page_title: Gommiswald
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Gommiswald / History
caption_attribution_description: Kloster de:Berg Sion, Ansicht von Südosten
context_page_description: Gommiswald is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Rieden and Ernetschwil merged into the municipality of Gommiswald.
context_section_description: Gommiswald is first mentioned in 1178 as Göycheim though this comes from a 16th-century copy of the original.  In 1440 it was mentioned as Göchams gewalt.  The current village of Gommiswald was known as Gauen until the 18th century, when both Gauen and Gommiswald were used interchangeably.  In 1913 the cantonal government directed that the name of Gommiswald would be the official name.
  During the Early Middle Ages Schänis Abbey acquired the right to collect tithes in Gommiswald and the patronage rights over the village church.  At around the same time, the village was part of the large parish of Benken and was part of the Diocese of Chur.  Politically, by 1200, it was part of the Toggenburg County of Uznach.  In 1439, three years after the death of the last Count of Toggenburg, Frederick VII of Toggenburg, Schwyz and Glarus established a joint condominium over the County of Uznach.  In 1500, the residents of the village broke away from the Benken parish and built their own parish church.  In 1556, they bought the tithe rights over the village away from Schänis Abbey.  In 1676 the Felix and Regula Chapel was rebuilt on the Üetliburg hill.  Almost a century later, in 1761, the priest Joseph Helg founded the Premonstratensian Mount Zion Abbey near the chapel.  Following the 1798 French invasion, the County of Uznach was finally freed from joint Schwyz and Glarus control.
  The construction of the Kaltbrunn-Ricken road in 1785-88 and the Uznach road in 1830 connected the village to the surrounding towns.  In 1803 Gommiswald and Ernetschwil formed a short lived political municipality, but separated again in 1807.  Gommiswald remained without industry until 1932 when the Wattefabrik Kistler opened.  The factory employed 90 workers in 1979 and 40 in 2002.  In 1956 Gommiswald, Ernetschwil and Rieden formed a secondary school district.  Since 1960, the population has doubled and Gommiswald has developed into a residential and recreational community with new commercial buildings and many apartments, leading to an increase of commuting and urban sprawl.
  Rieden is first mentioned in 1045 as Rieta.
  Ernetschwil is first mentioned in 885 as Eidwarteswilare.
caption: Berg Sion Monastery in Gommiswald
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