Bouxwiller, Bas-Rhin

Puxuvilare is the earliest spelling of the town, as mentioned in 724. In 737, Buxwilari and Buxovillare were used. Eventually, Buchsweiler became the standard German spelling. The spelling of the town is Busswiller in Alsatian. During the German annexation of Alsace from 1871 to 1918 and German annexation between 1940 and 1944, the town reverted to its German spelling Buchsweiler. The name of the town is composed of two elements: Boux- and -willer. The suffix -willer is the French spelling of the German -weiler, which derives from the Medieval Old High German suffix -willer, which in turn is derived from the Low Latin word villare and means "agricultural land". The first element of the name, Boux-, is likely representative of the Germanic name Bucco, as toponyms incorporating the suffix -willer was typically combined with a personal name as the first element. The letter 'X' represents the letters 'ks', of which the 's' is the Saxon genitive that frequently appeared in toponyms in the region in the late Middle Ages. Thus, a probable meaning of the town's name is "Bucco's land". An alternative folk etymology of the town name is that the name is a combination of Buchs-, the German word for Buxus (boxwood), and -willer, thus meaning "land of boxwood". However, this origin is improbable considering the use of Puxuvilare in 724, since the Latin suffix -villare was not associated with vegetation. ==History==

Tiles and pottery shards indicate the presence of Romans on Bastberg Hill, where the remains of a laconicum (Roman bath) were discovered in 1739. The earliest written mention of Bouxwiller was in 724, when Radolph and Eloïn gave the property of their respective mothers located in Puxuvilare to the Wissembourg Abbey. Bouxwiller came into the possession of the knights of Lichtenberg around 1260. Rudolf I of Germany elevated Bouxwiller to the rank of city to attract the allegiance of the Lichtenberg family; this status was renewed by Albert I of Germany in 1301. This status allowed Bouxwiller to have a city wall and host a market, among other new sources of revenue. In 1312, the city was described as an oppidum, then meaning a fortified city. The Lichtenberg family built a moated castle in Bouxwiller—the Château de Bouxwiller—which was first mentioned in 1329, although it incorporated a chapel that was mentioned in 1315, when it hosted funeral services for John the First of Lichtenberg. The chapel also contained an epitaph and the tomb of John, Count of Werd and Landgrave of Lower Alsace, who died in 1376. After being looted during the German Peasants' War, the castle was renovated in the mid-sixteenth century by Philipp IV of Hanau-Lichtenberg and expanded with two new wings and lavish gardens. The last remnants of the château were gone by the early 19th century. Mining brought prosperity to the commune in the nineteenth century, but ended in 1957. In 1973, the villages of Griesbach-le-Bastberg, Imbsheim, and Riedheim were incorporated into the commune of Bouxwiller. Judaism The presence of a Jewish population in the city is documented in 1322. The Hanau-Lichtenberg administration was tolerant of the Jews, allowing the presence of a yeshiva (religious school) and beth din (Jewish court), which lasted from the 1760s until the French Revolution, and the establishment of two Jewish cemeteries in the commune in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1725, a census of the Jews in the city counted 31 families and five widows. A large synagogue was built in Bouxwiller in 1844. It was defaced and damaged during the Second World War and the building now houses the Judeo-Alsatian Museum of Bouxwiller, dedicated to the history of Jews in Alsace. ==Geography==

'', which lies within the commune Bouxwiller is situated northwest of Strasbourg. It is the capital of the Bouxwiller canton and is located within the Saverne arrondissement. It is bordered by the communes of Obersoultzbach, Niedersoultzbach, Uttwiller, Obermodern, Kirrwiller, Bosselshausen, Printzheim, Hattmatt, Neuwiller-lès-Saverne, and Weiterswiller. Bouxwiller has a Cfb oceanic climate in the Köppen climate classification with an annual average temperature of and annual average precipitation of . ==Transport==

A railway from Saverne was opened on 15 October 1877, with the railroad station in Bouxwiller opening the following year. The line was extended to Haguenau in 1881 and Ingwiller in 1889. Service between Bouxwiller and Ingwiller ended in 1953; the remaining line served passenger trains until 1970 and freight trains until 1989. The rail line has since been removed and its right-of-way now forms a cycle path, while the Bouxwiller train station has been remodeled and houses artisanal shops. ==Population==