Oberstocken is a former
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 administrative district of
Thun
, neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg
, twintown =
, website = www.thun.ch
Thun (french: Thou ...
in the
canton of
Bern in
Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Oberstocken,
Niederstocken
Niederstocken is a former municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Niederstocken, Oberstocken and Höfen merged into the new municipality of Sto ...
and
Höfen merged into the new municipality of
Stocken-Höfen.
[Nomenklaturen – Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz]
accessed 13 December 2014
History
Oberstocken is first mentioned in 1351 as ''Stogken''.
[
During the ]Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
the village was part of the lands and 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 ...
of the college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
of canons at Amsoldingen. In 1485 the office of canon was abolished and the Amsoldingen lands were acquired by Bern. In 1505, it was incorporated into the Bernese district of Thun, where it remained until 1803. At that time it joined the Niedersimmental District. Between 1898 and 1926 the Stockentalbahn railroad company unsuccessfully attempted to build a railroad through the Stockental valley to Oberstocken. There were several unsuccessful attempts to combine the villages of Oberstocken and Niederstocken, the most recent was in 1988.[
]
Geography
Before the merger, Oberstocken had a total area of .[ As of 2012, a total of or 40.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 42.0% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 3.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.7% is either rivers or lakes and or 12.1% is unproductive land.][Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics]
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010
During the same year, housing and buildings made up 2.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.2%. A total of 36.4% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 4.6% is used for growing crops and 20.6% is pasturage and 14.8% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. Of the unproductive areas, 6.8% is unproductive vegetation and 5.3% is too rocky for vegetation.[
Oberstocken lies near the Niedersimmental region in the Stocken valley of the ]Bernese Alps
, topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo
, photo=BerneseAlps.jpg
, photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau
, country= Switzerland
, subdivision1_type= Cantons
, subdivision1=
, parent= Western Alps
, borders_on=
, ...
. It stretches from the valley floor to the heights of the Stockhorn
The Stockhorn is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking the region of Lake Thun in the Bernese Oberland. It is located north of the town of Erlenbach im Simmental.
The Stockhorn is high and is accessible via cable car from Erlenbach. It ...
mountain chain. The neighboring municipalities starting from the north in a clockwise direction are: Höfen, Niederstocken
Niederstocken is a former municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014 the former municipalities of Niederstocken, Oberstocken and Höfen merged into the new municipality of Sto ...
, Erlenbach im Simmental
Erlenbach im Simmental is a municipality in the district of Niedersimmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
Erlenbach im Simmental is first mentioned in 1180-81 as ''Arlunbach''.
The oldest trace of humans in the area is the ...
, Därstetten
Därstetten is a municipality in the Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
Därstetten is first mentioned in 1228 as ''Tarenchat''. The village of Weissenburg was first mentioned aroun ...
and Pohlern
Pohlern is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
History
Pohlern is first mentioned in 1389 as ''in der Polleren''.
Until the Late Middle Ages Pohlern was virtually uninhabited forest in th ...
.
On 31 December 2009 Amtsbezirk Niedersimmental, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Thun.[
]
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 ''Per fess Argent a Stump Sable between two Mullets Gules and if the last a Rose of the first barbed and seeded proper.'' The coat of arms is an example of canting arms
Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus.
French heralds used the term (), as they would sound out the name of the armiger. Many armorial all ...
with the stump (german: Stock) placed in the upper (german: ober) half of the shield. The neighboring municipality of Niederstocken has the stump in the lower half.
Demographics
Oberstocken had a population (as of 2011) of 277.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 21 January 2014 , 4.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2001-2011) the population has changed at a rate of -2.8%. Migration accounted for -2.1%, while births and deaths accounted for -0.7%.[
Most of the population () speaks ]German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
(261 or 99.2%) as their first language with the rest speaking French.[
, the population was 47.7% male and 52.3% female. The population was made up of 129 Swiss men (45.3% of the population) and 7 (2.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 142 Swiss women (49.8%) and 7 (2.5%) non-Swiss women.][Statistical office of the Canton of Bern]
accessed 4 January 2012 Of the population in the municipality, 86 or about 32.7% were born in Oberstocken and lived there in 2000. There were 151 or 57.4% who were born in the same canton, while 18 or 6.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 7 or 2.7% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 24.9% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 63.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 11.6%.][
, there were 103 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 131 married individuals, 17 widows or widowers and 12 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
, there were 40 households that consist of only one person and 12 households with five or more people. , a total of 106 apartments (89.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 6 apartments (5.1%) were seasonally occupied and 6 apartments (5.1%) were empty.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office STAT-TAB - Datenwürfel für Thema 09.2 - Gebäude und Wohnungen]
accessed 28 January 2011 The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.75%. In 2011, single family homes made up 56.4% of the total housing in the municipality.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the Swiss People's Party (SVP) which received 51.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP) (9.5%), the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) (7.8%) and the Green Liberal Party (GLP) (7.4%). In the federal election, a total of 91 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...
was 44.2%.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office 2011 Election]
accessed 8 May 2012
Economy
, Oberstocken had an unemployment rate of 0.36%. , there were a total of 41 people employed in the municipality. Of these, there were 10 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 4 businesses involved in this sector. 5 people were 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 was 1 business in this sector. 26 people were 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 6 businesses in this sector.[ There were 137 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 39.4% of the workforce.
there were a total of 23 ]full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a ...
jobs. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 6, all in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 3, all in manufacturing. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 14. In the tertiary sector; 4 or 28.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 14.3% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 21.4% were in education and 4 or 28.6% were in health care.
, there were 9 workers who commuted into the municipality and 107 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 11.9 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. A total of 30 workers (76.9% of the 39 total workers in the municipality) both lived and worked in Oberstocken.[Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Statweb]
accessed 24 June 2010 Of the working population, 8.8% used public transportation to get to work, and 69.3% used a private car.[
In 2011 the average local and cantonal tax rate on a married resident, with two children, of Oberstocken making 150,000 CHF was 13.5%, while an unmarried resident's rate was 19.8%. For comparison, the average rate for the entire canton in the same year, was 14.2% and 22.0%, while the nationwide average was 12.3% and 21.1% respectively. In 2009 there were a total of 107 tax payers in the municipality. Of that total, 22 made over 75,000 CHF per year. There was one person who made between 15,000 and 20,000 per year. The greatest number of workers, 37, made between 50,000 and 75,000 CHF per year. The average income of the over 75,000 CHF group in Oberstocken was 100,505 CHF, while the average across all of Switzerland was 130,478 CHF.
]
Religion
From the , 229 or 87.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 10 or 3.8% 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 ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 13 individuals (or about 4.94% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. 11 (or about 4.18% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist.[
]
Education
In Oberstocken about 64.3% of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 13.6% have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
or a '' Fachhochschule'').[ Of the 21 who had completed some form of tertiary schooling listed in the census, 76.2% were Swiss men, 19.0% were Swiss women.][
, there were a total of 34 students attending any school in the municipality. Of those, 32 both lived and attended school in the municipality, while 2 students came from another municipality. During the same year, 4 residents attended schools outside the municipality.][
]
Civil Defense
With its 290 inhabitants this rural valley is designated as a civil defense evacuation site, with over 350 small bunkers. The main civil defense building is temporarily used as a garage which houses 16 vehicles.''Willkommen in Oberstocken: Porträt unserer Gemeinde''
in German
References
{{Authority control
Former municipalities of the canton of Bern