Merenschwand

History

The earliest evidence of human settlement is a lake side village from the Late Bronze Age. The lake has since silted up and is now part of the Rütiweid meadow. The modern municipality of Merenschwand is first mentioned in the 12th Century as Meriswanden, though this comes from a 14th Century copy of the original. In 1263 it was mentioned as Meriswandon. There are indications of a knightly family and a castle near Merenschwand, but no definitive evidence has been found. Merenschwand was under the authority of the Homberg family until 1293, and then under the authority of the Lords of Hünenberg and Schär. In 1393 Merenschwand bought its independence with the help of a loan from Lucerne. As many of the former residents of the village had become citizens of Lucerne, in 1394 the village formally became part of the city of Lucerne and the residents were granted Lucerne citizenship. Merenschwand thus became the center of the bailiwick of Merenschwand. They chose their own vogt from among the patricians of Lucerne. In 1810 and 1813 the municipalities of Mühlau and Benzenschwil joined the bailiwick. Until 1798, the municipality enjoyed a relatively autonomous administration under a local bailiff. The gasthof (combination hotel and restaurant) Zum Schwanen (from the 17th century) served as a court and community center. The municipality was, in 1802, temporarily part of the Canton of Zug, and then in 1803 it became part of the Canton of Aargau. In 1830, the Zum Schwanen innkeeper, Johann Heinrich Fischer led some 6,000 men in the so-called Freiämtersturm to Aarau and forced the assembly to accept a new, democratic cantonal constitution. The village church of St. Vitus is first mentioned in 1245. Initially it was a family church for the Homberg and later the…

Geography

Merenschwand has an area, , of . Of this area, or 68.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 11.4% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 11.3% is settled (buildings or roads), or 4.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 5.2% is unproductive land. After the 2012 merger, Merenschwand had an area of . Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 1.1% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 5.5% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.1%. Out of the forested land, 10.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.4% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 57.7% is used for growing crops and 9.9% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 5.1% is unproductive vegetation. The municipality is located in the Muri district, on the edge of the Reuss valley. It consists of the haufendorf village (an irregular, unplanned and quite closely packed village, built around a central square) of Merenschwand and the hamlets of Unterrüti, Rickenbach and Hagnau. The municipalities of Benzenschwil and Merenschwand are seeking approval from the Canton to merge on 1 January 2012 into a new municipality which will be known as Merenschwand.

Most-observed species

• Annual Fleabane

  Erigeron annuus (L.) Pers. · Magnoliopsida
  14,766
• European roe deer

  Capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  11,762
• Meadow Brown

  Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) · Insecta
  11,177
• Common Blue

  Polyommatus icarus (von Rottemburg, 1775) · Insecta
  8,439
• red fox

  Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Mammalia
  8,229
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6,635
• Meadow Grasshopper

  Pseudochorthippus parallelus (Zetterstedt, 1821) · Insecta
  6,077
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6,051

Most recent

• M 3.7 — 2026-04-26
  4 km N of Quarten, Switzerland
• M 4.1 — 2025-07-21
  4 km E of Frutigen, 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 3.9 — 2022-09-10
  1 km WSW of Zimmersheim, France
• M 3.8 — 2022-09-01
  2 km WSW of Sevelen, Switzerland