Felben-Wellhausen
Encyclopedia
Felben-Wellhausen is a municipality
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...

 in the district of Frauenfeld
Frauenfeld (district)
Frauenfeld District is one of the five districts of the canton of Thurgau, Switzerland. It has a population of . Its capital, and the capital of Thurgau, is the city of Frauenfeld.The district contains the following municipalities:...

 in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...

 of Thurgau
Thurgau
Thurgau is a northeast canton of Switzerland. The population, , is . In 2007, there were a total of 47,390 who were resident foreigners. The capital is Frauenfeld.-History:...

 in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

The municipality was created in 1983 by a merger of Felben
Felben
Felben is a village and former municipality in the canton of Thurgau, Switzerland.It was first recorded in year 1178 as Veluen. In 1433 it was known as Felwan....

 and Wellhausen
Wellhausen, Switzerland
Wellhausen is a village and former municipality in the canton of Thurgau, Switzerland.In 1983 the municipality was merged with the neighboring municipality Felben to form a new and larger municipality Felben-Wellhausen....

.

History

Roman era
Switzerland in the Roman era
The history of Switzerland in the Roman era encompasses the roughly six centuries during which the territory of modern Switzerland was a part of the Roman Republic and Empire...

 coins have been found in the municipality. The modern village of Felben is first mentioned in 1178 as Veluen. In 1433 it was mentioned as Felwan. In 1178 Alt St. Johann monastery in the Toggenburg
Toggenburg
Toggenburg is the name given to the upper valley of the Thur River, in the Swiss Canton of St. Gallen. Currently, it is one of the eight constituencies into which the canton is divided....

 region became the landlord of the village. From the Late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages was the period of European history generally comprising the 14th to the 16th century . The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern era ....

 until 1798, the courts for the village were held in the city of Frauenfeld
Frauenfeld
Frauenfeld is the capital of the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.-Early history:The earliest trace of human settlement are several La Tène era graves to the east of Langdorf. The Roman road from Oberwinterthur to Pfyn ran through what is now the Allmend in Frauenfeld. Two Roman villas were...

. Prior to the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 Felben, which probably had a chapel starting in the 9th Century, belonged to the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of Pfyn
Pfyn
Pfyn is a municipality in Frauenfeld District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.Pfyn gives its name to the ancient Pfyn culture, one of several Neolithic cultures in Switzerland which centered around intensive pig farming and trading, dating from c. 3900 BC to c...

. By no later than 1569, Felben and Wellhausen formed a Reformed parish. The priest of the parish was appointed by the Herrschaft
Herrschaft (territory)
In the German feudal system, a Herrschaft or Herrlichkeit was the fiefdom of a lord, who in this area exercised his full feudal rights...

of Wellenberg and the city of Frauenfeld. The Catholics
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 in Felben were part of the Catholic parish of Frauenfeld. Until the 19th Century most of the surrounding fields were planted with grain in a three-field system. After 1860, this was partially replaced by livestock and dairy farming. Several drainage and amelioration
Land improvement
Land improvement or land amelioration refers to investments making land more usable by humans. In terms of accounting, land improvements refer to any variety of projects that increase the value of the property...

 projects (1909, 1920–25 and 1969–83) opened up additional land for agriculture. After 1940 sugar beet
Sugar beet
Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B...

s were planted in many of the new fields. By 1900, several other industries had moved into Felben, including embroidery, a brick factory and sand pit work.

Geography

Felben-Wellhausen has an area, , of 7.38 square kilometres (2.8 sq mi). Of this area, 4.2 km² (1.6 sq mi) or 56.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.89 km² (0.729733079739891 sq mi) or 25.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.01 km² (0.38996318017846 sq mi) or 13.7% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.2 km² (0.077220431718507 sq mi) or 2.7% is either rivers or lakes and 0.04 km² (9.9 acre) or 0.5% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 5.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 1.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 5.7%. Out of the forested land, 24.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 55.0% is used for growing crops, while 1.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 2.3% is in rivers and streams.

