Heerbrugg
| Heerbrugg | ||
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| State : |
 Switzerland
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| Canton : |
 Canton of St. Gallen (SG)
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| Constituency : | Rhine Valley | |
| Political community : | Au , Balgach , Berneck , Widnau | |
| Postal code : | 9435 | |
| UN / LOCODE : | CH HEE | |
| Coordinates : | 765 037 / 253 438 | |
| Height : | 405 m above sea level M. | |
| Residents: | 3093 (December 31, 2018) | |
| Website: | www.heerbrugg.ch | |
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Heerbrugg is a village in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland . It is located in the lower part of the St. Gallen Rhine Valley in the municipal area of Au , Balgach , Berneck and Widnau and has more or less grown together with their core settlements. Heerbrugg is the center of the Middle Rhine Valley, a cultural region in the Alpine Rhine Valley .
geography
Main road 13 runs through Heerbrugg from Au SG in the north to Balgach in the south. In the west lies Berneck and in the east Widnau, which are connected by the connecting road from Heiden to Diepoldsau . The road to Berneck is called Bahnhofstrasse in Heerbrugg and Tramstrasse from Berneck. Located at the foot of the Hümpelerberg ( Hümpeler for short), the station district forms the center of the village. The Sonnenberg school house and Heerbrugg Castle are located on the Sonnenberg, a plateau on the Hümpeler . In the east behind the Hümpeler lies the Brändli . In the south the former game area (today Leica area), and in the east the Elektra district with the Elektraweg as the center. On the border to the north on the east side of the railway tracks is the Rosenbergsau industrial area, where the headquarters and the main factory of the SFS Group are located.
politics
Merger plans
A merger of Au, Balgach, Berneck and Widnau and the municipality of Diepoldsau was planned for 2012 , which would result in a new town called Heerbrugg with over 27,000 inhabitants. However, this merger project was clearly rejected in the referendum on June 17, 2007.
economy
The economic history of Heerbrugg is shaped by the efforts of Jacob Schmidheiny I (1838–1905) and his descendants. It all started with a small weaving mill on the Alte Landstrasse (today the Staatsstrasse) between Balgach and Rebstein.
In 1867 Jacob Schmidheiny I bought the Heerbrugg Castle, which included a small brick factory, from Professor Karl Völker . In 1880 he developed a process that made it possible to manufacture the extruded interlocking tile for the first time . He then continuously expanded the brickworks and thus ensured the economic rise of Heerbrugg and Balgach. In 1889 it was Jacob Schmidheiny I who began to plan a tram that ultimately led to the connection between Heerbrugg and the then metropolis of Altstätten, which made Heerbrugg's economic rise to today's center of high technology in the Rhine Valley possible. In 1906 it was his son Jacob Schmidheiny II (1875–1955) who founded the school community Heerbrugg together with his brother Ernst I in order to enable the people of the Rhine Valley to get an education.
One of the most important companies in Heerbrugg (Balgach municipality) is Leica Geosystems AG , which also goes back to the efforts of the Schmidheinys . Jacob Schmidheiny II signed the articles of association with Heinrich Wild and Robert Helbling in 1921 to finance Heinrich Wild, workshop for precision mechanics and optics on the condition that the factory be located in Heerbrugg; according to his guiding principle:
"Work for the people of the Rhine Valley!"
The SFS Holding is headquartered also in the village (municipality Au). It is one of the largest companies in the Alpine Rhine Valley and is considered an important company for Heerbrugg and one of the most important employers in the Rhine Valley region .
The Swiss Alu Trading AG group, which casts aluminum for the production of profiles in Germany and Austria , as well as the Grabher INDOSA Maschinenbau AG company founded in 1936 with its machines for the food industry that are used around the world are located in Heerbrugg Castle . In addition to the companies mentioned , there are several other high-tech companies in the vicinity of the Leica Geosystems headquarters , which emerged from Wild Heerbrugg . One of the most important engineering centers in Eastern Switzerland is therefore located in Heerbrugg.
traffic
The lying in Heerbrugg Station of SBB serves the communities Balgach, Berneck , Widnau and Diepoldsau . The station is part of the Chur – Rorschach railway line . The central transfer point for RTB Rheintal Bus is also located on the SBB site. The RTB Rheintal Bus is the successor to the Altstätten – Berneck trolleybus (1940 to 1977) and the Altstätten – Berneck tram (1897 to 1940, branch line Heerbrugg – Diepoldsau until 1956). The routes of the regional bus company extend south to Buchs , north to Rorschach , west to Berneck and east to neighboring Austria ( Lustenau and Dornbirn ). A post bus also runs from Heerbrugg station via Oberegg to Heiden or St. Anton .
