Niederlenz is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the district of

Lenzburg Lenzburg is a town in the central region of the Swiss canton Aargau and is the capital of the Lenzburg District. The town, founded in the Middle Ages, lies in the Seetal valley, about 3 kilometres south of the Aare river. Lenzburg and the neighb ...

in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.

History

The center of the village comes from a middle

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

settlement and a later

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

farm. However, the modern village of Niederlenz is first mentioned in 924 as ''de Lencis''. In 1261-64 it was mentioned as ''Nider-Lenz''. The

high justice High, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judicial power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents. Low just ...

rights were held by Schloss Lenzburg until 1433 when those rights, along with the rights to low justice, were purchased by Bern. Later, the low justice rights reverted to the four villages of Niederlenz,

Hunzenschwil Hunzenschwil is a municipality in the district of Lenzburg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History Under the Romans, the area that would become Hunzenschwil was an extensive brickyard. The modern village of Hunzenschwil was first men ...

Rupperswil Rupperswil is a municipality in the district of Lenzburg in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. History A partially preserved Roman era tile kiln from the 2nd Century was discovered in 1911. There is also evidence of the emergence of a late ...

and Staufen. In 1480 village was incorporated with a local government. The village mill was built before 1461 and was pawned by Hans Heinrich of Rinach and then sold in 1486 to Hans von Hallwyl. It was in the possession of the Kull family for generations. It was originally part of the Staufberg

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

. The village got its own church in 1949 and in 1990 became its own parish.

Geography

Niederlenz has an area, , of . Of this area, or 29.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 25.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 43.3% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.6% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.3% is unproductive land.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 5.5% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 22.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 9.4%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 3.0% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.7%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 23.9% is used for growing crops and 4.8% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. The municipality is located in the Lenzburg district, along the Aabach stream and on the neighboring terrace. It consists of the

linear village Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...

of Niederlenz.

Coat of arms

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vi ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

is ''Or a Linden Leaf Vert and Coupeaux of the same.''

Demographics

Niederlenz has a population () of . , 26.9% of the population are foreign nationals.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bereich 01 -Bevölkerung
accessed 20 January 2010 Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of 6.9%. Most of the population () speaks German (82.8%), with Italian being second most common ( 4.8%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 3.5%).
accessed 17-May-2010 The age distribution, , in Niederlenz is; 445 children or 11.0% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 529 teenagers or 13.1% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 554 people or 13.7% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 531 people or 13.1% are between 30 and 39, 664 people or 16.4% are between 40 and 49, and 555 people or 13.7% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 380 people or 9.4% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 258 people or 6.4% are between 70 and 79, there are 102 people or 2.5% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 21 people or 0.5% who are 90 and older.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bevölkerungsdaten für den Kanton Aargau und die Gemeinden (Archiv)
accessed 20 January 2010 the average number of residents per living room was 0.57 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.57 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 49.5% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

or a rent-to-own agreement). , there were 126 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 889 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 523 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 1,621 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. there were 740 single family homes (or 42.4% of the total) out of a total of 1,746 homes and apartments.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau
accessed 20 January 2010 There were a total of 21 empty apartments for a 1.2% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0.7 new units per 1000 residents. In the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not ...

the most popular party was the SVP which received 39.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (20.4%), the FDP (12.1%) and the CVP (8.4%). The historical population is given in the following table:

Heritage sites of national significance

The former

tithe barn A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious orga ...

of Schloss Lenzburg at Dorfrain 9 is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

Economy

, Niederlenz had an unemployment rate of 2.68%. , there were 28 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 11 businesses involved in this sector. 423 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 constructi ...

and there are 35 businesses in this sector. 591 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 109 businesses in this sector. there were 2,009 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 1,626 or about 80.9% of the residents worked outside Niederlenz while 730 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 1,113 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 17.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 53.9% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 1,201 or 31.2% were

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, while 1,801 or 46.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 2 individuals (or about 0.05% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic faith.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau - Aargauer Zahlen 2009
accessed 20 January 2010

Education

In Niederlenz about 70.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a '' Fachhochschule''). Of the school age population (), there are 300 students attending

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

, there are 129 students attending secondary school in the municipality. Niederlenz is home to the ''Schul-Gemeinde Bibliothek Niederlenz'' (School and Municipal library). The library has () 11,566 books or other media, and loaned out 31,693 items in the same year. It was open a total of 208 days with average of 11 hours per week during that year.Swiss Federal Statistical Office, list of libraries
accessed 14 May 2010

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of Aargau Cultural property of national significance in Aargau