Wattwil

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Wattwil
Wattwil coat of arms
State : SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland
Canton : Canton of St. GallenCanton of St. Gallen Canton of St. Gallen (SG)
Constituency : Toggenburgw
BFS no. : 3379i1 f3 f4
Postal code : 8726 Ricken
9622 Krinau
9630 Wattwil
UN / LOCODE : CH WAT
Coordinates : 723 160  /  238 215 coordinates: 47 ° 17 '0 "  N , 9 ° 4' 0"  O ; CH1903:  seven hundred twenty-three thousand one hundred and sixty  /  238215
Height : 610  m above sea level M.
Height range : 590-1330 m above sea level M.
Area : 51.17  km²
Residents: 8740 (December 31, 2018)
Population density : 167 inhabitants per km²
Website: www.wattwil.ch
Wattwil general view Yburg.jpg
Location of the municipality
Zürichsee Wägitalersee Walensee Kanton Appenzell Ausserrhoden Kanton Appenzell Innerrhoden Kanton Glarus Kanton Schwyz Kanton Thurgau Kanton Zürich Wahlkreis See-Gaster Wahlkreis Sarganserland Wahlkreis St. Gallen Wahlkreis Werdenberg Wahlkreis Wil Bütschwil-Ganterschwil Ebnat-Kappel Hemberg SG Kirchberg SG Lichtensteig Lütisburg Mosnang Neckertal Nesslau Oberhelfenschwil Wattwil Wildhaus-Alt St. JohannMap of Wattwil
About this picture
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Wattwil around 1820 with priest / rural community meadow, parity church, village, Iberg Castle and monastery (artist unknown)
Aerial photo from 200 m by Walter Mittelholzer (1919)

Wattwil is a municipality in the Swiss canton of St. Gallen .

geography

The municipality in Toggenburg , halfway between Wil and Wildhaus , is the second largest Toggenburg municipality in terms of inhabitants and fourth largest in terms of area and is considered the capital of Toggenburg. Wattwil has an area of ​​51 km² and a population of 8569 (December 31, 2018).

The village is about 610  m above sea level. M. on the Thur . The highest point in Wattwils is the Tweralpspitz at 1321  m above sea level. M. , and the lowest point of the municipality is at 590  m .

The municipal area includes the villages of Wattwil, Ricken and the hamlets or quarters Bleiken, Scheftenau, Bunt, Hochsteig, Chrummbach / Heiterswil, Hummelwald, Schönenberg, Steintal, Laad, Ulisbach, Schmidberg and Hänsenberg and, since January 1, 2013, the village of Krinau .

history

Today's village of Wattwil is documented for the first time as "Wattinwilare", which can be interpreted as the farm of an Alemannic settler named "Watto". These documents from 897 report on a property owned by the St. Gallen Monastery , whose annual interest income had to be given to the St. Andrew's Church in "Wattwinwilare". Wattwil - first mentioned as Meierhof in 903 - was the center of the monastic rule over the so-called church people in central Toggenburg. In Toggenburg, however, not all people were subordinate to the St. Gallen monastery as church people: the court disciples were subjects of the Toggenburg counts . Both groups each had their own political structures and their own court. Today two streets are named after the two groups.

Around 1230, Heinrich von Iberg, a princely ministerial , had Iberg Castle built. It was destroyed during the Appenzell Wars and rebuilt in 1408. Until 1805 it served as the seat of the princely governors . In 1468 the entire county of Toggenburg (the last Toggenburg count Friedrich VII died in 1436 without heirs entitled to inherit) was bought up by the prince abbey of St. Gallen. The monastic rulers then standardized the different relationships of subjects and put the people of the church and the count's court disciples on an equal footing. From then on, the court in Wattwil covered large parts of today's municipalities from Ebnat-Kappel to Bütschwil . The “Pfaffenwiese” (today cemetery) at the Wattwil church then served as a parish and war assembly point and as a place of homage to the prince abbots.

In 1529 the pastor Mauriz Miles from Lichtensteig introduced the Reformation in Wattwil. The population, which supported the religious innovations with a large majority, was able to prevail against the Catholic abbot in the subsequent rural communities. Catholic services were not reintroduced until 1593. The Wattwil Church was used equally by both denominations until the new Catholic Church was built in 1967/68 .

In 1621 the Capuchin convent of St. Mary the Angels was built on the Wenkenrüti . After a devastating fire at the previous location on the Pfanneregg (at today's Vitaparcours ), an excellently preserved monastery complex with a high-baroque monastery church was created in the immediate vicinity of Wattwil . The Capuchin Sisters left the monastery in 2010.

In the 17th century, the prince abbey of St. Gallen wanted to develop the cart path over the Rickenpass into a road in order to ensure a better connection between St. Gallen and Catholic Central Switzerland. The mostly Reformed population of Wattwil refused to work as a slave labor , which triggered the Toggenburg turmoil (1699 to 1712) and led to the 2nd Villmerger War . A road over the Rickenpass was finally realized in 1786.

After the rule of the prince abbey of St. Gallen ended, the Toggenburg was granted independence on January 1, 1798 by the last prince bailiff, Karl von Müller-Friedberg . The Helvetic Republic, which was founded a little later, incorporated Toggenburg after a short time. Wattwil belonged with the Untertoggenburg to the newly created canton Säntis , while the Obertoggenburg belonged to the canton Linth . In 1803 the Toggenburg was united and allocated to the newly created canton of St. Gallen.

Between 1907 and 1914, the course of the Thur flowing through Wattwil was corrected. This 1. Thur correction was planned by Arnold Sonderegger and brought considerable improvements for the development of the village. The valley plains, which were previously poorly protected against flooding, could now be built on more intensively. A second correction was made in 1983.

