Herdern
Encyclopedia
Herdern 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 Frauenfeld District 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 Thurgau
Thurgau
Thurgau is a northeast canton of Switzerland. The population, , is . In 2007, there were a total of 47,390 who were resident foreigners. The capital is Frauenfeld.-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

Herdern is first mentioned in 1094 as Harderin. Originally it was under the authority of Ittingen. Until 1403 the local castle, Herden Castle, was home to the Bettler family. In 1501, the low 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....

 of Herden was combined with the lands of Herden Castle to form the Herrschaft
Herrschaft (territory)
In the German feudal system, a Herrschaft or Herrlichkeit was the fiefdom of a lord, who in this area exercised his full feudal rights...

of Herden. In 1601 the castle was expanded and renovated. In 1683 the castle and Herrschaft came to the monastery of St. Urban in Lucerne
Lucerne
Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...

. The low court was managed until 1798 by the monastery's resident governor who occupied the castle. The castle belonged to the monastery of St. Urban until 1848 when it was sold. After passing through several owners it was acquired by the Verein Arbeiterkolonien Herden (Association of the Worker's of Herden). They opened the castle in 1895 as a home for unemployed workers, ex-prisoners and vagrants. In 1995 the castle became a home for those with psychological and social problems (it had 75 inhabitants in 2003).

The 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...

 boundaries were very similar to the Herrschaft lands. In 1331 the church rights and taxes went to the monastery at Kalchrain. When 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...

 entered the village in 1529, the local nobility remained by the old religion, and in 1533 Kalchrain sent priest to support the nobility. The parish remained 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...

.

Until the 19th Century the major sources of income in Herden were grain, wine and fruit production. These remained important even after a cloth factory and a lignite
Lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...

 mine opened. Towards the end of the 19th Century, livestock production and dairy farming began to move into the village.

Geography

Herdern has an area, , of 13.67 square kilometres (5.3 sq mi). Of this area, 9.21 km² (3.6 sq mi) or 67.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 3.84 km² (1.5 sq mi) or 28.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.61 km² (0.235522316741446 sq mi) or 4.5% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.02 km² (4.9 acre) or 0.1% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 2.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 0.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.1%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.2%. Out of the forested land, 26.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 63.9% is used for growing crops, while 3.4% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the unproductive areas, and .

The municipality is located in Frauenfeld District. The current municipality was created in 1998 from the former Munizipalgemeinde (Municipal commune) and the former ortsbürgergemeinde
Bürgergemeinde
The Bürgergemeinde is a statutory corporation in public law in Switzerland...

 of Herden and the village of Lanzenneunforn.

Demographics

Herdern has a population of , 7.6% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 5.9%. 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....

(95.5%), with 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 second most common ( 1.7%) and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 being third ( 0.6%).

, the gender distribution of the population was 49.7% male and 50.3% female. The population was made up of 427 Swiss men (45.5% of the population), and 40 (4.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 441 Swiss women (47.0%), and 31 (3.3%) non-Swiss women. In there were 11 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 birth to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens and 1 non-Swiss citizen death. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 6 while the foreign population remained the same. There were 3 Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, 7 non-Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 1 non-Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was an increase of 25 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 3 people. This represents a population growth rate of 3.1%.

The age distribution, , in Herdern is; 111 children or 11.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 139 teenagers or 14.2% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 107 people or 10.9% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 121 people or 12.3% are between 30 and 39, 199 people or 20.3% are between 40 and 49, and 142 people or 14.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 80 people or 8.2% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 41 people or 4.2% are between 70 and 79, there are 38 people or 3.9% who are between 80 and 89,and there are 3 people or 0.3% who are 90 and older.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.56 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.56 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 66.8% 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 305 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.9 persons per household.

there were 153 single family homes (or 86.4% of the total) out of a total of 177 inhabited buildings. There were 16 two family buildings (9.0%), 2 three family buildings (1.1%) and 6 multi-family buildings (or 3.4%). There were 160 (or 16.8%) persons who were part of a couple without children, and 557 (or 58.3%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 58 (or 6.1%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 14 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 4 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 10 who lived in a household made up of unrelated persons, and 81 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.

The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.12%. , the construction rate of new housing units was 11 new units per 1000 residents. there were 327 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 6 room apartment of which there were 112, and there were 3 single room apartments.

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 43.22% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were 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...

 (21.41%), 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....

 (11.13%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (9.35%). In the federal election, a total of 388 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 57.7%.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1850 735
1860 792
1870 758
1880 733
1890 727
1900 741
1950 785
1960 730
1980 714
1990 852
2000 955

Heritage sites of national significance

Schloss Liebenfels (Liebenfels Castle) is listed as a Swiss heritage site 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...

. The area around Liebenfels is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.-Sites of national importance:-Types:...

.

Economy

, Herdern had an unemployment rate of 1.5%. , there were 107 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 40 businesses involved in this sector. 35 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 11 businesses in this sector. 113 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 23 businesses in this sector.

there were 649 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 295 or about 45.5% of the residents worked outside Herdern while 93 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 447 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 7.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 47.3% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 395 or 41.4% were Roman Catholic, while 392 or 41.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
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...

. Of the rest of the population,, and there are 40 individuals (or about 4.19% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There were 23 (or about 2.41% of the population) who are Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic. 71 (or about 7.43% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....

 or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, and 34 individuals (or about 3.56% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Herdern about 72.5% 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...

).

Herdern is home to the Herdern-Dettighofen primary school district. In the primary school district there are 126 students who are in kindergarten or the primary level. There are 25 children in the kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

, and the average class size is 12.5 kindergartners. Of the children in kindergarten, 15 or 60.0% are female, 1 or 4.0% are not Swiss citizens and 1 or 4.0% do not speak German natively. The lower and upper primary levels begin at about age 5-6 and lasts for 6 years. There are 49 children in who are at the lower primary level and 52 children in the upper primary level. The average class size in the primary school is 16.83 students. At the lower primary level, there are 22 children or 44.9% of the total population who are female, and 3 or 6.1% do not speak German natively. In the upper primary level, there are 28 or 53.8% who are female, 3 or 5.8% are not Swiss citizens and 4 or 7.7% do not speak German natively.
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