Uerkheim

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Uerkheim
Coat of arms of Uerkheim
State : SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland
Canton : Kanton AargauKanton Aargau Aargau (AG)
District : Zofingenw
BFS no. : 4286i1 f3 f4
Postal code : 4813
Coordinates : 644 272  /  239 369 coordinates: 47 ° 18 '13 "  N , 8 ° 1' 27"  O ; CH1903:  644 272  /  239,369
Height : 455  m above sea level M.
Height range : 446–653 m above sea level M.
Area : 7.09  km²
Residents: 1343 (December 31, 2019)
Population density : 189 inhabitants per km²
Proportion of foreigners :
(residents without
citizenship ) 		9.4% (December 31, 2019)
Website: www.uerkheim.ch
View of Uerkheim from the Stübisberg

View of Uerkheim from the Stübisberg
Location of the municipality
Kanton Basel-Landschaft Kanton Basel-Landschaft Kanton Bern Kanton Luzern Kanton Solothurn Bezirk Aarau Bezirk Brugg Bezirk Lenzburg Bezirk Kulm Aarburg Bottenwil Brittnau Kirchleerau Kölliken Moosleerau Murgenthal Oftringen Reitnau Rothrist Safenwil Staffelbach AG Strengelbach Uerkheim Vordemwald Wiliberg ZofingenMap of Uerkheim
About this picture
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Uerkheim ( Swiss German : Üerke, ˈʏərkχə ) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Aargau . It belongs to the district of Zofingen and is located east of the district capital on the Uerke .

geography

The village is located in the middle section of the Uerkental , with the valley floor nowhere wider than 250 meters. At the village center, two side valleys branch off, the Hinterwiltal to the west and the forest ditch to the northwest. Both are surrounded by steep hills, of which the Wisstannen ( 653  m above sea level ) is the highest. The Uerknerberg ( 579  m above sea level ) forms the eastern boundary of the municipality and at the same time a natural border to the neighboring Suhrental . In addition to numerous scattered individual farms, there are three hamlets. Hinterwil ( 501  m above sea level ) is one kilometer west of the village center in the Hinterwil valley. A little more than a kilometer further west is Linden ( 583  m above sea level ), with the border to Zofingen and the former municipality of Mühlethal running right through the settlement. Neudorf is located on a small plateau one and a half kilometers southwest of Uerkheim ( 601  m above sea level ).

The area of ​​the municipality is 709 hectares , of which 292 hectares are forested and 80 hectares are built over. The highest point is at 663 meters on the southwestern municipal boundary, the lowest at 448 meters on the Uerke. Neighboring communities are Safenwil in the northwest, Kölliken in the north, Holziken in the northeast, Schöftland in the east, Staffelbach in the southeast, Bottenwil in the south and Zofingen in the west.

history

Aerial photograph by Walter Mittelholzer (1923)

Urtihun was first mentioned in a document in 893 in an interest sled from the Fraumünster in Zurich . The place name comes from the Old High German (ze) Urtichun and means "bei / an der Urticha", whereby the river name seems to be of old European origin and can be translated as "the bubbly". The Hinterwil part of the village was first mentioned in 1259 as Willon . In the Middle Ages Uerkheim was under the rule of the Counts of Lenzburg , from 1173 on that of the Counts of Kyburg . After these died out, the Habsburgs took over sovereignty and blood jurisdiction in 1273 .

In 1415 the Swiss conquered Aargau; Uerkheim now belonged to the subject area of ​​the city of Bern , the so-called Berner Aargau . The lower jurisdiction was passed in 1395 from the Lords of Ifenthal to the Lords of Falkenstein . They sold these to the city of Solothurn in 1458 . As a result, there were repeated legal disputes between Bern and Solothurn over the powers in the Safenwil lower court (to which Uerkheim also belonged). In 1665, Bern finally took over the lower court and made it subordinate to the Landvogtei Lenzburg . In 1528 the Bernese introduced the Reformation . The hamlet of Neudorf is a relatively young settlement: around 1560, five Tauners received permission to settle on the hill southwest of the village.

