Hilfikon
Village center
Hilfikon (Swiss German: hɪl.fɪ.kχə ) is a village in the district of the Swiss canton of Aargau Bremgarten. It is located about seven kilometers west of the district municipal seat. By the end of 2009, there was an independent municipality, since the village belongs to the municipality Villmergen. From the population terms Hilfikon was at the time of the merger, the smallest municipality in the district and the tenth smallest of Canton.
Geography
The village is situated at the eastern foot of the mountain reed, a wooded foothills of the Lindenberg, which separates the lower Bünztal from Lake Valley. Hilfikon is drained from south to north through the Erusbach. This takes north of the village on the back of Bach, will in the course of Wood Creek and flows near Dottikon in the Bünz. While the western side of the valley rises steeply to Rietberg, the eastern side of the valley is in the plateau above the foot of the Lindenberg. On a prominent hill with the castle Hilfikon, the landmark of the village, which has otherwise a rural character.
The area of the former municipality was 172 hectares of which 44 hectares were covered by forests and built over 25 hectares. The highest point was at 640 meters, the deepest place on 455 meters. Neighboring communities were Villmergen in the north, Büttikon in the east, the south and Sarmenstorf Seengen in the West.
History
The first mention of Hilfiniswilare was 924 in an interest toboggan ( sled = list, directory ) of the woman Minster in Zurich. The name can be derived from the Old High German Helfineswilari what " Hofgut of Helfini " means. The suffix " - wil " indicates that the village has emerged during the second phase of Alemannic settlement in the 8th or 9th century. 1261 the village is mentioned as Hilfinchon, 1281 for the first time as Hilfikon. The change of the extension is due to the influence of surrounding villages. 1290 was the fundamental and low- court mastery over to the lords of Hilfikon, a Ministerialengeschlecht in the service of the Habsburgs. They built a residential tower, which controlled the road between Lucerne and Brugg. In addition, they left the farm and moved a domain, the duties of the other farms in the small rule. Individual farms were integrated into the village association Villmergen and subordinate to the local district court.
1415 conquered the Lucerne villages Hilfikon, Büttikon, Sarmenstorf, Uezwil and Villmergen. But in 1425 they had to return the area to the common possession of the Confederates. Hilfikon was henceforth in the Official Villmergen in the outdoor offices, a common rule. In 1472 the family of Zurich Meiss is named as owner of the rule Hilfikon. Melchior for Gilgen from Lucerne united in 1514 the rule Hilfikon with the Bailiwick Sarmenstorf. 1547 did the federal places to purchase the castle and make it the residence of the provincial governor, but the negotiations failed due to the amount of the purchase price.
The First Battle of Villmergen on January 24, 1656 has been partially held at the municipality of Hilfikon and demanded several hundred deaths. Before the Second Battle of Villmergen on July 25, 1712 the castle served as headquarters of the troops of the Catholic cantons of the Confederation. The Fourth of the peace agreed upon the warring parties that ruled in the lower outdoor offices, including in Hilfikon, only the Reformed places Bern, Zurich and Glarus. The French invaded Switzerland and called in March 1798, the Helvetic Republic from, synonymous with the end of the old political order. Hilfikon formed together with Büttikon an Agent shaft in the district Sarmenstorf the short-lived Canton of Baden. At the foundation of the canton of Aargau in 1803 Büttikon was separated again.
In ecclesiastical terms Hilfikon has always belonged to the parish Villmergen. 1510 was the castle chapel, which was completely rebuilt in 1750. 1832 the municipality bought by a Kaplan supervised chapel and left them in 1947 to a private chapel club. In the first half of the 19th century Canton built the hitherto poorly -maintained road through Hilfikon into a modern transport route. The people lived by agriculture and by the way the craft. Of some importance was the homework for Freiaemter straw industry. 1904 Hilfikon received his first water reservoir, a year later, the connection to the electricity network followed. Opened on December 18, 1916 Wohlensee Meisterschwanden replaced the railway since 1853 circulating between Wohlen and driving cheeks stagecoach. At the station, the trains stopped Hilfikon always only on request. On 31 May 1997, the train has stopped.
