Mellikon is a village and

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

Zurzach Zurzach () is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the sou ...

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 ...

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

Mellikon is first mentioned in 1113 as ''Meliken''. The village developed from a farm owned by Zurzach Abbey, but it was only recognized by the Abbey as a municipality in 1661. During the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, the majority of the population in Mellikon joined the new religion. The

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

members belonged to the

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 Zurzach, while 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 ...

members belonged to the Catholic parish of Zurzach. In 1645 Jost von Roll from

Uri Uri may refer to: Places * Canton of Uri, a canton in Switzerland * Úri, a village and commune in Hungary * Uri, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, a town in India * Uri (island), off Malakula Island in V ...

built a mansion and Catholic chapel in Mellikon. It still serves as a place of worship and cemetery for the von Roll family. The

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

quarry in the village was used into the 1980s by the Schweiz Sodafabrik and then in the 1990s by the Mellikon AG company. Starting in 1990, an industrial and business park was built west of the village. In 1995, the village was tied into the

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

Rhine Valley line. The majority of the population is employed outside the village.

Geography

Mellikon has an area, , of . Of this area, or 27.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 50.2% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 17.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 4.1% is either rivers or lakes.Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics
2009 data accessed 25 March 2010 Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.0% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 1.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.4%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 8.5% of the area Out of the forested land, 49.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 17.7% is used for growing crops and 8.9% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water. The village is located in the Zurzach district, in a small valley east of the Nurren river in the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

valley. It consists of the ''haufendorf'' village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Mellikon.

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 a Ploughshare Argent.''

Demographics

Mellikon has a population () of , 44.4% of the population are foreign nationals.Swiss Federal Statistical Office - Superweb database - Gemeinde Statistics 1981-2008
accessed 19 June 2010 Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of -6.7%. Most of the population () speaks

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(93.0%), with Portuguese being second most common ( 3.1%) and

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

being third ( 1.2%).Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 22-June-2010 , the gender distribution of the population was 49.4% male and 50.6% female. The population was made up of 108 Swiss men (43.7% of the population), and 14 (5.7%) non-Swiss men. There were 112 Swiss women (45.3%), and 13 (5.3%) non-Swiss women. In there were 2 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 death. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 1 while the foreign population remained the same. There were 1 Swiss man who immigrated from another country back to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 was a decrease of 6 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 4 people. This represents a

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...

of -0.8%. The age distribution, , in Mellikon is; 22 children or 8.8% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 39 teenagers or 15.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 21 people or 8.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 18 people or 7.2% are between 30 and 39, 46 people or 18.3% are between 40 and 49, and 49 people or 19.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 28 people or 11.2% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 12 people or 4.8% are between 70 and 79, there are 15 people or 6.0% who are between 80 and 89, and there is 1 person who is 90 or 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 0.54 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 71.1% 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 3 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 26 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 61 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 96 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. there were 65 single family homes (or 67.0% of the total) out of a total of 97 homes and apartments.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau
accessed 20 January 2010 There were a total of 5 empty apartments for a 5.2% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 32.55% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

(19.44%), the SP (16.88%) and the CVP (16.5%). In the federal election, a total of 94 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 is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was 50.8%. The historical population is given in the following table:

Economy

, Mellikon had an unemployment rate of 2.08%. , there were 12 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 4 businesses involved in this sector. 105 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 6 businesses in this sector. 34 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 10 businesses in this sector. there were 113 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 79 or about 69.9% of the residents worked outside Mellikon while 80 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 114 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, 19% used public transportation to get to work, and 45.7% used a private car.

Religion

From the , 121 or 47.1% 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 86 or 33.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau - Aargauer Zahlen 2009
accessed 20 January 2010

Education

In Mellikon about 75.6% 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 (; 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 () in the municipality.

Transport

Mellikon railway station is served by

Zurich S-Bahn The Zurich S-Bahn () system is a network of rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zurich and portions of neighbouring cantons (Aargau, Glarus, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, ...

line S36, which links

Bülach Bülach () is a historic town and a municipality in Switzerland in the canton of Zürich. It is the administrative capital of Bülach district. It is situated in the Glatt Valley (German: ''Glattal'') to the east of the small river Glatt and ab ...

and Waldshut.

References

{{Authority control Municipalities of Aargau