Merenschwand

 ( Municipalities Of Aargau ) 

The village church of St. Vitus is first mentioned in 1245. Initially it was a family church for the Homberg and later the Hünenberg families. It later became the parish church for the district. The modern church was built in 1897-99, and incorporated the late gothic choir. The municipality of Benzenschwil is still part of the parish while Mühlau now is part of the Sins parish. The church tax rights were sold in 1389 to Kappel Abbey in Kappel am Albis. In 1531 they went to the Hof monastery in Lucerne. Then, in 1856 those rights came to the Canton of Aargau.

The Hünenberg family donated the Marienkaplanei (St. Mary chapel) in 1332. The parish donated the Antoniuskaplanei (St. Anthony chapel) in 1483 and the landowners in Hagnau donated the local chapel of St. Wendelin in 1600. In 1868 the Kapelle Maria-Hilf (Chapel of Mary's Help) was built in Unterrüti.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, a major source of income in Merenschwand was the home straw plaiting for the Wohler trading houses and silk weaving for Zurich businessmen. In the last quarter of the 20th century, Merenschwand developed into a Commuter town for Zurich and Zug, leading to a corresponding increase in construction.

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.

The age distribution, , in Merenschwand is; 294 children or 11.9% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 396 teenagers or 16.0% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 283 people or 11.4% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 332 people or 13.4% are between 30 and 39, 494 people or 19.9% are between 40 and 49, and 273 people or 11.0% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 226 people or 9.1% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 121 people or 4.9% are between 70 and 79, there are 59 people or 2.4% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 2 people or 0.1% who are 90 and older. Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bevölkerungsdaten für den Kanton Aargau und die Gemeinden (Archiv) accessed 20 January 2010

the average number of residents per living room was 0.58 which is about equal to the cantonal average of 0.57 per room.  In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least  as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics.  About 56.3% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a [[mortgage|Mortgage loan]] or a [[rent-to-own]] agreement).Urban Audit Glossary pg 17
     

, there were 63 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 271 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 425 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. , there were 787 private households (homes and apartments) in the municipality, and an average of 2.7 persons per household. there were 416 single family homes (or 44.2% of the total) out of a total of 941 homes and apartments. Statistical Department of Canton Aargau accessed 20 January 2010 There were a total of 13 empty apartments for a 1.4% vacancy rate. , the construction rate of new housing units was 2.4 new units per 1000 residents.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 32.5% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (31.7%), the SP (11.1%) and the FDP (10.4%).

The historical population is given in the following table:

there were 1,134 workers who lived in the municipality.  Of these, 775 or about 68.3% of the residents worked outside Merenschwand while 481 people commuted into the municipality for work.  There were a total of 840 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality.[http://www.ag.ch/staag/ Statistical Department of Canton Aargau-Bereich 11  Verkehr und Nachrichtenwesen]  accessed 21 January 2010  Of the working population, 11.5% used public transportation to get to work, and 54.5% used a private car.