Schönholzerswilen 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
Münchwilen in the
canton of
Thurgau
Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld.
Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...
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
Schönholzerswilen is probably first mentioned in 857 as ''Wichrammeswilare''. In 1216 it was mentioned as ''Wilær'' and in 1693 it was mentioned as ''Schönholtzerß Wÿlen''.
[ Between 1803 and 1964, the '' Ortsgemeinden'' of Schönholzerswilen and Toos formed the ''Munizipalgemeinde'' of Schönholzerswilen. In 1964 both communities merged to form the political municipality of Schönholzerswilen.
Numerous ]neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
objects, including stone axes and neolithic grave mounds, indicate that the area was inhabited anciently. Additionally, 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 ...
coins have been discovered in the municipality. Very little is known about the village in the Middle Ages, except for several brief entries in historic records. In 1439 the Abbey of St. Gallen bought the low court rights in the village from Ulrich von St. Johann. The Abbey combined the village of Schönholzerswilen along with Heiligkreuz, Wuppenau and half of Toos to form a single court. Many of the surrounding farm houses remained part of the ''Freigericht Thurlinden'' (Free Court of Thurlinden) instead of being incorporated into the Abbey's court. The ''Freigericht Thurlinden'' remained independent of Schönholzerswilen until the creation of the Helvetic Republic
The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...
in 1798.[
Schönholzerswilen was probably a full ]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 ...
by 1275. However, over the following years it decreased in importance and by 1508 the village church was just a filial church
A filial church, in the Roman Catholic Church, is a church to which is annexed the cure of souls, but which remains dependent on another church. The term comes from the Latin ''filialis'', from ''filia'', “daughter”.
Description
The term ''fi ...
under the parish of Bussnang. When the parish of Bussnang converted 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 abbot of St. Gallen forced Schönholzerswilen to remain 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 ...
. Schönholzerswilen remained Catholic until 1677. In 1718 they received a priest from 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 ...
. Zurich continued to appoint the village priest until 1843. Starting in 1820, the Catholics in the village were part of the parish of Wuppenau. This lasted for over thirty years, until in 1854 a Catholic parish was established in the municipality.[
]
Geography
Schönholzerswilen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 70.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 21.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 7.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.5% 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 3.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 0.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.4%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.6%. Out of the forested land, 19.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 60.1% is used for growing crops, while 10.5% is used for orchards or vine crops.[
The municipality is located in the Münchwilen district, on a ridge of the ''Gabrisstock'' between Bürglen (in Thurgau) and Wil (in St. Gallen). It consists of the village of Schönholzerswilen and the ]hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...
of Hagenwil, Leutenegg and Ritzisbuhwil as well as others.
Demographics
Schönholzerswilen has a population () of , 4.4% 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 -1.6%. 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 ...
(98.9%), with Portuguese being second most common ( 0.3%) and French being third ( 0.1%).[Swiss Federal Statistical Office]
accessed 5 October 2010
, the gender distribution of the population was 50.5% male and 49.5% female. The population was made up of 374 Swiss men (48.4% of the population), and 16 (2.1%) non-Swiss men. There were 365 Swiss women (47.2%), and 18 (2.3%) non-Swiss women.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 2.8%.[
The age distribution, , in Schönholzerswilen is; 92 children or 11.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 148 teenagers or 19.2% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 72 people or 9.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 91 people or 11.8% are between 30 and 39, 140 people or 18.2% are between 40 and 49, and 83 people or 10.8% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 56 people or 7.3% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 60 people or 7.8% are between 70 and 79, there are 25 people or 3.2% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 3 people or 0.4% who are 90 and older.
, there were 246 private households in the municipality, and an average of 3. persons per household.][ there were 115 single family homes (or 89.8% of the total) out of a total of 128 inhabited buildings. There were 10 two family buildings (7.8%), 2 three family buildings (1.6%) and 1 multi-family buildings (or .8%). There were 128 (or 17.5%) persons who were part of a couple without children, and 490 (or 67.0%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 32 (or 4.4%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 10 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 2 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 4 who lived in a household made up of unrelated persons, and 5 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.
The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0%. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents.][ there were 260 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 6-room apartment of which there were 103. There were – single room apartments and 103 apartments with six or more rooms.][Statistical Office of Thurgau]
, MS Excel document – ''Wohnungen nach Anzahl Zimmer und Gemeinden, Jahr 2000'' accessed 24 June 2010
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 56.26% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (13.32%), 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 ...
(9.09%) and the SP (6.86%). In the federal election, a total of 301 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 55.3%.
The historical population is given in the following table:
Heritage sites of national significance
The Toos-Waldi, a Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
hill settlement is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire village of Schönholzerswilen is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Federal Inventory of Heritage Sites (ISOS) is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.
Sites of national importance
Types
The types are based on t ...
.
Economy
, Schönholzerswilen had an unemployment rate of 0.99%. , there were 153 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 56 businesses involved in this sector. 21 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 7 businesses in this sector. 61 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 17 businesses in this sector.[
there were 504 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 211 or about 41.9% of the residents worked outside Schönholzerswilen while 33 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 326 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality. Of the working population, 4.7% used public transportation to get to work, and 46.3% used a private car.][
]
Religion
From the , 263 or 36.0% 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 402 or 55.0% 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 is 1 individual who belongs to the Orthodox Church, and there are 15 individuals (or about 2.05% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There were there is 1 individual who is Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic. 31 (or about 4.24% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
or atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and 18 individuals (or about 2.46% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Schönholzerswilen about 75.2% 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 ...
'').[Canton Thurgau Schools]
accessed 23 June 2010
References
External links
Official homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schonholzerswilen
Municipalities of Thurgau
Cultural property of national significance in Thurgau