion and topographical reorganization followed a path that most German communities trod in this period, and that numerous historical studies have traced.