From Rubunâ to today.

Robenhauser Ried

The moor and lake landscape of Lake Pfäffikersee is one of the most important wetlands of the Swiss Plateau (BLN object no. 5; fen object no. 2212). Lake Pfäffikersee with the silted zone of the Robenhauser Ried lies in a hollow of the Ice Age Linth-Rhine glacier. Low, transitional and raised bogs meet here in a small-scale mosaic.

From the 1950s at the latest a fen developed. Today the area is a typical litter meadow, cut once a year in autumn. Peat was extracted in the Robenhauser Ried roughly between 1740 and 1950.

In 1762 a governmental appeal ruling confirmed: ownership of the fen belongs to Robenhausen, which extracts peat here. Seegräben retains grazing rights. From 1917 to 1921 industrialists such as Gebr. Sulzer, Honegger & Co. and Braschler & Co. took peat from the Hinwil–Wetzikon–Robenhausen area – including from the fields “Himmerich” and “Wildbach-Pfäffikersee-Kemptbach”.

Friedrich von Tschudi already described remains of the aurochs in the pile-dwelling settlements of Robenhausen in 1860. Jakob Messikommer’s discoveries are deliberately omitted here – they can be found on Wetzipedia.

Streets, paths and field names

Field names from earlier times: Auwies, Brunnenweidli, Brunnenwies, Buchgrindel, Flos, Grund, Halden, Haselwiese, Heydaker, Hundsgalgen, Jörgenaker, Kühweid, Müllerplatz, Neuriedt, Renteli, Stägwiese, Stübliaker, Zälgli.

On J. Wild’s map (~1850) among others: Aawiesen, Binzacher, Eichhölzli, Floos/Flos, Hundsgalgen (today a viewpoint with two benches), Krebsgraben, Sandbühl, Schönau, Stägen, Tobelacker, Widum/Wydum, Ziel/Zil. Streets: Dorf-, Halden-, Seegräbner-, Schulhaus-, Stegen-, Uster- and Zürichstrasse.

Siegfried map 1880: Eichhölzliweg, Schönaustrasse, Tobelackerstrasse, today’s Weststrasse. Added in 1930: Binzacker-, Motoren-, Nord-, Tändeli- and Zelglistrasse.

Coat of arms

In earlier years Robenhausen is said to have had its own coat of arms, featuring a yellow lily as the main flower of the fen landscape. The Robenhausen choral society had a singers’ banner from the mid-19th century that was neglected and forgotten. In 1955 it was found in the schoolhouse attic. Who designed the coat of arms in use today is still unknown.

Historic buildings

Research by Philippe Caviezel to identify the buildings on the tithe plan of 1698. Sources: Wetzikon land registry, local history archive, Zurich State Archives.

Buildings still standing include: Restaurant Rössli (Dorfstrasse 23), several Flarz houses on Dorf- and Motorenstrasse, Schulhausstrasse 2–30, Stegen mill (Usterstrasse 88–104). No longer standing: buildings on the site of Motorenstrasse 127 and at Tändelistrasse 5/7 (possibly the former Restaurant Tanne) and Tändelistrasse 8.

The mill at Stägen

The Stegen mill often changed hands: 1530 Rudolf Müller, 1615 Jakob Frei, 1630 Hans Heinrich Gujer, 1640 Jakob Burkhard, 1645 Jörg Zindel, 1648 Hans Heinrich Büeler, 1650 Jakob Korrodi, 1660 Hans Wohlgemuth, 1670 Felix Erzinger, 1680 Matthys Wolfensberger (demolished the old mill building in 1691; while it was being raised, the dyer Hans Erhard Moriz fell and died), 1700 Heinrich Zolliker, 1715 Joachim Wuhrmann, 1720 Hans Heinrich Ernst, 1823 Friedrich Nagel (builds the spinning mill in the Schönau with stones from Wetzikon castle tower), 1830 Heinrich Messikommer, 1860 Herr Bidermann – closed the mill and built workers’ housing.

Fountains

Documentation by Robert Widmer of well and pump fountains:

• No. 1 Motorenstrasse 133 – 18th century, Vorderdorf fountain cooperative; shaft still there, post sawn off.
• No. 2/3 Dorfstrasse 46 – Hinterdorf; no. 3 from 1870 is still working, the cooperative still active.
• No. 4 Dorfstrasse 56 – 1893, Johannes Walter; ornamental architecture only.
• No. 5 Schulhausstrasse 28/30 – filled in.
• No. 6 Juheestrasse 6 – probably 1830, 14 metres deep, parts remaining.
• No. 7 Grundstrasse 4 – removed in 2017, post rebuilt at Im Zil.
• No. 8 Villa im Grund – pump well/cistern for the garden, removed when the Rudolf Steiner School was built.

