Forch

Lake Zürich, Küsnacht, Küsnachter Tobel valley and Forch as seen from nearby Felsenegg (April 2010)

The village of Forch and Forchautobahn (highway), Maur and Glatt Valley to the right

Forch is a village and a mountain pass (el. 682 metres (2,238 ft)) located in the municipalities of Küsnacht and Maur in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland.

Geography

Forch is located approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) in the southeast of Zürich, nearby Zumikon and Maur. It includes the hamlets Aesch and Scheuren (villages of the municipality Maur), and Kaltenstein in the east of the pass, Wangen and Neue Forch, which are villages of the municipality of Küsnacht. The forrested hill called Guldenen on Pfannenstiel belongs to the Forch area, Hinter Guldenen to the municipality of Maur and Vorder Guldenen is part of the municipality of Egg.

The mountain pass named Forch connects Küsnacht on Lake Zürich and Maur on Greifensee respectively in the Glatt Valley.

A monument called Wehrmännerdenkmal commemorating World War I is located nearby Neue Forch and Wassberg hill (el. 851 metres (2,792 ft)),^[1] which is also a popular recreation area for the people of the city of Zürich.

Village of Forch

The population of the village of Forch is about 2,815 (as of 2008^[update]).^[2] The village has preserved its rural character. Since 1912, Forch is a stop of the Forchbahn, a tramway of the S-Bahn Zürich, between the Zürich Stadelhofen railway station and the municipality of Esslingen. Forch village is connected by the A52 highway to Zumikon (to the west) and Hinwil (to the east) heading to the Zürcher Oberland. Thanks to these good conditions, Forch is the biggest village within the municipality of Maur. Nevertheless, its infrastructure, apart from Kindergarten, primary school, post office, retail facilities and hospitality is modest, i.e. most infrastructure facilities are located in Maur and Küsnacht.

History

The tavern "Zur Krone" (crown) was built in 1783 on the summit of the Forch pass,^[3] 1836-1901 a horse's station, on the post route from Zürich to the municipality of Egg, which was in 1905 replaced by a bus line. Around 1900, a small settlement of eight houses was established, 12 years later the train station of the Forchbahn was built. The war memorial was built in 1922. Around 1960 the region became part of the growing agglomeration of the city of Zürich, and the villages of Forch, Scheuren and Aesch turned to an upscale residential district.

Gallery

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  Forch, Forchbahn train station and Wehrmännerdenkmal (to the right)

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  Forchbahn train station

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  Southern side of Forch and Pfannenstiel to the right

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  Forch monument (Wehrmännerdenkmal)

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  ZSG motor ship "Forch", Zimmerberg in the background

See also

A small motor ship of the Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft is named after the region.

References

1. ^ Official website of the municipality of Küsnacht: Forchdenkmal (German)
2. ^ Official website of the municipality of Maur: Facts and figures (German)
3. ^ Gasthof Krone (German)

External links

Media related to Forch at Wikimedia Commons Media related to Forch monument at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website of the municipality of Maur (German)
• Forch in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Ortsverein Aesch, Scheuren and Forch (German)
• Website magic-places (German)

Coordinates: 47°19′30″N 8°39′10″E / 47.325°N 8.65278°E / 47.325; 8.65278