Sânmihaiu Român The first recorded mention of Sânmihaiu Român dates from 1333, being mentioned in the papal tithe records with the name
Sanctus Michael. Historian Ioan Lotreanu considers that the assignment of this name is erroneous, being confused with
Sveti Mihajlo in
Serbian Banat. However, there are also later mentions in documents, such as a diploma from 1350 in which the locality is named
Sanctus Mychael. Old Romanian village, it resisted the Turkish occupation, so that in 1717, after the conquest of Banat by the Austrians, it had 40 houses. It then appears written on
Count Mercy's map from 1723–1725 and on maps from 1761 and 1783. The Romanian church was built in 1774. In the interwar period it was part of Plasa Chișoda,
Timiș-Torontal County, it had over 2,000 inhabitants and over 500 houses.
Sânmihaiu German The village of Sânmihaiu German was among the first settlements in
Banat to be colonized following the
Habsburg Empire's conquest of the region. The initial wave of German (Swabian) settlers arrived in 1717, followed by a second group in 1808. The new settlement was established on the site of the former village of
Sillach and was initially named
Rauthendorf, after Rauth, an official who played a key role in the colonization efforts. Later, the village became known as
Deutschsanktmichael, the German equivalent of its current name.
Utvin The first recorded mention of the settlement dates back to 1338, when it appears in papal registers under the names
Uthwin or
Kis Otveny. These documents indicate that the village had the right to organize fairs. In 1456, it briefly came under the ownership of
John Hunyadi, after which it passed through the hands of various Hungarian feudal lords. In 1552, the Count of Timișoara annexed Utvin to the
Timișoara Fortress. Historical sources also mention a settlement called
Orași, located further south of Utvin, which no longer exists today. An Ottoman
defter from 1554 records Utvin as having 170 houses, a notably high number for that time. According to tradition, the original wooden church was built in 1714. It was destroyed by fire sometime after 1760. In 1766, the villagers constructed a new brick church on the same site where the old one had stood. In modern times, the 1910 census recorded the settlement as having 312 buildings and a population of 1,440. Of these, 1,095 were
Orthodox Romanians, along with 180
Hungarians and 105
Germans. The village also had a railway stop. By 1912, two major landowners were noted: Mihai Acxel de Zombor and Valentin Watz. The commune had a brickyard, operated by the Dunster and Wetzler company. One of the nearby fields is popularly known as "La piatră", where the foundation lines of an old church are still visible—likely marking the location of the village center during the medieval period. == Demographics ==