Schönholzerswilen is a municipality in the district of Münchwilen in the canton of Thurgau in 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 objects, including stone axes and neolithic grave mounds, indicate that the area was inhabited anciently. Additionally, Roman era 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 in 1798.
Schönholzerswilen was probably a full parish by 1275. However, over the following years it decreased in importance and by 1508 the village church was just a filial church under the parish of Bussnang. When the parish of Bussnang converted during the Protestant Reformation, the abbot of St. Gallen forced Schönholzerswilen to remain Catholic. Schönholzerswilen remained Catholic until 1677. In 1718 they received a priest from Zürich. 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.
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 of Hagenwil, Leutenegg and Ritzisbuhwil as well as others.
Demographics
Schönholzerswilen has a population () of , 4.4% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of -1.6%. Most of the population () speaks German(98.9%), with Portuguese being second most common ( 0.3%) and French being third ( 0.1%).
, 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.
In there were 9 live births to Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 5 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens increased by 4 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss man and 1 non-Swiss man who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 4 non-Swiss women who emigrated from Switzerland to another country. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was an increase of 6 and the non-Swiss population change was an increase of 15 people. This represents a population growth rate of 2.8%.