Hermetschwil-Staffeln
Encyclopedia
Hermetschwil-Staffeln 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 Bremgarten
Bremgarten (district)
Bremgarten District is a Swiss district in the Canton of Aargau, corresponding to the valleys of the Reuss and Bünz rivers in the area known as the Freiamt.-Geography:...

 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 Aargau
Aargau
Aargau is one of the more northerly cantons of Switzerland. It comprises the lower course of the river Aare, which is why the canton is called Aar-gau .-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....

.

History

Hermetschwil-Staffeln is first mentioned in 1064 as Hermenswil. In 1390 it was mentioned as Hermeczwil. Under Austrian sovereignty it belonged to Muri. Hermetschwil shared the fate of Hermetschwil Convent. Muri Abbey
Muri Abbey
Muri Abbey was a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. It flourished for over eight centuries at Muri, in the Canton of Aargau, near Basle in Switzerland...

 owned a farm in Hermetschwil with a tavern, mill, ferry and parish church. The rights to low justice
High, middle and low justice
High, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judiciary power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents....

 was held by the abbot of the monastery of Muri, while high justice was held by the Habsburgs until 1415. After the conquest of Aargau by Bern, Hermetschwil was part of the independent Krummamt.

The Convent church always served as a parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

. In 1878, at the time of the dissolution of the monastery, the farm buildings of the monastery, became the orphanage of St. Benedict.

The quiet farming village has grown since 1960 in the wake of the agglomeration of Zurich. In the 1980s, a lively building activity began.

Geography

Hermetschwil-Staffeln has an area, , of 3.3 square kilometres (1.3 sq mi). Of this area, 54.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 31.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 10.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (4.5%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).

The municipality is located in the Bremgarten district, on a moraine
Moraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...

 hill on the left bank of the Reuss river. It consists of the villages of Hermetschwil along the river and Staffeln in the hills above the river. The village of Hermetschwil-Staffeln is situated outside of Bremgarten, about a 5 min drive away. Bremgarten is also connected to the village by bus number 339.

The municipalities of Bremgarten
Bremgarten, Switzerland
Bremgarten is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Aargau. It serves as seat of the district of Bremgarten. The medieval old town is listed as a heritage site of national significance.-History:...

 and Hermetschwil-Staffeln are considering a merger for some time in the future into a new municipality which will be known as Bremgarten.

Demographics

Hermetschwil-Staffeln has a population (as of ) of . , 9.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 12.4%. Most of the population speaks German (96.0%), with Italian being second most common ( 1.3%) and French being third ( 0.7%).

The age distribution, , in Hermetschwil-Staffeln is; 111 children or 10.0% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 180 teenagers or 16.2% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 110 people or 9.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 153 people or 13.8% are between 30 and 39, 258 people or 23.3% are between 40 and 49, and 138 people or 12.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 83 people or 7.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 46 people or 4.1% are between 70 and 79, there are 28 people or 2.5% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 2 people or 0.2% 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 0.57 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 62.9% 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 31 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 135 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 155 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. The average number of people per household was 2.72 individuals. there were 180 single family homes (or 42.8% of the total) out of a total of 421 homes and apartments. There were a total of 0 empty apartments for a 0.0% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.7 new units per 1000 residents.

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 44.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...

 (24.5%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (12.9%) and the FDP
Free Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (8.1%).

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Hermetschwil-Staffeln about 86.2% 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...

). Of the school age population , there are 102 students attending primary school in the municipality.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1850 346
1900 389
1950 379
1980 498
2000 1,087

Heritage sites of national significance

The Benedictine
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...

 Convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...

 of St. Martin, and the former Gasthaus (hotel-restaurant) at Dorfstrasse 9 are listed as Swiss heritage sites of national significance
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...

.

Economy

Until January 2009 there was a Volg supermarket in the village which had to close because of insufficient funding and a mistake with the change of ownership, it's scheduled to re-open during April 2009. The local "Gemeindehaus", a Raiffeisen ATM and a local primary school and kindergarten are the services that can be found in the village. Numerous apartment buildings are being built, which will provide more space for future residents.

, Hermetschwil-Staffeln had an unemployment rate of 1.99%. , there were 24 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 10 businesses involved in this sector. 73 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 9 businesses in this sector. 125 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 20 businesses in this sector.

there were 584 total workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 494 or about 84.6% of the residents worked outside Hermetschwil-Staffeln while 96 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 186 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 7.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 65.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 603 or 55.5% were Roman Catholic, while 310 or 28.5% 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 were 2 individuals (or about 0.18% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic
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...

faith.
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