No actual town or urban settlement is called Argenbühl; rather, the municipality is an administrative amalgamation of several neighbouring villages with different names. The municipal administrative headquarters are located in the village of Eisenharz, with local branch offices also in the villages of Christazhofen, Eglofs, and Ratzenried.[3]
The name comes from the Argen River, whose two main constituent streams delimit part of the municipality's borders, and Bühl, which is a Southern German word for "hill",[4] reflecting the municipality's hilly landscape.
Geography
Argenbühl lies at an altitude from 662 to 761 m (2172 to 2497 ft) AMSL, between the cities of Wangen and Isny.
The municipality includes the following settlements (2006 population data):
Christazhofen (943 inhabitants, 15.44 km2 / 5.96 mi2)
Eisenharz (1446 inhabitants, 13.38 km2 / 5.17 mi2)
Göttlishofen (490 inhabitants, 7.22 km2 / 2.79 mi2)
Ratzenried (1171 inhabitants, 13.77 km2 / 5.32 mi2)
Siggen (171 inhabitants, 3.17 km2 / 1.22 mi2)
History
The municipality of Argenbühl has existed since 1 January 1972, when the previously independent municipalities of Christazhofen, Eglofs, Eisenharz, Göttlishofen, Ratzenried, and Siggen were merged into the present one. Their history is told in great detail in the Description of the Wangen Administrative District (Beschreibung des Oberamts Wangen),[5] published in 1841. In 1810, all the above-mentioned communities came under the jurisdiction of the Wangen district, which in 1973 became part of the Ravensburg district.
Christazhofen belonged for centuries to the counts of Trauchburg, and later to the earls of Waldburg-Zeil and Trauchburg.
Eglofs, occasionally mentioned in the historic records also as Meglofs and Megletz, can boast not having been subject to any lord other than the Kaiser for a long time, as it was a reichsfrei territory, the Lordship of Eglofs. In 1661, Eglofs was ceded to the counts of Abensperg and Traun, and in 1804, it was bought by the Princes of Windisch-Grätz. In 1806, Eglofs and its surroundings were mediatised and granted to the Kingdom of Württemberg.
Eisenharz was bought in 1301 by the stewards of Waldburg and ultimately, like Christazhofen, came to be owned by the lords of Trauchburg.
Göttlishofen came, like Eglofs, to the domain of the House of Windisch-Grätz.
Siggen was also part of the domain of the House of Windisch-Grätz.
Ratzenried was once a domain of imperial knights, but the feud became extinct in the 14th century. Afterwards, it had several owners and the settlement was divided for a long time, which is attested by the fact that two castles existed in parallel (one of them, southeast of the village, is today in ruins, while the other, in the centre of the village, as of 2014 hosts the administrative headquarters of the Humboldt-Institut language school organisation). Finally, in 1813, Count Paul Joseph von Beroldingen (1754-1831) inherited Ratzenried. In 1806, the village became part of Bavaria, but only four years later, it was handed over to Württemberg.
The municipality is linked by bus lines to neighbouring cities, such as Leutkirch, Isny, and Wangen. The lines are operated by the Lake Constance-Upper Swabia Local Transport Administration (Bodensee-Oberschwaben Verkehrsverbund), popularly known as bodo. In the past, a stop of the Kißlegg–Hergatz railway branch was in Ratzenried.
Education
Eglofs and Ratzenried have each an elementary and a general secondary school (Hauptschule) that also works as a Werkrealschule. In Christazhofen and Eisenharz are only elementary schools. Four kindergartens also are in the municipality.
Culture and sights
Eglofs around 1900
Museums
The village of Ratzenried has a local history museum, while Eglofs hosts the Allgäu-Swabian Music Archive (Allgäu-Schwäbische Musikarchiv). In 2009, a museum was also opened in Eisenharz, with exhibits about the history of the place and the local dairy industry of the Wunderlich and Nestlé companies.[7]
^"Luftkurort Argenbühl im Allgäu - Rathaus" [Climate resort of Argenbühl im Allgäu - Municipal Hall] (in German). Retrieved 2014-07-12. Die Hauptverwaltung unserer Gemeinde befindet sich im Rathaus Eisenharz. Dazu gibt es noch Außenstellen in Christazhofen, Eglofs und Ratzenried. ('Our municipality's main administration is located in the Municipal Hall of Eisenharz. There are also external locations in Christazhofen, Eglofs, and Ratzenried.')
^Franz Sales Romstöck: Zur Statistik des Jesuiten-Collegiums in Eichstätt. Eichstätt, 1902, S. 8; Bernhard Duhr: Geschichte der Jesuiten in den Ländern deutscher Zunge. 2. Bd., 1. Teil, Freiburg i. Br. 1913, S. 228, 239, 610.