The conventional linen weaving , which is very common in Toggenburg, was replaced by the cotton manufacture in 1750 . In the 19th century, more than a dozen companies started their work in Wattwil. The companies of Abraham and Johann Rudolf Raschle and Johann Georg Anderegg were of particular importance . In 1881 the Toggenburg Web School was founded in Wattwil , from which the Swiss Textile School later emerged. In the 20th century, Heberlein & Co. (later Gurit-Heberlein AG ), which was active in the field of textile printing and dyeing, became particularly important. The yarn dyeing factory founded by Georg Philipp Heberlein in 1835 became one of the most important Swiss textile companies in the further course of the 20th century and was known worldwide for the development of Helanca synthetic fibers. Heberlein was the largest employer in the region and had a major impact on the economy, society and the look of Wattwil. When the textile industry in Eastern Switzerland slipped more and more into crisis, operations were stopped in 2001.

On January 1, 2013, the political communities of Wattwil and Krinau merged . In 2012, those entitled to vote voted in favor of the association by a large majority.

Public transport

As in 1910, the BT and the fabrics train were opened, Wattwil got a new station.
Bus of the bus company Lichtensteig – Wattwil – Ebnat-Kappel (BLWE)

Since the Toggenburgerbahn started operating on the Wil - Ebnat-Kappel route on June 24, 1870 , Wattwil has been served by the railway. When the Bodensee-Toggenburg-Bahn (BT) jointly opened the Romanshorn - St. Gallen - Wattwil route and the SBB the Ricken line Wattwil - Uznach on October 1, 1910 , Wattwil became the Toggenburg railway junction . On October 1, 1912, BT opened the extension of the Toggenburgerbahn from Ebnat-Kappel to Obertoggenburg and Nesslau-Neu St. Johann .

Wattwil is connected hourly with the Voralpenexpress with St. Gallen and Rapperswil - Lucerne . In regional traffic, Wattwil is served by the S 4, S 8 and S 9 of the St. Gallen S-Bahn . The St. Gallen – Wattwil – Nesslau – Neu St. Johann line with Wattwil station is now owned by the Südostbahn (SOB), the Wattwil – Uznach – Rapperswil line is owned by the SBB.

The east portal of the 8.6-kilometer-long Rickentunnel , the west portal of the Wasserfluhtunnel and the Lichtensteig train station are located in the municipality of Wattwil .

Wattwil has had a local bus operated by the Lichtensteig – Wattwil – Ebnat-Kappel (BLWE) bus company since 1970 , which connects the various quarters and hamlets between Ebnat-Kappel and Lichtensteig . The Schneider Busbetriebe courses run over the Rickenpass to Rapperswil . Postbus courses lead to Hemberg and occasionally via Nesslau-Neu St. Johann to Wildhaus .

schools

Wattwil is an important school location with the following facilities:

Sightseeing and tourism

Sights of Wattwil include the monastery of St. Maria the Angel with the high baroque church (built in 1621), the Iberg castle ruins , old factory and farm houses and the late classicist Kubli church (today's Reformed church). Of the newer architecture is u. a. the Toggenburg market hall (architect: Walter Bieler) is worth seeing.

The 60 kilometer long Thurweg , a hiking trail along the Thur from Wil to Wildhaus, runs through the municipality . The Way of St. James also leads through the middle of the municipality . The stage between Rorschach and Einsiedeln leads from St. Peterzell over the Scherrer to the village of Wattwil and then on via Laad and Oberricken to Walde and St. Gallenkappel .

Culture

The Chössi-Theater is a small theater that has been offering theater, cabaret, dance and music performances as well as various in-house productions on a regular basis since it was founded in 1980. The theater has 130 seats with cushions (in the dialect Chössi ) and a restaurant. It is popular with well-known national and international artists because of its intimate atmosphere. It is operated by voluntary association members. In 2004 the association received an award from the St.Gallische Kulturstiftung.

Cinema passerelle

With its daily film screenings, the Passerelle cinema is one of the cultural institutions of Toggenburg and primarily shows cultural studio and arthouse films, documentaries , Swiss and regional filmmaking and entertainment films . At the same time, various events such as author evenings, premieres and themed evenings with film discussions take place. The cooperative cinema, which opened in 1990, was honored in 2015 by the St.Gallen Cultural Foundation for its cultural commitment. It has two presentation halls with 116 and 49 seats each.

The Toggenburg market hall is Wattwil's largest event location and offers space for over 2000 people. In addition to the weekly cattle markets and auctions, the market hall regularly hosts concerts, festivals, parties, trade exhibitions and meetings. The hall was opened in 2005.

Personalities

Web links

Commons : Wattwil  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Permanent and non-permanent resident population by year, canton, district, municipality, population type and gender (permanent resident population). In: bfs. admin.ch . Federal Statistical Office (FSO), August 31, 2019, accessed on December 22, 2019 .
  2. ^ Municipality of Wattwil Online: Wattwil in numbers. Retrieved December 12, 2017 .
  3. ^ A b c d e Community Wattwil Online: History. Municipality of Wattwil, accessed on June 13, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e Hans Büchler: Wattwil. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland Online. HLS, November 23, 2016, accessed June 13, 2020 .
  5. ^ Camino Europe - Wattwil. Retrieved July 3, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Chössi Theater - Small Theater in Toggenburg. Accessed July 3, 2020 (German).
  7. ↑ Passerelle cinema. Retrieved July 3, 2020 .
  8. ^ Toggenburg market hall: Toggenburg market hall in Wattwil. Retrieved July 3, 2020 .