Rickenbach, Thurgau
Encyclopedia
Rickenbach 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 the district of Münchwilen
Münchwilen (district)
Münchwilen District is one of the five districts of the canton of Thurgau, Switzerland. It has a population of . Its capital is the town of Münchwilen.The district contains the following municipalities:...

 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

Rickenbach is first mentioned in 754 as Richinbach. The Abbey of St. Gall
Abbey of St. Gall
The Abbey of Saint Gall is a religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in present-day Switzerland. The Carolingian-era Abbey has existed since 719 and became an independent principality during the 13th century, and was for many centuries one of the chief Benedictine abbeys in Europe. It was...

 acquired land in Rickenbach during the 8th Century. Then, in 1471, the Abbey acquired the pledged
Pledge (law)
A pledge is a bailment or deposit of personal property to a creditor to secure repayment for some debt or engagement, The term is also used to denote the property which constitutes the security....

 bailiwick
Bailiwick
A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and may also apply to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of...

 of Rickenbach from Balthasar von Hohenlandenberg. Between 1483-1798 the village was the center of the court of Rickenbach, which also included Wilen, and after 1506, Busswil. The court was administered from Wilen. and was managed by the Office Wiler. The village church was built in 838. It was administered by the Abbey of St. Gall. Though, between 1350-1422 it was a filial church
Filial church
A filial church, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church. The term comes from the Latin filialis, from filia, daughter....

 of the church of Kirchberg. From 1529 until 1531 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...

 switched temporarily to the Reformed
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...

 faith. The present church of St. Verena, was established in 1644.

After the end of the three-field system
Crop rotation
Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons.Crop rotation confers various benefits to the soil. A traditional element of crop rotation is the replenishment of nitrogen through the use of green manure in sequence with cereals...

 in the 19th Century, livestock and dairy farming became the major sources of income. A mill was built in the 13th Century and operated until 1919 when it was expanded to become Eberle mills. The expanded mill operated until 2000. The Eschmann Bell Foundry existed until 1973. After the construction of the A1 motorway and the growth of Wil between 1960–90, the population doubled in Rickenbach.

Geography

Rickenbach has an area, , of 1.56 square kilometre (0.602319367404355 sq mi). Of this area, 0.75 km² (0.289576618944401 sq mi) or 48.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.18 km² (0.0694983885466563 sq mi) or 11.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.6 km² (0.231661295155521 sq mi) or 38.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.03 km² (7.4 acre) or 1.9% is either rivers or lakes.

Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 22.4% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 4.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.6%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.3% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 9.6%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 46.2% is used for growing crops, while 1.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 1.3% is in lakes and 0.6% is in rivers and streams.

The municipality is located in the Münchwilen district, south of Wil
Wil
Wil is the capital of the Wahlkreis of Wil in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.Wil is the third largest city in the Canton of St. Gallen, after the city of St...

.

Demographics

Rickenbach has a population of , 31.4% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of %. 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....

(80.3%), 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 ( 6.2%) and 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 third ( 5.7%).

, the gender distribution of the population was 51.5% male and 48.5% female. The population was made up of 834 Swiss men (33.3% of the population), and 456 (18.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 882 Swiss women (35.2%), and 331 (13.2%) non-Swiss women.

In there were 18 live births to Swiss citizens and 9 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 17 deaths of Swiss citizens and 1 non-Swiss citizen death. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 1 while the foreign population increased by 8. There were 6 Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, 1 Swiss woman who emigrated from Switzerland to another country, 9 non-Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 6 non-Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was an increase of 21 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 20 people. This represents a population growth rate of 1.7%.

The age distribution, , in Rickenbach is; 237 children or 9.4% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 269 teenagers or 10.7% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 402 people or 16.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 371 people or 14.8% are between 30 and 39, 412 people or 16.4% are between 40 and 49, and 336 people or 13.4% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 250 people or 10.0% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 158 people or 6.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 68 people or 2.7% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 7 people or 0.3% who are 90 and older.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.62 which is more people per room than 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 27.5% 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 1,032 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. there were 134 single family homes (or 55.6% of the total) out of a total of 241 inhabited buildings. There were 20 two family buildings (8.3%), 11 three family buildings (4.6%) and 76 multi-family buildings (or 31.5%). There were 579 (or 23.9%) persons who were part of a couple without children, and 1,322 (or 54.5%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 124 (or 5.1%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 6 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 2 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 26 who lived in a household made up of unrelated persons, and 23 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.

The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 1.14%. , the construction rate of new housing units was 16.7 new units per 1000 residents. there were 1,155 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 4 room apartment of which there were 388. There were 48 single room apartments and 105 apartments with six or more rooms.

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 47.19% 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...

 (17.63%), 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....

 (13.01%) and the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....

 (8.61%). In the federal election, a total of 560 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 39.0%.

The historical population is given in the following table:
year population
1850 464
1900 542
1950 845
1990 2,490
2000 2,426

Economy

, Rickenbach had an unemployment rate of 2.45%. , there were 13 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 6 businesses involved in this sector. 188 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 33 businesses in this sector. 596 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 75 businesses in this sector.

there were 1,733 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 1,045 or about 60.3% of the residents worked outside Rickenbach while 615 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 1,303 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 11.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 54.1% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 1,238 or 51.0% were Roman Catholic, while 539 or 22.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 2 Old Catholics (or about 0.08% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
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...

  there are 75 individuals (or about 3.09% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 81 individuals (or about 3.34% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There were 272 (or about 11.21% 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. There are 13 individuals (or about 0.54% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 98 (or about 4.04% 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 108 individuals (or about 4.45% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education

In Rickenbach about 62.4% 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...

).

Rickenbach is home to the Rickenbach primary school district. It is also home to the Rickenbach secondary school district.

In the 2008/2009 school year there were 207 students in the primary school district. There were 45 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 was 15 kindergartners. Of the children in kindergarten, 26 or 57.8% were female, 23 or 51.1% were not Swiss citizens and 21 or 46.7% did not speak German natively. The lower and upper primary levels begin at about age 5-6 and last for 6 years. There were 75 children in who were at the lower primary level and 87 children in the upper primary level. The average class size in the primary school was 21.43 students. At the lower primary level, there were 31 children or 41.3% of the total population who were female, 40 or 53.3% were not Swiss citizens and 37 or 49.3% did not speak German natively. In the upper primary level, there were 40 or 46.0% who were female, 44 or 50.6% were not Swiss citizens and 48 or 55.2% did not speak German natively.

In the secondary school district there are 197 students. At the secondary level, students are divided according to performance. The secondary level begins at about age 12 and usually lasts 3 years. There were 104 teenagers who were in the advanced school, of which 53 or 51.0% were female, 13 or 12.5% were not Swiss citizens and 13 or 12.5% did not speak German natively. There were 79 teenagers who were in the standard school, of which 34 or 43.0% were female, 21 or 26.6% were not Swiss citizens and 18 or 22.8% did not speak German natively. Finally, there were 14 teenagers who were in special or remedial classes, of which 5 or 35.7% were female, 9 or 64.3% were not Swiss citizens and 10 or 71.4% did not speak German natively. The average class size for all classes at the secondary level was 18.3 students.
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