Cossonay is a municipality in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is part of the district of Morges.
History
Cossonay has both Roman ruins and medieval graves. The first documentation of the settlement dates from 1096 under the name Cochoniacum. In 1164, this appears as Cosonai, and in 1228 as Cossonai.
Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.2% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 7.4% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.2%. Out of the forested land, 20.7% of the total land area is heavily forested and 2.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 50.4% is used for growing crops and 11.1% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.
The municipality is located on a plateau, that rises steeply about above the Venoge river. On the plateau, it consists of the village of Cossonay-ville and the hamlets of Allens. The area of Grands Moulins, the cable works of Cossonay, the train station and the settlement of Cossonay-Gare are at the foot a hill that lies in the municipality of Penthalaz.
The surrounding municipalities are Penthalaz, Gollion, Senarclens, La Chaux, Dizy, and Lussery-Villars, all in the same district.
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|-
| style="width:33%; text-align:center;"| La Chaux
| style="width:33%; text-align:center;"| Dizy
| style="width:33%; text-align:center;"| Lussery-Villars
|-
| style="width:33%; text-align:center;"| La Chaux
| style="width:33%; text-align:center;"| 100px|center|
| style="width:33%; text-align:center;"| Penthalaz
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="width:33%; "| Senarclens
| style="width:33%; "| Gollion
| style="width:33%; "| Gollion
|}
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Per pale Azure and Argent.
Demographics
thumb|Old town of Cossonay
thumb|Old town of Cossonay
thumb|Old town of Cossonay
Cossonay has a population () of . , 19.3% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 39.7%. It has changed at a rate of 31.5% due to migration and at a rate of 9.1% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (2,278 or 89.1%), with German being second most common (79 or 3.1%) and Portuguese being third (68 or 2.7%). There are 46 people who speak Italian.
, there were 1,119 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,211 married individuals, 103 widows or widowers and 125 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 1,050 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.4 persons per household.
there were 1,137 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 353. There were 45 single room apartments and 271 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 1,032 apartments (90.8% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 86 apartments (7.6%) were seasonally occupied and 19 apartments (1.7%) were empty.
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bar:1910 from:start till:1110 text:"1,110"
bar:1920 from:start till:1135 text:"1,135"
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bar:1941 from:start till:1076 text:"1,076"
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Heritage sites of national significance
thumb|Church in Cossonay
The Swiss Reformed Church of St-Pierre and St-Paul is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire town of Cossonay and the village of La Chaux is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 26.91% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (17.9%), the FDP (14.91%) and the Green Party (14.72%). In the federal election, a total of 790 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 40.5%.
Economy
Cossonay was an agricultural town into the 20th century. Until the 15th century, it was a wine-growing region, but since then, other crops and cattle have dominated.
Mills were built along the Venoge in the 16th century. Industrialization came in the 19th century. Now, many workers commute to the metropolitan area of Lausanne.
, Cossonay had an unemployment rate of 3.8%. , there were 46 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 174 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 28 businesses in this sector. 973 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 116 businesses in this sector.
, there were 551 workers who commuted into the municipality and 1,014 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 13.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 66.2% used a private car.
Education
In Cossonay about 968 or (37.8%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 351 or (13.7%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 351 who completed tertiary schooling, 51.3% were Swiss men, 29.9% were Swiss women, 11.1% were non-Swiss men and 7.7% were non-Swiss women. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 631 children of which 203 children (32.2%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 257 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 251 students in those schools.
, there were 529 students in Cossonay who came from another municipality, while 112 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Postal buses run from Cossonay-Gare to Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne and L'Isle, as well as from Cossonay-Ville to Cottens and to Morges.
Notable people
- Marcel Pilet-Golaz (1889 in Cossonay – 1958) a Swiss politician, served on the Swiss Federal Council 1928-1944
- Ervin Y. Galantay (1930-2011) a Hungarian-American architect, lived most of his life in Cossonay