Steckborn

Steckborn is a municipality in Frauenfeld District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.It is located on the south-western arm of Lake Constance known in German as the Untersee ("Lower Lake").HistoryThe area around Steckborn was already inhabited in the second century. There are also Roman remains of walls and fortifications. It is thought that the village became part of the territory of the monastery of Reichenau in the ninth century. This is the period when it is first documented.In 1313 Steckborn was first granted municipal rights. Because all ecclesiastical authority ended with the French invasion in 1798, the dominance of Reichenau also ended. Steckborn has been the district capital of its district since the founding of the canton of Thurgau in 1803.When a new tower was to be built for the church in 1833, a 17-year-old first-year apprentice, Ferdinand Stadler, was given the chance to draw up the plans. In 1848 the Cistercian convent at Feldbach was closed.In 1890 an embroidery workshop was established in the buildings of the Feldbach convent. This was to grow into the Bernina Sewing Machine Factory, now known as BERNINA International.GeographySteckborn has an area, of 8.76km2. Of this area, 3.16km2 or 36.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.07km2 or 46.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 1.52km2 or 17.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.02km2 or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes.