Oftringen

Oftringen is a municipality in the district of Zofingen in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland. The earliest trace of human habitation nearby is scattered Mesolithic finds, and a Roman farm at the intersection of two roads and scattered Alamanni settlements have also been found. The modern municipality is first mentioned in 924 as Ofteringa. The village was under the lordship of the Counts of Frohburg from the Middle Ages until 1299, when it passed to Habsburg authority, and after the Bernese conquest of the Aargau in 1415 it belonged to the township of Aarburg. The Olten to Lucerne railway has run through the area since 1856, although its station lies in Aarburg, and the Aarau to Zofingen line was built in 1875 to 1877. In the twentieth century the chemical and metal industries entered the village, and the ruins of Alt-Wartburg castle in the north of the municipality are a Swiss heritage site of national significance.