Menziken

Menziken (Swiss German: mæntsikχə ) is a municipality in the district of Kulm in the canton of Aargau. It is located in the upper Wynental and borders the Canton of Lucerne.

Geography

The village extends over the entire width of the trough-shaped valley of the Wyna. The Ischlag ( 651 m above sea level. M. ) forms the natural border of the Lake Valley. West of the village, at the foothills of the Taurus mountain the town of Burg. This is surrounded almost entirely by the municipality Menzikens and is therefore almost an enclave. A strip of land about 100 meters wide, forms the connection to the western part of the municipality. The local terrain is mostly wooded and rises up to the Taurus mountain (872 m above sea level. M. ) on. The five municipalities Menziken, castle, Beinwil, Rickenbach and Reinach are fused to form a coherent agglomeration with more than 17,000 inhabitants, the boundaries between the once separate villages are no longer discernible.

The area of the municipality is 638 hectares, including 149 hectares of forested and built over 187 hectares. The highest point is located on 872 meters on the summit of Mount Taurus, the deepest at 535 meters at the Wyna.

Other neighboring municipalities in the canton of Aargau in addition castle also Reinach in the north and Beinwil in the Northeast. Neighboring municipalities in the canton of Lucerne are Rickenbach in the west and Beromunster in the south and east.

History

Isolated finds are evidence of a settlement of the upper Wynentals during the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the Hallstatt period. In Roman times there was a small estate here. In the 7th century, built a large farmhouse Alamannic a courtyard. The first mention of Manzinchouen took place in 1045 in a charter of Count Ulrich von Lenzburg. The place name comes from Old High Manzinghofun and means " in the courts of the clan of Manzo ." In the Middle Ages, the village was in the territory of the Counts of Lenzburg, from 1173 in that the counts of Kyburg. After these had died out, the Habsburgs, the new rulers were in 1264. The lower courts had possession of the Lords of Rinach, who had their headquarters in the castle. The tithe went to the Canons in Beromunster.

1415 conquered the Swiss Aargau; Menziken now belonged to the subject territory of Berne, the so-called Bernese Aargau and was part of judicial Reinach in the Official Lenzburg. 1528 resulted in the Bernese the Reformation. Menziken has long been part of Reinach and was only in 1580 an independent commonwealth. In March 1798, the French marched into Switzerland, the disempowered " Gracious gentlemen " of Bern and proclaimed the Helvetic Republic. Menziken since then is the canton of Aargau.

The industry continued early collection: 1729 a cotton factory moved to the former farming village. Soon followed weavers, spinners and dyers. The Menziker products have been exported to Alsace, in Lombardy and to Savoy. As of 1838, the textile industry has been gradually supplanted by the tobacco industry. Menziken and the upper Wynental developed into a center of Swiss manufacture of cigars and achieved international importance. Middle of the 19th century, the "Bank in Menziken " was founded, and the new " Wynentaler sheet» reached by Menziken from his readers. At the turn of the 20th century came the construction of Hercules trucks as well as the processing of aluminum in the aluminum AG (later Alu Menziken Group, now Montana Tech Components ) to do so.

This recovery would have been without the construction of new roads is not possible. On 1 May 1904, the narrow gauge Wynentalbahn replaced the stagecoach traffic between Menziken and the cantonal capital Aarau. On October 1, 1906, the standard gauge railway line Menziken Beromunster was opened, a branch line of the Seetalbahn. During the 20th century, the population has more than doubled and Menziken has grown together with its neighboring villages. Since a few years Menziken, castle, Pfeffikon and Reinach work closely together in many areas.

Attractions

1801 was built at the Wyna one by a water driven sawmill, which was until 1969 in operation. 1982 to 1986 the building was restored and has since been under a preservation order. It is maintained by an association and therefore is still functional; regularly held demonstrations.

The Reformed Church was built in neo-Gothic style and consecrated in 1890.

In 2000, the local community Chrischona sold their built in 1922 chapel. The building was renovated and converted into a museum that deals with the tobacco and cigar industry of the upper Wynentals.

