Safenwil
Encyclopedia
Safenwil is a municipality
in the district of Zofingen
in the canton
of Aargau
in Switzerland
.
estate on a mule track from the Wigger valley toward Vindonissa
. This was followed by a small Alamanni
camp or settlement. The Eberkopf rock carvings date back to 893 AD, though the modern village of Safenwil is first mentioned in 924 as Sabenewilare. In the 13 Century the village was under the rule Belp
. In the 14th Century the Ifenthal family ruled over the village from Scherenberg castle. With the conquest of the Aargau in 1415, the village came under the authority of Bern. Under Bernese rule, Safenwil was located in the Lenzburg District. In 1415 Bern took over the high court
rights in the village. The low court right was held by Gösgen in Solothurn after 1458. In 1665 this court also went to Bern. In 1803 it became part of the newly formed Canton of Aargau and was assigned to the Zofingen district. School houses were built in Safenwil in 1730, 1829–30, 1908, 1969 and 1999.
In 1304, Zofingen monastery built the St. Ulrich's Chapel in Safenwil. During the Protestant Reformation
, Bern destroyed the chapel. Before the Reformation, Safenwil was part of the Gretzenbach parish
. Between 1528-1616 it was in the Zofingen parish, and after 1616 it was part of the Kölliken
parish. In 1865 it became an independent parish, and built its own church in 1866-67.
Around 1770 Bern built the regional road from Bern to Zurich
through the village. Then, in 1877, Swiss Federal Railways included it on the Aarau
-Zofingen line. Since 1967, the A1 motorway cuts through the town. The good transportation links allowed the town to grow. Around 1820 the first factory, a weaving and dyeing factory, opened in Safenwil. The Hüssy factory remained open for over a century, closing in 1934. In 1897 the Hochuli knitting factory opened near the train station. In the 19th and 20th Centuries several other factories opened, while other residents commuted to factories in Zofingen and Schönenwerd. In 1920, 14% of the jobs were in agriculture, while 75% were in industry. By 2005 most of the heavy industry had moved out and only 19% worked in industry while 77% worked in the services sector. In 1951, the car import company Emil Frey moved into the municipality. This company employs approximately 230 workers and shapes the local labor market and the village.
Of the built-up area, industrial buildings made up 5.0% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 13.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.2%. Out of the forested land area, all of it is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 12.2% is used for growing crops and 14.7% is pastures.
The municipality is located in the Zofingen district, between the lower Wigger and Suhre
river valleys. Its northern border is shared with the Canton of Solothurn
.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Azure a Boar's Head Argent and in chief a Mullet Or
(92.1%), with Italian
being second most common ( 1.6%) and Albanian
being third ( 1.5%).
The age distribution, , in Safenwil is; 300 children or 9.1% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 382 teenagers or 11.6% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 374 people or 11.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 440 people or 13.4% are between 30 and 39, 580 people or 17.7% are between 40 and 49, and 515 people or 15.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 330 people or 10.1% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 213 people or 6.5% are between 70 and 79, there are 131 people or 4.0% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 14 people or 0.4% who are 90 and older.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.54 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 55.7% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage
or a rent-to-own agreement).
, there were 87 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 648 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 497 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 1,275 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. there were 675 single family homes (or 45.0% of the total) out of a total of 1,499 homes and apartments. There were a total of 24 empty apartments for a 1.6% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.2 new units per 1000 residents.
In the 2007 federal election
the most popular party was the SVP
which received 45.3% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP
(18.43%), the FDP
(11.45%) and the EVP Party
(7.68%). In the federal election, a total of 944 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 41.1%.
The historical population is given in the following table:
there were 1,664 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 1,114 or about 66.9% of the residents worked outside Safenwil while 996 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 1,546 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 7.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 58.7% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there was 1 individual who belonged to the Christian Catholic
faith.
). Of the school age population , there are 204 students attending primary school, there are 120 students attending secondary school in the municipality. Safenwil is home to the Volksbibliothek Safenwil (Public Library of Safenwil).
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 Zofingen
Zofingen (district)
Zofingen District is a district in the Swiss canton of Aargau. It is located in the southwest corner of the Canton. The seat is Zofingen. The largest municipality in population is Oftringen, the smallest is Wiliberg. It has a population of ....
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 first settlement in the area was a Roman eraSwitzerland 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 on a mule track from the Wigger valley toward Vindonissa
Vindonissa
Vindonissa was a Roman legion camp at modern Windisch, Switzerland. It was probably established in 15 AD. In an expansion around 30, thermal baths were added....
. This was followed by a small Alamanni
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
camp or settlement. The Eberkopf rock carvings date back to 893 AD, though the modern village of Safenwil is first mentioned in 924 as Sabenewilare. In the 13 Century the village was under the rule Belp
Belp
Belp is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is close to Bern's Belp Airport.-Geography:...
. In the 14th Century the Ifenthal family ruled over the village from Scherenberg castle. With the conquest of the Aargau in 1415, the village came under the authority of Bern. Under Bernese rule, Safenwil was located in the Lenzburg District. In 1415 Bern took over the high court
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....
rights in the village. The low court right was held by Gösgen in Solothurn after 1458. In 1665 this court also went to Bern. In 1803 it became part of the newly formed Canton of Aargau and was assigned to the Zofingen district. School houses were built in Safenwil in 1730, 1829–30, 1908, 1969 and 1999.