The municipality is located in the Frauenfeld district, along the Thur River. Until the Thur Correction project of 1880, the town was routinely flooded by the river. It consists of the villages of Felben and Wellhausen which merged in 1983 to form Felben-Wellhausen.

Demographics

Felben-Wellhausen has a population of , 16.4% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 23.1%. Most of the population speaks German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

(89.2%), with Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 being second most common ( 2.5%) and Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...

 being third ( 2.0%).

, the gender distribution of the population was 50.7% male and 49.3% female. The population was made up of 990 Swiss men (42.3% of the population), and 198 (8.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 969 Swiss women (41.4%), and 186 (7.9%) non-Swiss women.

In there were 15 live births to Swiss citizens and 5 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 6 deaths of Swiss citizens and 2 non-Swiss citizen deaths. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 9 while the foreign population increased by 3. There were 5 Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, 16 non-Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 16 non-Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was a decrease of 21 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 55 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.5%.

The age distribution, , in Felben-Wellhausen is; 246 children or 10.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 323 teenagers or 13.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 310 people or 12.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 309 people or 12.9% are between 30 and 39, 444 people or 18.5% are between 40 and 49, and 383 people or 16.0% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 212 people or 8.9% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 100 people or 4.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 59 people or 2.5% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 8 people or 0.3% who are 90 and older.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.6 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m² (43.1 sq ft) as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 55% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...

 or a rent-to-own agreement).

, there were 839 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.5 persons per household. there were 316 single family homes (or 79.0% of the total) out of a total of 400 inhabited buildings. There were 21 two family buildings (5.3%), 11 three family buildings (2.8%) and 52 multi-family buildings (or 13.0%). There were 507 (or 23.6%) persons who were part of a couple without children, and 1,277 (or 59.5%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 93 (or 4.3%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 2 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 4 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 21 who lived in a household made up of unrelated persons, and 19 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.

The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.63%. , the construction rate of new housing units was 6.1 new units per 1000 residents. there were 884 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 4 room apartment of which there were 244. There were 24 single room apartments and 120 apartments with six or more rooms. the average price to rent an average apartment in Felben-Wellhausen was 1003.64 Swiss franc
Swiss franc
The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is in wide daily use there...

s (CHF) per month (US$800, £450, €640 approx. exchange rate from 2000). The average rate for a one room apartment was 522.27 CHF (US$420, £240, €330), a two room apartment was about 805.71 CHF (US$640, £360, €520), a three room apartment was about 917.76 CHF (US$730, £410, €590) and a six or more room apartment cost an average of 1562.08 CHF (US$1250, £700, €1000). The average apartment price in Felben-Wellhausen was 89.9% of the national average of 1116 CHF.

In the 2007 federal election
Swiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...

 the most popular party was the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...

 which received 44.35% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (15.73%), the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...

 (10.12%) and the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...

 (9.49%). In the federal election, a total of 667 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...

 was 43.5%.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1850 479
1900 573
1950 778
1980 1,161
1990 1,550
2000 2,145

Economy

, Felben-Wellhausen had an unemployment rate of 1.84%. , there were 55 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 15 businesses involved in this sector. 791 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 30 businesses in this sector. 241 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 52 businesses in this sector.

there were 1,567 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 916 or about 58.5% of the residents worked outside Felben-Wellhausen while 922 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 1,573 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 15.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 51.2% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 576 or 26.9% were Roman Catholic, while 1,058 or 49.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
Swiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...

. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 Old Catholic who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...

  there are 54 individuals (or about 2.52% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 87 individuals (or about 4.06% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There were 2 individuals (or about 0.09% of the population) who were Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, and 100 (or about 4.66% of the population) who are Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic. There are 17 individuals (or about 0.79% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 182 (or about 8.48% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

 or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, and 68 individuals (or about 3.17% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Felben-Wellhausen about 74.4% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule
Fachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...

).
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