Amriswil

Amriswil is a town of about 14,200 inhabitants in the Arbon district of the canton of Thurgau, Switzerland, near Lake Constance. It is first mentioned in 799 as Amalgeriswilare. In the Middle Ages Amriswil and Brüschwil were part of a bishop's fief, and in the early 17th century the village was sold to Adam Tschudi of Glarus, while the court rights later passed to the city of Bürglen under the control of St. Gallen until 1798. The inhabitants stayed with the Reformed faith after 1529 and built a large Reformed church in 1891; the Catholic parish became independent in 1911 and the Catholic Church of St. Stephen was inaugurated in 1939. Until about 1830 Amriswil was a nondescript village of farming and viticulture, but the introduction of cattle in 1833, a monthly market in 1840, large-scale weaving, a knitting factory opened in 1849 and the arrival of the Northeastern Railway in 1855 began a rapid industrialisation that shifted the town centre toward the northeast.