Wetzikon is a small town in the Zurich Highlands (Zürcher Oberland) area of

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 ...

, in the district of

Hinwil Hinwil is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Hinwil (district), Hinwil in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. History The village Hinwil from which the later municipality ...

in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

of Zürich.

Geography

The municipality Wetzikon has an area of . Of this area, 42.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 17.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 27.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (12.1%) is non-productive (streams, lakes and non-productive vegetation). housing and buildings made up 20% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (7.9%). Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 3.3% of the area. 30.5% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction. It is located near

Lake Pfäffikon A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

in the

Zürcher Oberland The Zürcher Oberland ("Zurich highlands") in Switzerland, is the hilly south-eastern part of the canton of Zurich, bordering on the Toggenburg, including the districts of Uster, Hinwil, Pfäffikon as well as the Töss Valley as far as the dist ...

, between Uster and

Rapperswil-Jona Rapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2006, the municipality includes Bollingen, Bussk ...

. The ''

Robenhauser Ried Robenhausen is a locality in Wetzikon, one of the municipalities of the canton of Zürich, Switzerland. The wetland Robenhauser Ried belongs to the protected area surrounding ''Pfäffikersee''. The prehistoric pile dwellings around Lake Zurich, pre ...

'' wetland is a nature reserve of national importance and is situated between Seegräben, Kempten and Irgenhausen covering an area of about .

Demographics

Wetzikon has a population (as of ) of . , 22.1% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. the gender distribution of the population was 49.2% male and 50.8% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 18.8%. Most of the population () speaks German (83.8%), with Italian being second most common ( 5.7%) and Albanian being third ( 1.9%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 37.6% 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 ...

(16.1%), the CSP (12.2%) 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 ...

(10.5%). The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 23.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 62% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 15%. There are 7929 households in Wetzikon. there were 6385

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 7772

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 Wetzikon. In the , religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the 2000 census, 45% were some type of Protestant, with 40.3% 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 4.7% belonging to other Protestant churches. 31.3% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 6.5% were Muslim, 8.7% belonged to another religion (not listed), 3.6% did not give a religion, and 10.6% were atheist or agnostic.

Economics and education

The ''Kantonschule Zürcher Oberland'' (KZO), or the "Kanti" as the gymnasium level learning institution is known in

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , gsw, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch Mundart,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no defined orthography for any of them, many different spelling ...

, is based in Wetzikon due to its central location in the Zürich Oberland, as well as the '' Zürcher Oberländer'' newspaper and the annual ''ZOM'' trade fair. The regional hospital, the ''Gesundheitsversorgung Zürcher Oberland'' is also located there. Wetzikon has an unemployment rate of 2.9%. , there were 134 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 41 businesses involved in this sector. 3486 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 255 businesses in this sector. 7054 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 838 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 06-Aug-2009 43.8% of the working population were employed full-time, and 56.2% were employed part-time.
accessed 4 August 2009 In Wetzikon about 69.4% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

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 ...

'').

World heritage site

The prehistoric settlement

Wetzikon–Robenhausen Wetzikon–Robenhausen is one of the 111 serial sites of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ''Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps'', of which are 56 located in Switzerland. The site is located on ''Pfäffikersee'' lakeshore in Robenhausen, a lo ...

at the ''Robenhausen'' wetland which was discovered and researched by

Jakob Messikommer Jakob Messikommer (18 August 1828 – 23 August 1917) was a Swiss archaeologist who among others discovered and researched the UNESCO serial site Wetzikon–Robenhausen. Bibliography Personal life Born in the hamlet of ''Stegen'' in Wetzik ...

is part of the serial site Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps, an UNESCO World Heritage Site.UNESCO World Heritage Site - Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps
/ref>

Transportation

There are two railway stations within the municipality.

Wetzikon railway station Wetzikon is a railway station in the Swiss canton of Zürich and municipality of Wetzikon. The station is located on both the Wallisellen to Rapperswil via Uster and Effretikon to Hinwil railway lines, which converge at junctions to the north ...

is a node of the Zürich S-Bahn on the lines S3, S14, S15 and S5. Kempten railway station is on the S3 line only. The town is a 20-minute (S5) ride from Zürich Hauptbahnhof. In addition, the

Dampfbahn-Verein Zürcher Oberland The Dampfbahn-Verein Zürcher Oberland (DVZO) is a heritage railway association based in the Swiss canton of Zurich. The association preserves various items of rolling stock, utilising the historic ''lok remise'' or engine shed at Uster statio ...

heritage railway provides seasonal excursion service at .