The Heimatspiegel of 9 September 1987, “Wasser aus tiefen Schächten”, describes the well on Rössliplatz.

Robenhausen school

1733 a firm no from the pastor. 1769 provisional permission for Sunday singing and edification hours. 1785 founding, lessons in the parlour. 1815 purchase of a farmhouse (Flarz Motorenstrasse 137) as the first schoolroom. 9 January 1870 inauguration of the first proper schoolhouse at Schulhausstrasse 41. 1890–1893 construction of Schulhausstrasse 37. 2 September 1972 opening of the school complex at Schulhausstrasse 39.

Teachers include: Heinrich Walder (1785), Heinrich Kriesi (1805–1845), Johann Jakob Höhn, Johann Zollinger (1851–1893), David Angst (1893–1933), Albert Kunz (1908–1958).

Robenhausen post office

21 May 1895: decision of the civil board. Opened on 1 October 1895 in the Sternen, Dorfstrasse 7. Stamp “Robenhausen-Stegen”. 1910: 46,919 letters posted, 1950: 71,689. From 1963/64 postcode 8621, stamp “Wetzikon 4 Robenhausen”. 1964 moved to a hut on Usterstrasse, 7 July 1971 opened in the business centre at Dorfstrasse 4. From 2010 only postcode 8620. Closed on 7 June 2014 after 119 years. 10 June 2014 post agency at Montanari – this closed in September 2024.

Konsum Robenhausen

On 24 January 1869 the Wetzikon workers’ association decides on a depot in Stegen. 1899 renamed Arbeiterkonsumverein, 1904 Konsumverein Wetzikon. 1933 opening of the new branch on Konsumstrasse (today Zelglistrasse 17). 1970 merger into Coop Zürichsee/Oberland.

Robenhausen baths

In 1904 architect Johannes Meier designs the baths. In 1905 builder Hirzel and carpenter Dietliker build them for Fr. 13,000. 1906 operation with separate bathing times for men, women, schoolboys and schoolgirls. Bathing ceases in 1952. In 1976 the angling club (from 1980 Aabachgruppe Robenhausen) prevents demolition and renovates the boathouse. Today the Aabachgruppe looks after the old baths. Source: Wetzipedia.

Restaurants around 1900

Anker (Usterstrasse 91), Felsenburg (95), Freihof (130, still there), Grütli (Seegräbnerstrasse 23, demolished 2016), Harmonie (Motorenstrasse 126), Morgenthal (Dorfstrasse 17, Café Montanari since 2006), Rössli (Dorfstrasse 23, still there), Schützenhaus (Motorenstrasse 62), Sonne (Schulhausstrasse 33), Sternen (Dorfstrasse 7, with post office from 1895), Tanne (Tändelistrasse 7), Vergissmeinnicht (Usterstrasse 150), zur Ziegelhütte (Usterstrasse 80 – until 1798 the only restaurant in the area).

As an exclave of the bailiwick of Greifensee, Robenhausen was a long way from the bailiff of Grüningen. From 1728 to 1755 there were complaints that wine and spirit serving was quite unrestrained.

Heinrich Bertschinger – mechanical reed-blade manufacture

In 1850 Rudolf Egli began making reed blades in Helle-Robenhausen. In 1907 Heinrich Egli-Schneebeli bought a workshop building and ran the business mechanically. In 1930 the business passed to Heinrich Bertschinger (b. 1893 in Lodz, d. 1972 in Wetzikon). Reed blades were made of steel and brass, including for export.

The father Heinrich (b. 1864) had emigrated from the Töss valley to Lodz and built up the weaving-utensils factory there. The son Heinrich (b. 1922) joined in 1955 and sold in 1982 to Karl Egli and Peter Rüegg – later Rüegg + Egli AG, the last reed-blade maker in Switzerland (SRF 22.12.2020). Details from Constanze Schneider, granddaughter.

Jakob Berli – cooper

Jakob Berli (b. 22.01.1908, d. 27.06.1988) was a master cooper and ran a cooperage at Dorfstrasse 36 from 1949. After his death the tools went to the “Vereinigung Schweizer Küfer” collection. Film portrait by the KZO, 1973 – see film.