Felben-Wellhausen

History

Roman era coins have been found in the municipality. The modern village of Felben is first mentioned in 1178 as Veluen. In 1433 it was mentioned as Felwan. In 1178 Alt St. Johann monastery in the Toggenburg region became the landlord of the village. From the Late Middle Ages until 1798, the courts for the village were held in the city of Frauenfeld. Prior to the Protestant Reformation Felben, which probably had a chapel starting in the 9th century, belonged to the parish of Pfyn. By no later than 1569, Felben and Wellhausen formed a Reformed parish. The priest of the parish was appointed by the Herrschaft of Wellenberg and the city of Frauenfeld. The Catholics in Felben were part of the Catholic parish of Frauenfeld. Until the 19th century most of the surrounding fields were planted with grain in a three-field system. After 1860, this was partially replaced by livestock and dairy farming. Several drainage and amelioration projects (1909, 1920–25 and 1969–83) opened up additional land for agriculture. After 1940 sugar beets were planted in many of the new fields. By 1900, several other industries had moved into Felben, including embroidery, a brick factory and sand pit work.

Geography

Felben-Wellhausen has an area, , of . Of this area, or 56.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 25.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 13.7% is settled (buildings or roads), or 2.7% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.5% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 5.3% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 1.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 5.7%. Out of the forested land, 24.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.1% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 55.0% is used for growing crops, while 1.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 2.3% is in rivers and streams.

Most-observed species

• European roe deer

  Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  12,185
• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  7,099
• Annual Fleabane

  Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers. · Magnoliopsida
  7,035
• Common Blue

  Polyommatus icarus (von Rottemburg, 1775) · Insecta
  6,311
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  4,751
• Marbled White

  Melanargia galathea Linnaeus, 1758 · Insecta
  4,380
• Silver-washed Fritillary

  Argynnis paphia (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  3,506
• Indian Balsam

  Impatiens glandulifera Royle · Magnoliopsida
  3,504

Most recent

• M 3.7 — 2026-04-26
  4 km N of Quarten, Switzerland
• M 3.5 — 2024-06-27
  1 km SSW of Todtmoos, Germany
• M 4.2 — 2024-06-04
  2 km NNW of Unteriberg, Switzerland
• M 3.4 — 2022-10-16
  Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
• M 3.8 — 2022-09-01
  2 km WSW of Sevelen, Switzerland
• M 4 — 2022-07-09
  2 km NNE of Grosselfingen, Germany