1923 left the former owner of the castle on the Brunnmatte set up an airfield hangar, starting in 1925 used it and the military. The airfield was, however unprofitable and consumed in the assets of the lord of the castle. The self-sufficiency doctrine in World War II led to Umpflügung the slopes, the unused hangar was dismantled in 1948 and rebuilt in Spreitenbach on the former airfield again. 1944/45, took advantage of the Swiss Refugee Council the castle as a vocational school home for more than three dozen refugees; the young women came primarily from Eastern Europe. Since 1956, every April Motocross race held in Hilfikon, but the event is known as the " Motocross Wohlen ». First time in 1958 a European Championship was held. The audience figures increased steadily and reached in 1973 with 36'530 visitors a climax. This was followed by a gradual decline due to the growing competition from other leisure activities. Meanwhile, the audience numbers between 4,000 and 6,000 have leveled.
The population has grown only marginally up to now and the village has preserved its rural character. On 15 June 2007, the municipal assemblies of Hilfikon and Villmergen approved the merger of the two communities. This was confirmed in the ballot of November 25, 2007 in two communities. On 1 January 2010 ended the independence Hilfikons.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the former town and present-day village coat of arms reads: " In white yellow reinforced black elephant with yellow belt and red tower. " From 1811, the municipality used a simple seal with the community names, and later they added the Aargau Coat of Arms. 1915 suggested the historian Walter Merz to use the well-known since the 16th century coat of arms of the lords of Hilfikon. After various clubs had followed this proposal, moved by the council in 1953. By 2002, the claws were white, but were then in accordance with the rules of heraldic stained yellow ( horns, claws, teeth, etc., must always have the same color ). The origin of the unusual motif is not known, but exhibited the writer Charles Tschopp on the similarity between the Middle High German word for elephant ( Helfant ) and the early place names form Helfini out.
Attractions
The development of the village has always been strongly influenced by Hilfikon castle. In the 13th century, built as a residential tower and later rebuilt into a chateau, it underwent several changes of ownership and is still privately owned. It is a rectangular, 1650/60 mainly newly built castle with medieval keep. The chapel has a Rococo interior with an altar by Johann Baptist Babel and ceiling paintings by Franz Anton Rebsamen.
Population
Population development:
At 31 December 2008 251 people lived in Hilfikon, the proportion of foreigners was 7.6 %. At the 2000 census, 63.8 % Roman Catholic, and 27.7 % were reformed. 95.1 % identified German as their main language, 3.1 % speak French.
Economy
In Hilfikon exist several smaller commercial and service enterprises. More than half of the jobs are to be found in agriculture. Most workers are commuters and work in the neighboring towns, mainly in Wohlen and Villmergen.
Traffic
By Hilfikon performs the important main road between Wohlen and the Valley. Since the closure of Wohlensee Meisterschwanden -Bahn in 1997, operates between Wohlen and Meisterschwanden a bus of BDWM transport, also opens up Hilfikon. The former railway line has been converted into a cycle path.
Education
The village has no school more. The primary school, secondary school and the secondary school can be visited in Villmergen. The school district and the nearest district school (Gymnasium) are in Wohlen.
Schooling for children from Hilfikon was only in 1809, first in the private homes of the respective schoolmaster. Due to heavy fluctuations in pupil numbers, the children had to attend school from 1843 to 1859 in Villmergen. 1861 built Hilfikon after numerous requests by the cantonal authorities a schoolhouse; the local government used the building. Always looked after a single teacher together all primary school classes. 1973 replaced a pavilion, the old school house, 1995 was a new school house with four rooms and a small gym related. Since the number of students decreased continuously, the school was closed in 2009.