The Catholic St. Anne's Church was built in 1907, due to the growing number of believers had this in 1973 to be developed and expanded. The Reformed residents Menzikens belong to Ref parish Menziken Castle

Coat of arms

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is: " In red on green Three mountain warrior in white armor, his head turned to the left, to the right white spear with yellow shank, in the left five-pointed yellow star entertaining. " That Menziker crest has undergone numerous transformations, it have been handed a total of 13 different variants of the Knight's subject. The version used today was introduced in 1956.

Population

Population development:

On December 31, 2013 5668 people lived in Menziken, the proportion of foreigners was 35.5 %. At the 2000 census, 39.6 % were reformed. 30.4 % Roman Catholic, 12.7% Muslim and 2.9 % Christian Orthodox; 0.6 % belonged to other faiths. 81.3 % identified German as their main language, 5.0% Albanian, Serbo-Croatian 4.1%, 3.0% Italian, 2.8% Turkish, 1.3 % speak Spanish.

Politics and Law

The Assembly of the voters, the municipal assembly, shall exercise the legislative power. Executive authority is the five-member council. His term of office is four years and he was elected in Majorzverfahren ( majority voting procedure) by the people. He leads and represents the community. To this end, he implements the decisions of the municipal assembly and the tasks that were assigned to him by the cantonal and federal. Mayor of the 2010-2013 term of office is Annette Heuberger.

For litigation, the District Court in Unterkulm is responsible. Menziken part of the justice of the peace circle Reinach.

Economy

In Menziken there are operating according to Census 2008 about 1,900 jobs, of which 1% in agriculture, 39 % in industry and 60 % in the service sector. Menziken together with Reinach the economic center of southern Aargau and therefore has many commuters, also from the neighboring canton of Lucerne areas.

By far the largest company in the Alu Menziken Group, which has its headquarters here. The American Haworth, Inc., the world's second largest office furniture company, has in Menziken its Swiss subsidiary. Other industries include the graphics industry, the metal and the production of fruit juices.

Traffic

Right through the village the important Hauptstrasse 23 of Aarau runs over Beromunster to Sursee. A secondary road leads through Petersburg to Rickenbach. Menziken is the southern terminus of the narrow gauge Wynentalbahn (now AAR bus bahn ) to Aarau. A post bus line goes from Beinwil about Menziken after Beromunster and the line 50 of the Auto AG Rothenburg runs from Banhnhof Menziken directly to the Lucerne train station.

Until recent years, the WSB wrong in the middle of the busy main road as tram, partly in oncoming traffic. There were frequent accidents with serious damage to material. In 1991, on the parallel, standard gauge SBB line Beinwil passenger was stopped on Lake Beromunster, the plan was the laying of the WSB series on the now vacant SBB Trassee. The Umspurungs and remediation work started in 1999 on the setting of freight transport. The new section Reinach North Menziken was opened December 15, 2002 finally.

Education

The municipality has three kindergartens and four school houses. In this all levels of compulsory elementary school are taught (primary school, secondary school, secondary school, school district ). The nearest district school (high school ) is located 5 km away Beromunster (Canton Lucerne). However, many students stay in Canton and drive at the Cantonal School in Aarau.

Personalities

Martin R. Dean ( born 1955 ), writer
Johann Othmar Doebeli (1874-1922), painter
Esther Egger- Wyss ( b. 1943 ), politician
Heinrich Alfred Gautschi (1871-1955), industrialist, founder of the Alu Menziken Group
Karl Gautschi (* 1939), satirist
Matthias Merz ( born 1984 ), orienteers
Walther Merz (1868-1938), lawyer and historian
Monica Morell (1953-2008), pop singer
Frédéric Page (born 1978 ), football player
Heinrich von Siebenthal ( b. 1945 ), philologist
Dieter Steiner ( b. 1932 ), geographer
Alfred Vogt (1879-1943), ophthalmologist

Klaus Merz (* 1945), writer, grew up in Menziken

564420