Birr AG

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AG is the abbreviation for the canton of Aargau in Switzerland and is used to avoid confusion with other entries of the name Birrf .
Birr
Birr coat of arms
State : SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland
Canton : Kanton AargauKanton Aargau Aargau (AG)
District : Brugg
BFS no. : 4092i1 f3 f4
Postal code : 5242
UN / LOCODE : CH BRR
Coordinates : 657 665  /  254169 coordinates: 47 ° 26 '9 "  N , 8 ° 12' 11"  O ; CH1903:  six hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred sixty-five  /  254169
Height : 402  m above sea level M.
Height range : 380–645 m above sea level M.
Area : 5.05  km²
Residents: 4587 (December 31, 2019)
Population density : 908 inhabitants per km²
Proportion of foreigners :
(residents without
citizenship ) 		44.3% (December 31, 2019)
Website: www.birr.ch
Birrfeld Alstom 9675.jpg
Location of the municipality
Deutschland Kanton Solothurn Bezirk Aarau Bezirk Baden Bezirk Bremgarten Bezirk Laufenburg Bezirk Lenzburg Bezirk Zurzach Auenstein AG Birr AG Birrhard Bözberg AG Bözen Brugg Effingen Elfingen Habsburg AG Hausen AG Lupfig Mandach Mönthal Mülligen AG Remigen Riniken Rüfenach Schinznach Thalheim AG Veltheim AG Villigen Villnachern Windisch AGMap of Birr
About this picture
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Birr is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Aargau . It belongs to the Brugg district and is halfway between Lenzburg and Brugg . Birr is known as one of the places where the reform pedagogue Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi worked .

geography

The community is located on the western edge of the Birrfeld , an extensive plain between the Aare in the west and the Reuss in the east. The plain has no significant elevations, is used intensively for agriculture and is covered by a forest in the southeast of the municipality. To the south of the village, the steep, wooded north flank of the Chestenberg rises up , an up to 647 meter high foothill of the Folded Jura east of the Aare, which separates the Birrfeld from the Bünztal . Birr has grown together completely with Lupfig , the borders between the once separate villages can no longer be made out in the landscape.

The area of ​​the municipality is 505 hectares , of which 176 hectares are forested and 161 hectares are built over. The highest point is on the Chestenberg at 645 meters, the lowest at 390 meters on the plain. Neighboring communities are Lupfig in the west and north, Birrhard in the east, Brunegg in the southeast and Möriken-Wildegg in the southwest.

history

Individual finds indicate a settlement during the time of the Romans and Alemanni . Bire was first mentioned in a document in 1270 in a purchase agreement that confirmed the acquisition of land in this location by the Wettingen monastery . The place name comes from the Old High German (ze) birchun and means "near the birch". In the Middle Ages, Birr was part of the Eigenamt , the oldest possession of the Habsburgs , whose ancestral seat is three kilometers northwest on the Wülpelsberg. In 1397 the land and court rule over Birr came into the possession of the Königsfelden monastery in Windisch as a gift .

Aerial view (1963)

After the conquest of Aargau by the Confederates in 1415, the city of Bern took over the rule, the self-office was now part of the subject areas in the Bernese Aargau . In 1528 the Bernese introduced the Reformation and dissolved the Königsfelden monastery. They converted their own office to the Landvogtei Königsfelden and then exercised all rights. In 1771 the reform pedagogue Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi moved to the Neuhof. By introducing new crops and fertilization methods, he wanted to give the partially impoverished peasantry an example of how they could improve their situation. After this business failed, he and his wife Anna Pestalozzi took up about 40 children and combined industrial activities such as spinning and weaving with schooling and moral education. For economic reasons, the institution had to be closed in 1780.

In March 1798 the French took Switzerland, ousted the «Gracious Lords» of Bern and proclaimed the Helvetic Republic . Since then, Birr has belonged to the canton of Aargau. The connection to the railway network took place on June 1, 1882 with the opening of the Brugg - Hendschiken line of the Aargau Southern Railway . Birr remained a small, modest farming village until the mid-1950s. The Baden Brown, Boveri & Cie. (now ABB ) built a large manufacturing company from 1957 to 1963. For the many (mostly foreign) employees of the BBC, the Wyde estate with 500 apartments was built in the immediate vicinity . In just ten years the number of inhabitants increased fivefold. Growth has slowed down significantly since 1970, but the trend has remained positive.

Attractions

Pestalozzi monument at the old schoolhouse
Neuhof manor house

The origins of the Reformed Church in Birr go back to a chapel, which was built in the 14th century at the latest and initially belonged to the parish of Windisch . With the introduction of the Reformation it was given the status of a parish church, and in 1662 it was replaced by a new building by Abraham Dünz .

On the southern edge of the village is the Neuhof, which was the place of activity of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi from 1773 to 1779 . Pestalozzi's family lived in the tenant house built in 1770, the manor house was built in 1821/22. After the tenant house was completely burned down in 1858, it was rebuilt as true to the original as possible using the old walls. From 1914 on, the Neuhof served as a home for education and over time it was transformed into a vocational training center. The village museum, housed in a former farmhouse, presents home decor and agricultural tools from earlier centuries.

