Möhlin
Encyclopedia
Möhlin (ˈmøːlin 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 Rheinfelden
Rheinfelden (district)
Rheinfelden District lies in the northwest of the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, in the Fricktal region. Its capital is Rheinfelden. Around 88% of the population live in the conurbation of Basel. There are 14 municipalities, with a population of living in an area of 112.09 km²...

 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

The area around Möhlin was prehistorically settled. A neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 settlement has been discovered at Chleizelgli, while scattered Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 items were discovered around the municipality. There was a 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...

 estate as well as three watchtowers along the Rhine river. During the Early
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...

 to High Middle Ages
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....

 it was the site of fortified refuge.

The modern village of Möhlin is first mentioned in 794 as Melina. In the 13th Century a knight in the service of the House of Zähringen and a 15th Century Rheinfeld Schultheiss (mayor) both had the name von Meli, which is derived from Möhlin.

The municipality of Möhlin came into being when eight hamlets
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 merged over the course of the 15th Century. Jurors (a group of men of good character that were used to investigate crimes and/or judge the accused) from Möhlin are first mentioned in 1473. From 1135 until 1797, the village was under Habsburg-Austrian rule. It was a part of the region
Historical region
Historical regions are delimitations of geographic areas for studying and analysing social development of period-specific cultures without any reference to contemporary political, economic or social organisations....

 of Möhlinbach in the Rheinfelden district. Both the high and low courts
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....

 over the district were under Austrian control. In 1803 the entire Fricktal
Fricktal
The Fricktal region is the northwest finger extending from the Swiss canton of Aargau. It is situated in Northwestern Switzerland east of Basel, between the High Rhine forming the border with Germany in the north and the Jura Mountains in the south. The Fricktal contains the districts of...

, including Möhlin, joined the newly founded Canton of Aargau. The settlement of Rappershausen was destroyed during the Thirty Years War.

The church appears in the 8th Century with Germanus as its patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

. In the 10th Century it is again mentioned, but this time the patron is Saint Leodegar
Leodegar
Saint Leodegar or Leger, Bishop of Autun , was the great opponent of Ebroin— the mayor of the Palace of Neustria— and the leader of the faction of Austrasian great nobles in the struggles for hegemony over the waning Merovingian dynasty...

. The original building was replaced with a new church in 1609. In 1314 the patronage of the church was granted by the Abbey of Ettenheim in Breisgau
Breisgau
Breisgau is the name of an area in southwest Germany, placed between the river Rhine and the foothills of the Black Forest around Freiburg im Breisgau in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, which partly consists of the Breisgau, is named after that area...

 to James of Wart. A few years later, in 1327, it was granted to the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...

 Order House in Beuggen. Between 1803-63 the patronage was held by the Canton of Aargau. The two chapels in Obermöhlin and Riburg date from the 17th and the early 18th Century. 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...

 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...

 was established in 1873, and took over the church at that time. The church was renovated in 1954. In the 1940s, a Catholic
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...

 and a Reformed
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...

 church were built.

In 1932, the Bata Shoes
Bata Shoes
Bata Shoes is a large, family owned shoe company based in Bermuda but currently headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, operating 3 business units worldwide – Bata Metro Markets, Bata Emerging Markets and Bata Branded Business. It has a retail presence in over 50 countries and production...

 company opened its factory in Möhlin. The factory buildings and the surrounding residential areas were modeled on the original urban design of the city of Zlín
Zlín
Zlín , from 1949 to 1989 Gottwaldov , is a city in the Zlín Region, southeastern Moravia, Czech Republic, on the Dřevnice River. The development of the modern city is closely connected to the Bata Shoes company...

, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

.

Geography

Möhlin has an area, , of 18.79 square kilometres (7.3 sq mi). Of this area, 7.89 km² (3 sq mi) or 42.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 6.87 km² (2.7 sq mi) or 36.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.48 km² (1.3 sq mi) or 18.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.59 km² (0.227800273569596 sq mi) or 3.1% is either rivers or lakes and 0.02 km² (4.9 acre) or 0.1% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.7% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 9.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.6%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 33.2% is used for growing crops and 7.5% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.

The municipality is located in the Rheinfelden district, along the Möhlinbach (Möhlin stream). It consists of the two parts Obermöhlin (Upper Möhlin) and Untermöhlin (Lower Möhlin) in the south of the railway line and of Riburg in the north.

Coat of arms

The blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

 of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is Gules a garb Or ensigned with a Sickle Azure handled Sable.

Demographics

Möhlin has a population of , 21.3% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 14.7%. 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....

(87.8%), 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 ( 3.5%) and Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

 being third ( 1.9%).

The age distribution, , in Möhlin is; 1,042 children or 10.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 1,148 teenagers or 12.0% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 1,143 people or 12.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 1,423 people or 14.9% are between 30 and 39, 1,655 people or 17.3% are between 40 and 49, and 1,234 people or 12.9% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 951 people or 10.0% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 631 people or 6.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 288 people or 3.0% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 36 people or 0.4% who are 90 and older.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.58 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 46% 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 291 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 1,938 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 1,109 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 3,412 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. there were 1,542 single family homes (or 36.2% of the total) out of a total of 4,259 homes and apartments. There were a total of 60 empty apartments for a 1.4% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 13.5 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 36.9% 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....

 (19.7%), 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....

 (12.3%) and 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...

 (11.8%).

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1768 1,102
1850 1,940
1900 2,209
1950 3,830
1990 7,157
2000 8,297
2010 10,025

Heritage sites of national significance

The Bata factory at Batastrasse (719, 743) and three parts of the Roman era Rhine fortifications (the Fahrgraben, the Bürkli in the hamlet of Riburg, and the lower Wehren) are all 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...

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Economy

, Möhlin had an unemployment rate of 2.4%. , there were 176 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 48 businesses involved in this sector. 841 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 84 businesses in this sector. 2,498 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 254 businesses in this sector.

there were 4,291 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 2,932 or about 68.3% of the residents worked outside Möhlin while 1,444 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 2,803 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 20.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 48.6% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 3,121 or 37.6% were Roman Catholic, while 2,381 or 28.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 1 042 who belonged to the Christian Catholic faith.

Education

In Möhlin about 72.6% 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 750 students attending primary school, there are 244 students attending secondary school, there are 348 students attending tertiary or university level schooling in the municipality.

Möhlin is home to the Gemeindebibliothek Möhlin (municipal library of Möhlin). The library has 16,642 books or other media, and loaned out 58,564 items in the same year. It was open a total of 216 days with average of 13 hours per week during that year.

Notable residents

Möhlin is the hometown of the Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

n footballer Ivan Rakitic
Ivan Rakitic
Ivan Rakitić is a Croatian footballer who plays for Sevilla FC and the Croatian national team.Born in Möhlin, he started his professional career at Swiss giants Basel and spent two seasons with them before establishing popularity for his time in the German Bundesliga with Schalke 04...

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