Hirzel is a former municipality in the district of

Horgen Horgen is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. It is one of the larger towns along the south bank of the Lake of Zurich. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the municipali ...

in the canton of

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the municipality of

History

Hirzel is first mentioned in 1269 as ''Hirsol''.

Geography

Hirzel spans an area of . Of this area, 68.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 18.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (3.3%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). housing and buildings made up 7.2% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (2.2%). Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 1.1% of the area. 4% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction. The municipality includes the sections of Hirzel-Kirche, Hirzel-Spitzen and Hirzel-Höchi. In 1878 the municipality borders were surveyed and moved. As a result, several individual farm houses came to Hirzel from

Wädenswil Wädenswil, locally often called ''Wädi'' or ''Wädischwil,'' is a municipality located in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. The population, , was about 21,000. On 1 January 2019 the former municipalities of Hü ...

, with four more from

Demographics

Hirzel has a population (as of ) of . , 8.2% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. the gender distribution of the population was 49.6% male and 50.4% female. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -1.9%. Most of the population () speaks German (93.8%), with English being second most common ( 1.7%) and French being third ( 0.9%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP, which received 39.6% of the vote. The next two most popular parties were the

SPS SPS may refer to: Law and government * Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the WTO * NATO Science for Peace and Security * Single Payment Scheme, an EU agricultural subsidy * The Standard Procurement System, fo ...

(15.7%), the FDP (11.3%). The age distribution of the population () comprises children and teenagers (0–19 years old) who make up 27.7% of the population, adults (20–64 years old) make up 59.3% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12.9%. The entire Swiss population is generally well-educated. In Hirzel about 84.8% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...

''). There are 727 households in Hirzel. Hirzel has an unemployment rate of 0.7%. , there were 101 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 43 businesses involved in this sector. 105 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construction. ...

and there are 22 businesses in this sector. 296 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

, with 66 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 07-Aug-2009 49.6% of the working population were employed full-time, and 50.4% were employed part-time.
accessed 4 August 2009 there were 535

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and 1063

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in Hirzel. In the 2000 census, religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the , 56.7% were some type of Protestant, with 54.3% belonging to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

and 2.4% belonging to other Protestant churches. 27.7% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 0% were Muslim, 2.3% belonged to another religion (not listed), 3.5% did not give a religion, and 9.7% were atheist or agnostic. The historical population is given in the following table:

Notable residents

Johanna Spyri Johanna Louise Spyri (; ; 12 June 1827 – 7 July 1901) was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories, and is best known for her book ''Heidi''. Born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Canton of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland, ...

, the author of the children's book ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Used ...

'', was born in Hirzel in 1827. There is a museum dedicated to her life located in the village. Sylvia achermann, a world-famous rock-star, is a long time resident of Hirzel.

Transportation

The

Zimmerberg bus line The Zimmerbergbus is a bus network in the Horgen District in Switzerland, operated by the Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn (SZU) and its local partner firms: ''AHW Busbetriebe AG'' in Horgen, ''Busbetriebe Bamert GmbH'' in Wollerau, ''Leuthold Tra ...

(''Zimmerbergbus''), provided by the

Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn The ''Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg Bahn AG'' – commonly abbreviated to SZU – is a railway company and transport network in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. The network comprises the Uetliberg railway line and the Sihltal railway line, a ...

(SZU), connects the

Zimmerberg Zimmerberg (el. ) is a mountain and a region located in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Its name bases on the Old High German word ''zimbar'' in the meaning of lumber. Geography Zimmerberg mountain is located s ...

region and parts of the

Sihl valley Sihl Valley (German: ''Sihltal'') is a river valley and belongs to the Zimmerberg-Sihltal region located in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Commonly ''Sihltal'' is used as the name of the Lower Sihl Valley, i.e. the are ...

References

External links

*
Johanna Spyri museum
* {{Authority control Former municipalities of the canton of Zürich