Oberhelfenschwil
Oberhelfenschwil
Oberhelfenschwil is a municipality in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It is located in the constituency of Toggenburg. To Oberhelfenschwil includes part of the village Necker, Wasserfluh and the hamlet Metzwil, race, Schwanden, Wigetshof and Füberg.
Oberhelfenschwil located 13 kilometers southeast of Wil SG, 6 km northeast of Wattwil and 7 km southwest of Degersheim SG (both air lines).
Oberhelfenschwil counts 1325 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2013), making it the sixth smallest municipality in Toggenburg.
- 3.1 legislative
- 3.2 executive
- 3.3 judiciary
- 4.1 traffic
- 7.1 Attractions 7.1.1 Neutoggenburg ruins
Geography
The village is situated on a hill between the rivers Thur and Necker. The highest point is 1100 m above sea level. M. of Köbelisberg - Waldschwilerberg, on the border of the municipality Wattwil. The lowest point is 580 m above sea level. M. on the banks of the River Thur at Unterdietfurt ( " Thurrank ").
The total area is 1265 hectares. Of these, 4.2 percent urban and 61.7 percent of agricultural land. 33.6 of the area is forest and woody plants and 0.5 percent are non-productive area (2006).
The neighboring communities are Ganterschwil in the north, Necker in the east, Wattwil in the south, light rising in the southeast and Bütschwil in the West.
Population
On 31 Dec 2012 1325 people lived in Oberhelfenschwil. The proportion of foreigners in 2008 was 8.3 %, which is well below the cantonal average of 21.5 %. About a quarter of the foreign population were citizens of Germany. They were followed by citizens of one of the States of the former Yugoslavia and Italians.
Languages
In the census of 2000, 91.6 % described German as their main language. The second most common language is at 1.9%, Albanian, followed before Serbo-Croatian 1.4%.
Politics and Law
Legislature
The legislative power is in Oberhelfenschwil the town hall meeting. They usually take place once every year, usually in late March. At the parliamentary elections in 2007, the parties reached the following percentage of voters:
Executive
The executive authority of the council. His term of office is four years. He is elected by the people in Majorzverfahren. He leads and represents the community. To this end, he implements the decisions of the town meeting and the tasks that were assigned to him by the canton and the federal government. As head of the executive mayor must act in full office, the other councilors in the next office.
The council consists of 7 persons and is supported by the local council clerk.
Judiciary
For litigation, the district court Toggenburg, headquartered in light climbing, responsible. Oberhelfenschwil also features a mediator ( justice of the peace ).
Economy
The largest employers in Oberhelfenschwil are the Karl Egli carpentry, the Mock AG Civil Engineering and Toolmaking Oberhelfenschwil AG.
Oberhelfenschwil has a small ski lift, which is actively used mainly by locals. The base station is located at the Berligstrasse. The ski lift leads to a length of approximately 330 meters to the south-facing slope via Altegg towards reason up.
The main feature of the economic structure of the fog -free mountain resort lies in the balance of agriculture and forestry, tourism (camping, skiing ), trade, services ( Care and Rehabilitation ) and small-scale industries ( construction and metal industry).
Traffic
Oberhelfenschwil is accessible from the villages of Necker, Unterdietfurt and Ganterschwil on public roads. A coach operation also complements the need of the population.
History
1874, the villages of Hof, St. Loretto and Blatten were transferred from the municipality Oberhelfenschwil of light climbing. 1952 voted Ebersol and Oberhelfenschwil to an area Abtausch. Oberhelfenschwil got Ebersol of the hamlet of races as well as the courts Adelsbach, mountain and Schlattmann (46 inhabitants), during which the former Ebersol Oberhelfenschwiler exclave Hiltisau got with 38 inhabitants.
The village was first mentioned in the year 882. The instrument is located in the monastery archives of St. Gallen.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms is cleaved by gold and silver. Heraldic right is in a black three-part tower visible. Rear six times horizontally divided by silver and black.
Arts Culture
Attractions
Sights of Oberhelfenschwil are simultaneously used by Catholics and Reformed Church Oberhelfenschwil, the ruins Neutoggenburg, Rüdberg and Furberg ( current name Füberg ) and the light wind plant on the Freudenberg.
Neutoggenburg ruins
The ruin Neutoggenburg - once the ancestral home of the Counts of Toggenburg - was built at the beginning of the 13th century and, arguably, have served as a replacement of the old family castle. It is located about 500 m north of the hamlet Wasserfluh and can be reached by Schwanden from. In the 400 -year history of the Counts of Toggenburg their rule over large parts of the canton of St. Gallen, Vorarlberg and Grisons was extended. After the death of the last count's in 1468, the Abbey of St. Gall acquired under Abbot Ulrich Rösch the county of Toggenburg. The castle began to fall apart since therefore.
Medieval frescoes in the church
Frescoed ceilings and stained glass windows in the apse of the church
Others
In 1982 Oberhelfenschwil celebrated its 1100 anniversary.