In March 1798 the French took Switzerland, ousted the «Gracious Lords» of Bern and proclaimed the Helvetic Republic . Since then, Uerkheim has belonged to the canton of Aargau. Agriculture shaped the life of the community well into the 20th century . However, unlike numerous villages in the area, the population remained fairly constant. The merger of Uerkheim with the neighboring city of Zofingen was planned for January 1, 2014, but failed on January 20, 2013 due to the negative attitude of the voters of both communities.

Attractions

Church and rectory (front)

The reformed church stands on a protruding sandstone spur above the mouth of the village stream in the Uerke. It was first mentioned in 1159 when Pope Hadrian IV placed the church under the protection of the Muri monastery . The former Romanesque building was completely redesigned in 1520 and a choir was added.

coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms reads: "In white, red bars, in the shield head and base of the shield five-pointed yellow star." This coat of arms first appeared on the municipal seal in 1811. The two stars are supposed to symbolize the former tenth districts of Hinterwyl and Uerkheim. In 2002 the community assembly rejected the suggestion to color the stars red according to the heraldic color rules.

population

The population developed as follows:

year 1764 1850 1900 1930 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Residents 531 1'310 1,386 1,286 1,101 1,132 1,135 1,144 1,248 1,268 1,272

On December 31, 2019, 1343 people lived in Uerkheim, the proportion of foreigners was 9.4%. In the 2015 census, 55.5% described themselves as Reformed and 17.6% as Roman Catholic ; 26.9% were non-denominational or of other faiths. In the 2000 census, 95.4% stated German as their main language, 1.3% Albanian and 0.9% each French and Serbo-Croatian .

Politics and law

View of Uerkheim with the parish hall and the school

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 District Court of Zofingen is primarily responsible for legal disputes . Uerkheim belongs to the XVI judges' circle (Zofingen).

economy

According to the company structure statistics (STATENT) collected in 2015, there are around 370 jobs in Uerkheim, 21% of them in agriculture, 30% in industry and 49% in the service sector. Most of the employed are commuters and work in Zofingen or in the Aarau region .

traffic

Uerkheim is off the main traffic routes. The village is connected to Kölliken and Bottenwil via Kantonsstrasse 317, and to Zofingen via Kantonsstrasse 315 . A bus line operated by the Limmat Bus company runs from the Zofingen train station via Uerkheim to Schöftland .

education

The community has a kindergarten and a school house where primary school is taught. All upper levels of the compulsory elementary school ( Realschule , Secondary School and District School ) can be attended in Zofingen. The closest grammar school is the Zofingen Cantonal School .

Personalities

The reformed theologian Eberhard Busch was pastor of the parish of Uerkheim from 1969 to 1986.

literature

Web links

Commons : Uerkheim  - 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. ↑ a b 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. 428-430 .
  4. ^ National map of Switzerland, sheet 1109, Swisstopo.
  5. ↑ Standard area statistics - municipalities according to 4 main areas. Federal Statistical Office , November 26, 2018, accessed on May 28, 2019 .
  6. ↑ The merger of Zofingen and Uerkheim fails. Aargauer Zeitung , January 20, 2013, accessed on May 28, 2019 .
  7. ^ Stettler: The art monuments of the Canton of Aargau, Volume I: The districts of Aarau, Kulm, Zofingen. Pp. 302-307.
  8. ^ 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. 294 .
  9. ↑ 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 May 28, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Resident population by religious affiliation, 2015. (Excel) In: Population and Households, Community Tables 2015. Statistics Aargau, accessed on May 28, 2019 .
  11. ↑ 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 May 28, 2019 .
  12. ↑ circles of justice of the peace. Canton of Aargau, accessed on June 21, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Statistics of the corporate structure (STATENT). (Excel, 157 kB) Statistics Aargau, 2016, accessed on May 28, 2019 .