Ottenbach 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 Affoltern 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 ...

History

Ottenbach is first mentioned in 831 as ''in loco vocato marcha Hotumbacharia''. In 1169 it was mentioned as ''Arnoldus de Ottonbac''. Since the end of the 18th century, the textile industry had expanded as a home industry (

Putting-out system The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote ...

) in Ottenbach: In 1784, the cotton spinning mill employed 49% of the local population (430 people, 287 of whom worked all year round). At the beginning of the 19th century there were around 350 weaving looms and the Zurich Mechanical Silk Weaving Mill employed more than 200 people in Ottenbach from the village and the surrounding area.

Geography

Ottenbach has an area of . Of this area, 56.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 20.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 19.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (3.8%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). It is located near the

Reuss River The Reuss (Swiss German: ''Rüüss'') is a river in Switzerland. With a length of and a drainage basin of , it is the fourth largest river in Switzerland (after the Rhine, Aare and Rhône). The upper Reuss forms the main valley of the canton o ...

on the border with the

Canton of Aargau Aargau, more formally the Canton of Aargau (german: Kanton Aargau; rm, Chantun Argovia; french: Canton d'Argovie; it, Canton Argovia), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capita ...

Sights

Ottenbach owns the

Ottenbach Small Hydro The Ottenbach Small Hydro is a 1920 electrified small hydroelectric power station of the former Silk Weaving Mill A. F. Haas & Co. in the Swiss village of Ottenbach. It is preserved in its original condition of 1920, still able to operate, aimed t ...

power plant with original equipment of 1920 which is still running for guided visits. It produced current for operating looms of the silk weaving factory A.F. Haas & Co. until 1975.

Demographics

Ottenbach has a population (as of ) of . , 7.3% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 5.5%. Most of the population () speaks German (93.6%), with Italian being second most common ( 1.7%) and English being third ( 1.0%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 34.1% of the vote. The next three 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 ...

(20%), the FDP (15.5%) and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

(11.2%). The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 26.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 64.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 9.6%. In Ottenbach about 84.9% 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 ...

''). Ottenbach has an unemployment rate of 2.04%. , there were 47 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 21 businesses involved in this sector. 144 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 19 businesses in this sector. 388 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 82 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 24-Jul-2009 The historical population is given in the following table:

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Zürich