Eiken, Aargau
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Eiken (
High Alemannic High Alemannic is a branch of Alemannic German spoken in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg and in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Intelligibility of these dialects to non-Alemannic speakers tends to be limited. Language area The High ...
: ''Äike'') is a
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
in the district of Laufenburg in the canton of
Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...
in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.


History

The land was probably already occupied in the
Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
and individual objects from the
Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...
and
Frankish Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lomba ...
eras. Eiken is first mentioned in the first half of the 12th century as ''Eitchon''. The municipality of Sisseln was originally an expansion of Eichen, and it remained part of the municipality until 1806, when it became independent. Under the
Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
, Eichen was the center of the
bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. In English, the original French combi ...
of Eichen. The municipality bought its own '' Twingherrschaft'', which gave it local self-rule and limited court rights, in the 16th century. Eiken belonged to the Austrian
Fricktal The Fricktal ("Frick Valley") is a region on Northwestern Switzerland, comprising the Laufenburg and Rheinfelden districts of the Swiss canton of Aargau. The region was known as ''Frickgau'' in the medieval period, ultimately from a Late Lati ...
until 1803 when it went to the newly formed canton of Aargau. Some time before 1228 the Knight Rudolf Möhlin, was granted the patronage of his own church by St. Martin Church of Rheinfelden. This patronage included the Church of Eiken until 1868. Between 1871 and 1873 Eiken built a new church, which was consecrated in 1891 to St. Vincent, Joseph and Mary. The
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Eiken includes the municipalities of Münchwilen and Sisseln. Until the 20th century, agriculture predominated in Eiken. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
chemical plants and other industrial enterprises settled in the municipality. In 1990 two-thirds of the workforce worked in the industrial sector. However, by 2000 this number had dropped to about a quarter.


Geography

Eiken has an area, , of . Of this area, or 44.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 30.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 23.0% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.7% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.4% 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 5.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 7.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.8%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.8% of the area. Out of the forested land, 28.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.0% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 31.2% is used for growing crops and 11.4% is pastures, while 1.7% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, and . The municipality is located in the Laufenburg district, in the upper
Fricktal The Fricktal ("Frick Valley") is a region on Northwestern Switzerland, comprising the Laufenburg and Rheinfelden districts of the Swiss canton of Aargau. The region was known as ''Frickgau'' in the medieval period, ultimately from a Late Lati ...
on the old Bözberg road from
Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
to
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
. It consists of the
linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...
of Eiken, which was originally a ''haufendorf'' village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square).


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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
of the municipal
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
is ''Gules between four Ears of Wheat Or two dexter bendwise and two sinister bendwise sinister on a Pale of the last a Bailiff's Mace Sable.''


Demographics

Eiken has a population () of , 14.8% 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 16.8%. Most of the population () speaks German (91.7%), with Albanian being second most common ( 2.3%) and Italian being third ( 1.4%).
accessed 12-May-2010
The age distribution, , in Eiken is; 195 children or 9.8% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 246 teenagers or 12.3% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 256 people or 12.8% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 276 people or 13.8% are between 30 and 39, 387 people or 19.4% are between 40 and 49, and 262 people or 13.1% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 188 people or 9.4% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 145 people or 7.3% are between 70 and 79, there are 37 people or 1.9% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 7 people or 0.4% 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 0.56 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 66.3% 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 (legal system), civil law jurisdictions 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 t ...
or a
rent-to-own Rent-to-own, also known as rental purchase or rent-to-buy, is a type of legally documented transaction under which tangible property, such as furniture, consumer electronics, motor vehicles, home appliances, engagement rings, and real property, ...
agreement). , there were 41 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 399 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 249 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 722 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household. there were 358 single family homes (or 42.3% of the total) out of a total of 847 homes and apartments.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau
accessed 20 January 2010
There were a total of 1 empty apartments for a 0.1% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 13.8 new units per 1000 residents. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 37.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (18.2%), the SP (16.7%) and the FDP (12.7%). The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Eiken about 73.1% of the population (between ages 25 and 64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a ''
Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...
''). Of the school age population (), there are 139 students attending
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
, there are 64 students attending
secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
in the municipality. The historical population is given in the following table:


Economy

, Eiken had an unemployment rate of 2.39%. , there were 49 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 557 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 18 businesses in this sector. 242 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 ...
, with 41 businesses in this sector. there were 886 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 725 or about 81.8% of the residents worked outside Eiken while 215 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 376 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau-Bereich 11 Verkehr und Nachrichtenwesen
accessed 21 January 2010
Of the working population, 16% used public transportation to get to work, and 55.9% used a private car.


Religion

From the , 1,024 or 58.5% were
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, while 437 or 25.0% belonged to the
Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 15 individuals (or about 0.86% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic faith.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau - Aargauer Zahlen 2009
accessed 20 January 2010


Transportation

The municipality is located on the A3 motorway. Eiken sits on the Bözberg railway line and served by local trains at Eiken.


References


External links

* {{Authority control Municipalities of Aargau