The area around Frutigen may have been settled since possibly the
Bronze Age or
Roman Empire times. It is first mentioned in 1234 as
Frutingen. During the Middle Ages there were three castles in the modern municipal border;
Halten,
Tellenburg and
Bürg. By 1260 the scattered farmers of the valley floor had formed a political and business association. The association had its own
seal in 1263 and in 1340 it negotiated a peace with an association in the
Obersimmental. In 1391, the village of Frutigen gained the right to hold the
low court in the village. In 1400, the expanding city-state of
Bern annexed the entire valley. However, the association was powerful enough to force Bern to make concessions. The residents of the valley were freed from the obligation to pay taxes or provide labor for local lords and their soldiers marched under their own
banner. The valley held onto these freedoms until 1854. The village church, Saint Quirinus' church, was first mentioned in 1228 as one of the twelve churches around
Lake Thun in the Strättliger Chronicle. However, this church was built over the foundation of an older church. The earliest church was probably built in the 8th or 9th century above 7th or 8th century tombs. The original church was replaced in the 11th or 12th century. That church was rebuilt in 1421. The current church was built on the ruins of the 1421 church following a fire in 1727. In 1528, Bern adopted the
Protestant Reformation and began imposing it on the Canton. Frutigen, like the rest of the
Bernese Oberland, resisted the new faith, but adopted it after the Interlaken uprising was suppressed. The large
parish of Frutigen was divided several times but still includes the villages of Schwandi and Wengi which are both part of the municipality of
Reichenbach. A Roman Catholic
parish church was built in 1959. The Catholic Frutigen parish covers approximately the same area as the medieval parish. The valley had always profited from trade over the
Gemmi and
Lötschen Passes. A
sust or warehouse and mountain pass way station was built in Kanderbrück in the 16th century, though similar buildings existed since at least the Middle Ages. During the 16th century the local economy also began to change. Instead of raising a variety of crops, the local farmers began to specialize in raising cattle for export. The village now had to import grain from the
Swiss Plateau. Around 1850, the economy shifted again as lace and watch factories moved into the valley. A match stick factory also opened in Frutigen in 1850. The first mail coach between Thun and Frutigen began operations in 1814. The
Spiez-Frutigen railroad opened in 1901, followed by the
Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon railway in 1913. In 1917 the
Postauto began regular service between Frutigen and
Adelboden. The railroad and improved roads allowed industry and tourism to flourish in the municipality. ==Geography==