Gallery

File:Seegräben - Pfäffikersee - Kempten - Bachtel IMG 3644.jpg, Kempten, Bachtel in the background File:Seegräben - Wetzikon IMG 3626.jpg, Apartments buildings in Oberwetzikon, Alps in the background File:Robenhauser Riet - Wetzikon - Pfäffikersee - Seegräben IMG 4877.JPG, ''Robenhuserriet'' in

Robenhausen Robenhausen is a locality in Wetzikon, one of the municipalities of the canton of Zürich, Switzerland. The wetland Robenhauser Ried belongs to the protected area surrounding ''Pfäffikersee''. The prehistoric pile dwelling around Lake Zurich ''W ...

File:Aabach (Wetzikon) IMG 4901.jpg, ''Aabach'' in Wetzikon File:Pfäffikersee - Auslikon IMG 3464.jpg,

Auslikon Auslikon is a village ('' :de:Aussenwacht'') of the municipality of Pfäffikon in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. Geography Auslikon is located in the district of Pfäffikon in the Zürcher Oberland on the eastern shore of the Pfäffiker ...

and its ''Strandbad'' (lido) on

shore File:Wetzikon - Schloss IMG 4922.jpg, ''Schloss'' (castle) Wetzikon File:Wetzikon - Bahnhofstrasse IMG 8222 ShiftN.jpg, ''Bahnhofstrasse'' between Oberwetzikon and Kempten File:Wetzikon Gemeinde 1900.jpg, Bond of the municipality Wetzikon, issued 29. October 1900 File:Wetzikon_Bahnhof_Rundholz.jpg, lumber with railroad cars (Wetzikon station) File:Wetzikon_ZH_Bahnhof_3.jpg, S-train (Wetzikon station) Franziskus Wetzikon aussen.JPG, Saint Francis's Church

History

The oldest surviving document about the name Wetzikon is from the year 1044, where three nobles of "Wezzinchova" are mentioned; before that the village and castle were known by the name Ratpoldskilch. Older history is known from excavations of prehistoric pile dwellings in Robenhausen and a Roman villa rustica in Kempten.

Sights

* The local museum (Ortsmuseum) documents the cultural history from the Neolithic Age until the 21st century * Robenhauser Riet * Kemptner Tobel

Notable persons

* Elisabeth of Wetzikon (1235-1298) imperial abbess of the Fraumünster abbey 1270-1298 * Johannes Schmidlin (1722-1772) pastor and composer *

Hans Georg Nägeli Hans Georg Nägeli (26 May 1773 – 26 December 1836) was a composer and music publisher. Nägeli was born in Wetzikon, Switzerland. He studied under his father as a child, and then opened a private music shop and publishing firm in the 1790s. In ...

(1773-1836) composer and music publisher *

Heinrich Leuthold Heinrich Leuthold (9 August 1827–1 July 1879) was a Swiss poet and translator, described by one critic as the writer "most endowed with genius" of the Munich literary circle, ''Die Krokodile''.John George Robertson, Edna Purdie. ''A history ...

(1827-1879) poet and translator *

(1828-1917) wetland archaeologist, researched the settlement at

Jakob Heusser Jakob Heusser-Staub (3 March 1862 – 23 August 1941 as Jakob Heusser) was a Swiss industrialist and philanthropist. Born and raised in the village of Irgenhausen, Heusser-Staub made Uster his home. With the support of his wife, Berta, he founded ...

(1862–1941) industrialist and philanthropist *

Hedi Lang Hedi Lang (30 October 1931 – 31 March 2004) was a Swiss politician. She was one of the first women to be elected to the Swiss National Council, the first woman elected to a cantonal executive and the second woman to serve as President of the N ...

(1931-2004) politician, second woman to preside in the Swiss National Council * Jörg Schneider (1935-2015) stage and film actor *

Walter Andreas Müller Walter Andreas Müller (born 3 September 1945) is a Swiss stage and film actor starring usually in Swiss German language cinema and television and stage productions. Early life and education Born in Zürich, canton of Zürich, in Switzerland, ...

(born 1945) stage and film actor, radio host and comedian * Ueli Maurer (born 1950), politician, member of the Swiss Federal Council * Eric Franklin (born 1957) dancer, movement educator, university lecturer and writer *

Patrick Mohr Patrick Mohr (born 6 April 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Switzerland. Biography Mohr, the son of Czechoslovakian immigrants, turned professional in 1992 and was based in Wetzikon. At the 1994 French Open he made it to the fin ...

(born 1971) former professional tennis player * Andreas Schweizer (born 1979) gymnast German Wiki, Andreas Schweizer * Dorothee Elmiger (born 1985), writer * Steven Deana (born 1990) football goalkeeper currently playing for FC Aarau * Natalie Kanyapak Phoksomboon (born 1991) Thai-Swiss beauty queen, won

Miss Thailand World Miss Thailand World is a national pageant in which the winners compete in the Miss World, one of the Big Four major international beauty pageants. The reigning Miss Thailand World is Narintorn Chadapattarawalrachoat of Pathum Thani. She repres ...

2013

References

External links

*
Community website
{{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Zürich Cities in Switzerland Pfäffikersee