Pfäfers is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Sarganserland in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The villages Pfäfers, St. Margrethenberg, Vadura, Valens, Vasön and Vättis belong to the municipality.
History
The Taminatal can look back on a long history of settlement. In the Drachenloch above Vättis stonetools of cavemen and bones of bears, perhaps 50,000 years old, were found. Examples from the find are on display in the local museum in Vättis.
Pfäfers reached importance through the foundation of the Benedictine monastery, Pfäfers Abbey, in the first half of the 8th century. It existed for over a thousand years and was closed in 1838. Since 1847 the abbey premises have been used as a mental institution.
Pfäfers is first mentioned in 762 as abbas de Fabarias. In 1247 it was mentioned as Pheuers and in 1288 as Pfaevaers. In Romansh it is known as Faveras.
In the 14th century Walser settled in the Calfeisental. Until today the colony of St. Martin and the Walserhouse on the alp Ebni can be visited.
Around the year 1240 the thermal spring in the Taminaschlucht ("gorge of the Tamina") was discovered. The sick people who bathed in the curative water were let down the narrow gorge on ropes. In the year 1630 a bath-house was constructed at the mouth of the gorge. The road to Ragaz was built in 1840 and in the following years the cure business was increasingly relocated to there. Today, Bad Pfäfers ("Pfäfers Spa"), the oldest Baroque bath-house in Switzerland, houses a restaurant and a museum.
Two important milestones of the 20th century in economical aspects were the opening of the clinic Valens in 1970 and of the power plants Sarganserland in 1975. The clinic Valens is specialised in rheumatology, neurology and orthopaedy. The power plants Sarganserland run a pumped storage hydro power plant. The storage lake Gigerwald and the compensation reservoir Mapragg with the control centre in Mapragg belong to the power plant. Both companies are important employers for the population of the community.
Demographics
Pfäfers has a population (as of ) of . , about 10.7% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Of the foreign population, (), 37 are from Germany, 4 are from Italy, 106 are from ex-Yugoslavia, 17 are from Austria, and 63 are from another country. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -6.7%. Most of the population () speaks German (93.3%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common ( 1.7%) and Portuguese being third ( 1.3%). Of the Swiss national languages (), 1,636 speak German, 3 people speak French, 5 people speak Italian, and 8 people speak Romansh.
The age distribution, , in Pfäfers is; 259 children or 14.8% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 269 teenagers or 15.3% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 181 people or 10.3% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 277 people or 15.8% are between 30 and 39, 255 people or 14.5% are between 40 and 49, and 185 people or 10.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 154 people or 8.8% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 116 people or 6.6% are between 70 and 79, there are 51 people or 2.9% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 7 people or 0.4% who are between 90 and 99.
there were 197 persons (or 11.2% of the population) who were living alone in a private dwelling. There were 303 (or 17.3%) persons who were part of a couple (married or otherwise committed) without children, and 1,026 (or 58.5%) who were part of a couple with children. There were 82 (or 4.7%) people who lived in single parent home, while there are 5 persons who were adult children living with one or both parents, 14 persons who lived in a household made up of relatives, 2 who lived household made up of unrelated persons, and 125 who are either institutionalized or live in another type of collective housing.
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 41.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (24.6%), the SP (14.9%) and the FDP (10.6%).
The historical population is given in the following table:
Education
In the municipality of Pfäfers there are three kindergartens, three primary schools and a high school. One kindergarten and one primary school each are located in Pfäfers, Vättis and Valens. The highschool in Pfäfers is visited from children of the whole municipality.