In 1304, Zofingen monastery built the St. Ulrich's Chapel in Safenwil. During 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...
, Bern destroyed the chapel. Before the Reformation, Safenwil was part of the Gretzenbach 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...
. Between 1528-1616 it was in the Zofingen parish, and after 1616 it was part of the Kölliken
Kölliken
Kölliken is a municipality in the district of Zofingen in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.-Geography:Kölliken has an area, , of . Of this area, or 32.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 43.3% is forested...
parish. In 1865 it became an independent parish, and built its own church in 1866-67.
Around 1770 Bern built the regional road from Bern to Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
through the village. Then, in 1877, Swiss Federal Railways included it on the Aarau
Aarau
Aarau is the capital of the northern Swiss canton of Aargau. The city is also the capital of the district of Aarau. It is German-speaking and predominantly Protestant. Aarau is situated on the Swiss plateau, in the valley of the Aar, on the river's right bank, and at the southern foot of the Jura...
-Zofingen line. Since 1967, the A1 motorway cuts through the town. The good transportation links allowed the town to grow. Around 1820 the first factory, a weaving and dyeing factory, opened in Safenwil. The Hüssy factory remained open for over a century, closing in 1934. In 1897 the Hochuli knitting factory opened near the train station. In the 19th and 20th Centuries several other factories opened, while other residents commuted to factories in Zofingen and Schönenwerd. In 1920, 14% of the jobs were in agriculture, while 75% were in industry. By 2005 most of the heavy industry had moved out and only 19% worked in industry while 77% worked in the services sector. In 1951, the car import company Emil Frey moved into the municipality. This company employs approximately 230 workers and shapes the local labor market and the village.
Geography
Safenwil has an area, , of 5.99 square kilometres (2.3 sq mi). Of this area, 1.66 km² (0.640929583263608 sq mi) or 27.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.75 km² (1.1 sq mi) or 45.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.61 km² (0.621624475333981 sq mi) or 26.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.01 km² (2.5 acre) or 0.2% is unproductive land.Of the built-up area, industrial buildings made up 5.0% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 13.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.2%. Out of the forested land area, all of it is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 12.2% is used for growing crops and 14.7% is pastures.
The municipality is located in the Zofingen district, between the lower Wigger and Suhre
Suhre
The river Suhre is a 34 kilometer long tributary of the river Aare in the Swiss cantons of Lucerne and Aargau. The river sources in Lake Sempach at an altitude of 504 meters above sea level, and joins the Aare east of the town Aarau at an altitude of 362 meters...
river valleys. Its northern border is shared with the Canton of Solothurn
Canton of Solothurn
Solothurn is a canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn.-History:The territory of the canton comprises land acquired by the capital...
.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
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 Azure a Boar's Head Argent and in chief a Mullet Or
Demographics
Safenwil has a population of , 14.7% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of -0.5%. Most of the population speaks GermanGerman 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....
(92.1%), 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 ( 1.6%) 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 ( 1.5%).
The age distribution, , in Safenwil is; 300 children or 9.1% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 382 teenagers or 11.6% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 374 people or 11.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 440 people or 13.4% are between 30 and 39, 580 people or 17.7% are between 40 and 49, and 515 people or 15.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 330 people or 10.1% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 213 people or 6.5% are between 70 and 79, there are 131 people or 4.0% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 14 people or 0.4% who are 90 and older.
the average number of residents per living room was 0.54 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 55.7% 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 87 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 648 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 497 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 1,275 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. there were 675 single family homes (or 45.0% of the total) out of a total of 1,499 homes and apartments. There were a total of 24 empty apartments for a 1.6% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 3.2 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 45.3% 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....
(18.43%), 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....
(11.45%) and the EVP Party
Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland
The Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland is a political party in Switzerland.In questions of redistribution, education, environmentalism, immigration policy, the EVP stands rather center-left. In questions of euthanasia, abortion, and registered partnership and other typically Christian...
(7.68%). In the federal election, a total of 944 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 41.1%.
The historical population is given in the following table:
| year | population |
|---|---|
| 1764 | 506 |
| 1798 | 713 |
| 1850 | 1,200 |
| 1900 | 1,347 |
| 1950 | 1,919 |
| 2000 | 3,128 |
Points of interest
- Theologian Karl BarthKarl BarthKarl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...
formulated his early theology and wrote his influential commentary The Epistle to the Romans while serving as a pastor in Safenwil. - Rock carvings in the historical landmark the Eberkopf date back to 893 AD. Safenwil's coat of arms depicts a boar's head.
Economy
, Safenwil had an unemployment rate of 2.54%. , there were 62 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 21 businesses involved in this sector. 279 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 48 businesses in this sector. 1,144 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 102 businesses in this sector.there were 1,664 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 1,114 or about 66.9% of the residents worked outside Safenwil while 996 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 1,546 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 7.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 58.7% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 640 or 20.5% were Roman Catholic, while 1,899 or 60.7% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss 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 individual 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.
Education
In Safenwil about 70.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a FachhochschuleFachhochschule
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 204 students attending primary school, there are 120 students attending secondary school in the municipality. Safenwil is home to the Volksbibliothek Safenwil (Public Library of Safenwil).