The connection to the A 13 is via Widnau .
history
In the High Middle Ages , the herbruck , the only bridge over the river Aich (today Länderenaach), handled traffic in the swampy terrain of the Middle Rhine Valley.
After the construction of the Rheintaler railway line and the creation of a station in Heerbrugg (municipality of Au SG), the place became a traffic junction and economic center from 1858. 1858 When the railway opened, the hamlet of Heerbrugg had around thirty residents. Today Heerbrugg is politically divided into four. The municipal boundaries between Au, Berneck, Balgach and Widnau run partly along the railway line, but mostly through the middle of the residential areas.
Art and culture
Schools, colleges
The Heerbrugg canton school , which was founded in 1975 as a rural secondary school, is located in Heerbrugg (Berneck municipality) . The high school and technical middle school courses are offered. In addition, the upper level Middle Rhine Valley (OMR) is located on Karl-Völker- Strasse in Heerbrugg. The primary school, founded in 1906, has been integrated into the primary school community of Au-Heerbrugg since January 2013.
Attractions
- Heerbrugg Castle (with Schmidheiny Collection)
- Villa Schmidheiny (built in 1904 by Wendelin Heene )
- Evangelical and Catholic Church
- Hotel Heerbruggerhof (on Bahnhofplatz), built by Johann Labonté and in his possession until his impoverishment
- Culture in the signal box
Villa Schmidheiny (left) and Heerbrugg Castle surrounded by vines
Brother Klausen Church (Catholic)
Evangelical Church from the South
Hotel Heerbruggerhof
Former Heerbrugg signal box, today culture in the signal box
Personalities
Born in Heerbrugg
- Ernst Schmidheiny (1871–1935), Swiss industrialist and politician, son of Jacob Schmidheiny (1838)
- Ernst Schmidheiny (1902–1985), Swiss industrialist and founder of the Ernst Schmidheiny Foundation , son of Ernst Schmidheiny (1871)
- Max Schmidheiny (1908–1991), Swiss engineer, industrialist, politician and founder of the Max Schmidheiny Foundation , son of Ernst Schmidheiny (1871)
- Jacob Schmidheiny (1838–1905), Swiss entrepreneur
- Jacob Schmidheiny (1875–1955), Swiss entrepreneur, son of Jacob Schmidheiny (1838), Jacob-Schmidheinystrasse is named after him.
- Stephan Schmidheiny (* 1947), Swiss entrepreneur and philanthropist, son of Max Schmidheiny
- Thomas Schmidheiny (* 1945), Swiss entrepreneur and art collector, son of Max Schmidheiny
With other reference to the location
- Karl Völker , 1839–1850 ran a school at Heerbrugg Castle , and Karl-Völker-Strasse is named after him.
- Johann Labonté (1866–1945) was the most important Art Nouveau architect in the Rhine Valley. Lived in Heerbrugg from 1906 until his death.
- Hans Huber (1927–2018), entrepreneur ( SFS )
Others
The following social services and institutions are located in Heerbrugg:
- Social Services Middle Rhine Valley
- Official Guardianship Middle Rhine Valley
- Mental Health Services South
- Middle Rhine Valley Fire Brigade
- Civil protection Middle Rhine Valley
Web links
- Markus Kaiser: Heerbrugg. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Portrait of the community of Au-Heerbrugg
- Primary school Au-Heerbrugg
- Upper Middle Rhine Valley (OMR)
- Heerbrugg Cantonal School
Individual evidence
- ↑ Parish in numbers on au.ch accessed on January 28, 2019.
- ↑ Heerbrugg. Historical Lexicon of Switzerland (HLS), February 28, 2017, accessed on October 30, 2019 .
- ^ Project vision community Heerbrugg final report at www.widnau.ch (2007), accessed on December 26, 2013.
- ↑ a b Höchstern nature reserve. (PDF) Milly Hug, accessed December 23, 2013 .
- ↑ Modern business location . (PDF) Municipality of Balgach, accessed on December 26, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Der Rheintaler: The Silicon Valley of Precision Mechanics ( Memento from December 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ From Wild to Leica 70 years of company history 1921-1991. (PDF) Rudolf Simmen, accessed on December 26, 2013 .
- ↑ Route network map RTB / BSW on busost.ch
- ↑ History on proheerbrugg.ch
- ↑ Markus Kaiser: Johann Labonté (1866–1945) Au-Heerbrugg in Rheintaler Heads, historical-biographical portraits from five centuries . Rheintaler Druckerei und Verlag AG, Berneck 2004, ISBN 3-03300265-X . P. 256 ff