Pfetterhouse

Pfetterhouse Pfatterhüse
Commune
The church in Pfetterhouse
Coat of arms
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Coordinates: 47°30′06″N 7°10′02″E / 47.5017°N 7.1672°E / 47.5017; 7.1672Coordinates: 47°30′06″N 7°10′02″E / 47.5017°N 7.1672°E / 47.5017; 7.1672
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Department	Haut-Rhin
Arrondissement	Altkirch
Canton	Masevaux
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Jean-Rodolphe Frisch[1]
Area 1	14.28 km2 (5.51 sq mi)
Population  (Jan. 2018)[2]	961
• Density	67/km2 (170/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	68257 /68480
Elevation	391–501 m (1,283–1,644 ft) (avg. 481 m or 1,578 ft)
Website	www.pfetterhouse.net
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Pfetterhouse (Alemannic German: Pfatterhüse; German: Pfetterhausen) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.

Geography[]

Pfetterhouse is located in Jura Alsatian foothills, just in the border of Switzerland and Territoire de Belfort.

Origins of its name[]

The first mention of this village is dated from 732 AD and comes from Latin : Petrosa "the rocky one". An explanation of this origin could be the fact that stone from Pfetterhouse's quarry was used to build a Roman station not far from Petrosa or the presence of a Roman paved road. It explains the use of the French variant form Pérouse. The Alemannic form is already mentioned as Phetterhusen in a 1296 document. The spelling ph in Old High German notes pf in Modern German.

From the 17th century to 1919, the German Pfetterhausen (-hausen is an often-used suffix for German village names) was used instead, then in 1919 Pérouse (which more sounds French, because Alsace was taken back by France) and, in the end, Pfetterhouse, -house is a widespread spelling in Alsace (see Mulhouse) for the Alemannic -hüse and the German -hausen.

History[]

The church of Pfetterhouse

The  [fr] (Three Powers Boundary Stone) is situated in Pfetterhouse area. Until 1919, this stone was the point where the borders of France, Germany and Switzerland met. This boundary stone gave to the village an international renown: many people from France, Germany or Switzerland came to have their photograph taken with it, which they could send to relatives as a postal card.

19th - 20th centuries[]

After the annexation of Alsace by the German Empire in 1871, Pfetterhouse became known as Pfetterhausen. Germany imposed a high customs duty on wristwatches, so many Swiss watch- and clockmakers moved to Pfetterhausen to ply their trade and avoid the charges. From 1890 onwards, the town flourished and became prosperous, and almost everyone worked in some way for the watch-making industry, producing 300,000 watches a year. A large and imposing railway station was opened in 1910.

On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the area saw some of the earliest fighting, and many of the Swiss fled across the border into Switzerland. The opposing French and German forces settled into trenches on opposite sides of the River Largin (French: Largue) some 3 kilometres to the east of the village.

French troops occupied the village, and in February 1916 a week-long German bombardment caused considerable damage and led to a complete evacuation of civilians. Pfetterhouse remained an exclusively military base until the spring of 1919.

After the war, Alsace was returned to France. The local economy did not regain its pre-war status. By the 1960s the passenger train service was withdrawn, and the line was closed completely by 1970.^[3]

Demography[]

1962: 789
1968: 809
1975: 906
1982: 924
1990: 971
1999: 972
2006: 1050

See also[]

• Communes of the Haut-Rhin department

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pfetterhouse.

• Official website

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