Wetzikon (High Alemannic: Wetzike) is a small town in the Zurich Highlands (Zürcher Oberland) area of Switzerland, in the district of Hinwil in the canton of Zürich.

Geography

Reformed Church|thumb

thumb|Wetzikon as seen from [[Bachtel Tower. Pfäffikersee in the middle, Greifensee to the left.]]

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).!! End of 2011

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| || align="right" |76,8 %|| align="right" |76,5 %

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| || align="right" |5,5 % || align="right" |5,2 %

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| || align="right" |3,9 % || align="right" |3,9 %

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| || align="right" |2,4 % || align="right" |2,6 %

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| || align="right" |1,7 % || align="right" |1,7 %

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| 22px Serbia || align="right" |1,8 % || align="right" |1,7 %

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| 22px Kosovo|| align="right" |1,2 % || align="right" |1,4 %

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| || align="right" |1,1 % || align="right" |1,1 %

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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 (16.1%), the CSP (12.2%) and the Green Party (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%. or the "Kanti" as the gymnasium level learning institution is known in Swiss German, 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. 43.8% of the working population were employed full-time, and 56.2% were employed part-time.

In Wetzikon about 69.4% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

Transportation

There are two railway stations within the municipality. Wetzikon railway station is a node of the Zürich S-Bahn on the following lines:

Kempten railway station is on the S3 line only. Wetzikon is a 20-minute (S5 or S15) ride from Zürich Hauptbahnhof. In addition, the Dampfbahn-Verein Zürcher Oberland heritage railway provides seasonal excursion service at .

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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

File:Aabach (Wetzikon) IMG 4901.jpg|Aabach in Wetzikon

File:Pfäffikersee - Auslikon IMG 3464.jpg|Auslikon and its Strandbad (lido) on Lake Pfäffikon 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

</gallery>

History

thumb|Aerial view by [[Walter Mittelholzer (1931)]]

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

140px|thumb|Hans Georg Nägeli, 1838

140px|thumb|Dorothee Elmiger, 2010

  • Elisabeth of Wetzikon (1235-1298) imperial abbess of the Fraumünster abbey 1270-1298
  • Johannes Schmidlin (1722-1772) pastor and composer
  • Hans Georg Nägeli (1773-1836) composer and music publisher
  • Heinrich Leuthold (1827-1879) poet and translator
  • Jakob Messikommer (1828-1917) wetland archaeologist, researched the settlement at Robenhausen
  • Jakob Heusser (1862–1941) industrialist and philanthropist
  • Hedi Lang (1931-2004) politician, second woman to preside in the Swiss National Council
  • Jörg Schneider (1935-2015) stage and film actor
  • Walter Andreas Müller (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 (born 1971) former professional tennis player
  • Andreas Schweizer (born 1979) gymnast
  • 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 2013

References

  • Community website