Beinwil, Solothurn

Beinwil is first mentioned in 1147 as Benwilre. In 1156, it was mentioned as Beinwilare. ==Geography==

road running through Oberbeinwil Beinwil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 43.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 54.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 1.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and or 0.4% is unproductive land. Of the built-up area, housing and buildings made up 0.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.2%. Out of the forested land, 50.6% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 0.4% is used for growing crops and 26.3% is pastures and 16.2% is used for alpine pastures. The municipality is located in the Thierstein district. It consists of scattered farm houses and small settlement clusters without a village center. It is divided into the regions of Unterbeinwil and Oberbeinwil. ==Coat of arms==

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Sable two Bones Argent in bend sinister. ==Demographics==

Beinwil has a population () of . , 2.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. From 1999 to 2009, the population has changed at a rate of -4.7%. It has changed at a rate of -5.7% due to migration and at a rate of 3.5% due to births and deaths. Most of the population () speaks German (303 or 97.4%), with French being second most common (3 or 1.0%) and Serbo-Croatian being third (3 or 1.0%). Of the population in the municipality, 171 or about 55.0% were born in Beinwil and lived there in 2000. There were 53 or 17.0% who were born in the same canton, while 72 or 23.2% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 13 or 4.2% were born outside of Switzerland. , there were 149 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 135 married individuals, 21 widows or widowers and 6 individuals who are divorced. , there were 101 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.9 persons per household. there were 115 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 36. There were 2 single room apartments and 52 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 100 apartments (87.0% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 8 apartments (7.0%) were seasonally occupied and 7 apartments (6.1%) were empty. Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) ImageSize = width:1080 height:210 PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:510 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 PlotData= color:yellowgreen width:40 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1739 from:start till:385 text:"385" bar:1804 from:start till:407 text:"407" bar:1850 from:start till:506 text:"506" bar:1860 from:start till:430 text:"430" bar:1870 from:start till:451 text:"451" bar:1880 from:start till:465 text:"465" bar:1888 from:start till:403 text:"403" bar:1900 from:start till:435 text:"435" bar:1910 from:start till:450 text:"450" bar:1920 from:start till:481 text:"481" bar:1930 from:start till:410 text:"410" bar:1941 from:start till:432 text:"432" bar:1950 from:start till:447 text:"447" bar:1960 from:start till:387 text:"387" bar:1970 from:start till:359 text:"359" bar:1980 from:start till:335 text:"335" bar:1990 from:start till:334 text:"334" bar:2000 from:start till:311 text:"311" ==Heritage sites of national significance==

The Former Benedictine Beinwil Abbey is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire site of Beinwil Abbey is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. The abbey was founded around 1100, probably by the local nobility. It was first mentioned in 1147. After conflicts arising from the territorial claims of the towns of Solothurn and Basel against the Counts of Thierstein, who acted as the abbey's Vögte (lords protectors), it was burnt down in 1445. After Beinwil had been taken over by Solothurn in 1519, the town authorities impounded much of the abbey's possessions. By the 16th century, only a few monks were left in the abbey, and it was formally dissolved in 1554. A small community remained, the care of which was assumed firstly by Einsiedeln Abbey, in 1589, and then, from 1622, by Rheinau Abbey. As no monastic revival could be achieved due to the remote location, it was decided to re-settle the community at Mariastein Abbey, a new foundation in a pilgrimage center, which took place in 1648. In anticipation of this, Mariastein became a member of the Swiss Congregation, now part of the Benedictine Confederation. From Mariastein, at the end of the 18th century, it was at length possible to revive Beinwil, and at that time the church and the monastic premises were rebuilt. The abbey was however suppressed in 1874 by plebiscite during the Kulturkampf, and the community of Mariastein went into exile. The abbey church, dedicated to Saint Vincent of Saragossa, was destroyed by fire in 1978. It has now been comprehensively restored and a high altar has been installed, dated about 1700, from Bellwald. The former abbey was used as an ecumenical conference and retreat center from 1982 until 2018. It is now an Orthodox Monastery. ==Politics==

In the 2007 federal election, the most popular party was the FDP, which received 48.03% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (29.38%), the SVP (13.51%) and the Green Party (6.08%). In the federal election, a total of 185 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 79.1%. ==Economy==

, Beinwil had an unemployment rate of 0.9%. , there were 100 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 37 businesses involved in this sector. Nine people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 3 businesses in this sector. Thirty-one people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 10 businesses in this sector. , there were 15 workers who commuted into the municipality and 76 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 5.1 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 9.2% used public transportation to get to work, and 41.8% used a private car. ==Religion==

From the , 218 or 70.1% were Roman Catholic, while 65 or 20.9% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were three members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.96% of the population). There was one individual who belonged to another church. Nineteen (or about 6.11% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and five individuals (or about 1.61% of the population) did not answer the question. ==Education==

In Beinwil, about 104 or (33.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 25 or (8.0%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 25 who completed tertiary schooling, 68.0% were Swiss men, 24.0% were Swiss women. During that school year, there were six children in kindergarten. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school, with some of the children attending smaller, specialized classes. In the municipality, there were 32 students in primary school. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling, followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. All the lower secondary students from Beinwil attend their school in a neighboring municipality. , there were 33 students from Beinwil who attended schools outside the municipality. ==References==