The world's first market-ready industrial gas turbine , which was developed by Adolf Meyer , has been on display on the General Electric premises since 2006 . It was in operation in Neuchâtel from 1939 to 2002 and was listed by ASME as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1988.

coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms reads: "In blue a yellow pear on a green branch of leaves". It is a so-called speaking coat of arms . However, the appearance of the coat of arms is based on a folk etymological misinterpretation of the place name. The name does not come from pear, but from birch (birch).

population

The population developed as follows:

year 1850 1900 1930 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Residents 498 448 550 562 651 2594 2912 3366 3529 4179

On December 31, 2019, 4587 people lived in Birr, the proportion of foreigners at 44.3% is around twice as high as the cantonal average. In the 2015 census, 29.6% described themselves as Roman Catholic and 18.1% as Reformed ; 52.3% were non-denominational or of other faiths. In the 2000 census, 71.2% said their main language was German , 7.2% Italian , 6.7% Serbo-Croatian , 5.2% Albanian , 1.6% Turkish , 1.3% French , 1.0% Spanish and 0.6% Portuguese .

Politics and law

The assembly of those entitled to vote, the municipal assembly , exercises legislative power. The executing authority is the five-member municipal council . He is elected by the people in the majority procedure, his term of office is four years. The parish council leads and represents the parish. To this end, it implements the resolutions of the municipal assembly and the tasks assigned to it by the canton. The Brugg District Court is the first instance responsible for legal disputes . Birr belongs to the Friedensrichterkreis VIII (Brugg).

economy

Church of Birr

According to the company structure statistics (STATENT) collected in 2015, there are around 2500 jobs in Birr, of which 2% are in agriculture, 63% in industry and 35% in the service sector. The main economic weight lies with industry. In the extensive Birrer industrial zone there is, among other things, a General Electric plant (formerly BBC or ABB , temporarily Alstom ) with around 700 jobs, in which rotors for gas and steam turbines and generators are produced. There are also other industrial companies as well as numerous commercial and service companies.

traffic

Kantonsstrasse 280 from Brugg to Wohlen runs east of the village through the industrial zone, the center itself is accessed via Kantonsstrasse 395. The village is located just under two kilometers south of the Brugg A3 motorway junction and benefits from its excellent traffic location between the major cities of Zurich and Basel . Since 1995 Birr has had a train station on the SBB line Lenzburg-Brugg . A post bus line runs to Brugg train station , as does a night bus on weekends.

education

The primary school , secondary school and secondary school are run in the community's school center . The district school can be attended in Windisch or Brugg . The closest grammar schools are the Baden Cantonal School and the Wettingen Cantonal School . Young people who have committed criminal offenses and those from difficult social backgrounds can complete a craft or agricultural apprenticeship in the Neuhof vocational training center.

literature

Web links

Commons : Birr  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cantonal population statistics 2019. Department of Finance and Resources, Statistics Aargau, March 30, 2020, accessed on April 2, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Cantonal population statistics 2019. Department of Finance and Resources, Statistics Aargau, March 30, 2020, accessed on April 2, 2019 .
  3. ^ National map of Switzerland, sheets 1070 and 1090, Swisstopo.
  4. ↑ Standard area statistics - municipalities according to 4 main areas. Federal Statistical Office , November 26, 2018, accessed on June 11, 2019 .
  5. ^ Beat Zehnder: The community names of the canton of Aargau . In: Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau (Ed.): Argovia . tape 100 . Verlag Sauerländer, Aarau 1991, ISBN 3-7941-3122-3 , p. 90-92 .
  6. ↑ Nina Fargahi: “We called workers and people came” ( Memento from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) NZZ -online September 10, 2011
  7. ^ Zaugg, Paul / Lang, Norbert: A double gas turbine anniversary and its importance for the region . In: Baden New Years Papers . 1999, doi : 10.5169 / seals-324630 .
  8. ^ The world's first industrial gas turbine set - GT Neuchâtel. (PDF; 1.02 MB) A Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. September 2, 1988, p. 8 , accessed on May 29, 2017 (English).
  9. ^ Joseph Galliker, Marcel Giger: Municipal coat of arms of the Canton of Aargau . Lehrmittelverlag des Kantons Aargau, book 2004, ISBN 3-906738-07-8 , p. 121 .
  10. ↑ Population development in the municipalities of the Canton of Aargau since 1850. (Excel) In: Eidg. Volkszählung 2000. Statistics Aargau, 2001, archived from the original on October 8, 2018 ; accessed on June 11, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Resident population by religious affiliation, 2015. (Excel) In: Population and Households, Community Tables 2015. Statistics Aargau, accessed on June 11, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Swiss Federal Census 2000: Economic resident population by main language as well as by districts and municipalities. (Excel) Statistics Aargau, archived from the original on August 10, 2018 ; accessed on June 11, 2019 .
  13. ↑ circles of justice of the peace. Canton of Aargau, accessed on June 18, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Statistics of the corporate structure (STATENT). (Excel, 157 kB) Statistics Aargau, 2016, accessed on June 11, 2019 .
  15. ^ Giorgio V. Müller: General Electric relocates Oberentfelden to Birr. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , June 18, 2018, accessed on June 11, 2019 .