Industrialization of the city of Brugg

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For a long time, the city of Brugg was shaped by craftsmanship and industrialization began relatively late, which in turn picked up speed all the faster and made the city an important business location in the canton of Aargau .

Starting position

For centuries handicrafts and small businesses formed the livelihood of the Bruges population. In the first half of the 19th century the city had around 1000 inhabitants. Most worked in their own small businesses, for example as butchers, bakers, innkeepers, wagons, blacksmiths and carters. While a spinning mill was built in Aarau in 1810, which provided work for over 3000 people, Brugg was still very rural at that time. Factory buildings were also built in Windisch and Turgi from 1826 to 1829. So industrialization progressed rapidly around Brugg. But nothing happened in Brugg itself. Neither city government nor citizens were interested in the industry. A main source of income was the brisk through traffic over the Bözbergpass , from which many professions benefited. In order to encourage traffic, most of the towers and gates of the city fortifications were demolished from the 1820s.

Initially, nobody in Brugg showed any interest in the railway . In 1855 a commission dealt with the construction of a Bözbergbahn. However, this project was quickly abandoned - also because it competed with the flourishing road traffic over the Bözberg. In 1856 Brugg finally got a railway connection. The Swiss Northeast Railway extended the Zurich - Baden route (the so-called " Spanish bread railway ") to Brugg. Although the station was built in the Windisch area, it was called Brugg station because Windisch was not well known. Windisch demanded that the station be called “Windisch bei Brugg”, but this was rejected. Windisch later sold the station area to Brugg. However, with the railroad traffic over the Bözberg collapsed and so the innkeepers and carters lost their income. The urban economy stalled and new recipes were needed. A first factory project in Freudenstein, not far from the city, failed due to resistance from the citizens. They regarded factory workers as a foreign body in the previous artisan and industrial town.

Advent of industry

A key event that promoted industrialization in Brugg was the introduction of electricity . On November 12, 1892, the electric lamps lit up for the first time on the streets and in the household. This was made possible by the Brugg power station , the first municipal power station in the canton of Aargau.

In the following years numerous industries settled in Brugg:

  • Maschinenfabrik Weber (later Müller & Co.) in Schorrer (1893)
  • Silk weaving mills Bodmer in Paradise and Fierz on the Silk Road (1893)
  • Kabelwerke Brugg an der Industriestrasse (1896)
  • Wartmann im Langacker company (1896)
  • Valette & Cie in Langacker (1869)
  • Finsterwald iron foundry in Windisch / Brugg (1911)

This led to strong population growth. From 1888 to 1890 the number of inhabitants rose from 1585 to 2345. This corresponds to an increase of 48 percent. New residential quarters were created in the area around Bodenackerstrasse and the chemical factory on Habsburgerstrasse. Surrounding communities such as Windisch, Umiken and Lauffohr also benefited from industrialization. Their population also grew rapidly. In contrast, the Altenburg population was greatly reduced.

From 1872 to 1875, mainly people from abroad came to Brugg in search of work. Among them were Italians from northern Italy and South Tyrol as well as Russians, most of whom found jobs in the machine shop and foundry. Female employees were mainly found in the clothing industry, where they also made their living by working from home . Later, the upswing of companies in the machine industry led to a reduced proportion of women workers.

Another characteristic was the wage gap: women and children received lower wages than their male employees. Wages were only improved through strikes and threats. In 1877 the Federal Factory Act regulated that the working hours of adults were limited to eleven hours a day. Child labor was brought under control with the introduction of the Factory Police Act (1862): the work of children under the age of 13 was now prohibited. Under 16s were only allowed to work twelve hours.

Decline

The post-war crisis left its mark: in 1921, the factory statistics counted 21 companies with just 692 employees. As early as 1924, employment had increased by 30 percent. This upswing continued until 1929. The employment figures of 1929 were not exceeded again until 1945. The global economic crisis that began in 1930 was also reflected in Brugg. More people lost their jobs every year. The metal and machine industries in particular were primarily affected. From 1929 to 1936 Brugg had to cope with a 38 percent decline in employment. 543 jobs were cut in these years.

In the time of industrialization, the residents of the city of Brugg complained about the noise, smoke and soot as well as vibrations in the residential areas. The residents fought in court for their quality of living. At the same time, it was difficult for the companies to get raw materials because they were either no longer available or too expensive. Several companies merged or gave up production entirely. For these reasons, the industries moved towards Birrfeld. Only a few companies from the “Wilhelminian era” from the end of the 19th century to the First World War exist to this day, for example Kabelwerke Brugg . Other entrepreneurs from the early days of Bruges industry changed their ownership structure. The company "Hunziker Baustoffe AG" was sold to the Vigier Group in 1997, but the 130 jobs were retained.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Baldinger Fuchs, Astrid et al .: Experience Brugg. Politics and society in transition. tape 2 . Brugg 2005, ISBN 3-03919-007-5 , pp. 537 .
  2. ↑ a b Baldinger: Experience Brugg. Politics and society in transition. P. 538.
  3. ↑ Baldinger: Experience Brugg. Politics and society in transition. P. 539.
  4. ↑ Baldinger: Experience Brugg. Politics and society in transition. P. 542.
  5. ↑ Baldinger: Experience Brugg. Politics and society in transition. P. 546.
  6. ↑ Baldinger: Experience Brugg. Politics and society in transition. P. 549.
  7. ↑ Baldinger: Experience Brugg. Politics and society in transition. Pp. 550-551.
  8. ↑ Baldinger: Experience Brugg. Politics and society in transition. Pp. 554-555.
  9. ↑ Baldinger: Experience Brugg. Politics and society in transition. P. 555.
  10. ↑ Baldinger: Experience Brugg. Politics and society in transition. Pp. 561-562.
  11. ↑ Baldinger: Experience Brugg. Politics and society in transition. P. 564.