Ziegelbrücke

Ziegelbrücke, home to around 510 people, is split in two by the Linth Canal, which also forms the cantonal border: the north-eastern part, where the SBB railway station stands, belongs to the municipality of Schänis, in the canton of St. Gallen, while the south-western part lies in the canton of Glarus, within the municipality of Glarus Nord since 2011 — previously in the independent municipality of Niederurnen. On the St. Gallen side, only around 70 people live and work, most of them employed by SBB.

The place takes its name from a tile-roofed bridge, first recorded in 1532, which then crossed the Maag roughly where the present bridge over the Linth Canal stands. Before the Linth correction, carried out between 1807 and 1823, the Maag flowed here from Lake Walenstadt into the former Linth. The site, at this former confluence, was long a transshipment point and customs post on the waterway linking Walenstadt to Zürich; a Roman bronze statue of Mercury was uncovered here.

The heart of the village, on the Glarus side, is built around the Fritz & Caspar Jenny spinning, twisting and weaving mill, founded in 1833: the complete industrial ensemble — production and storage buildings, administration, workshops, a factory pond, a canal system, a power plant and chimney, together with workers' housing including the imposing boarding house built in 1861 by architect Hilarius Knobel — is listed in the federal inventory of built heritage sites (ISOS) as a site of national importance. Since 2012 the site has hosted a global coordination centre for the Danish brewery Carlsberg, which has employed around two hundred people since mid-2013; the cantonal vocational school of Glarus is also located here.

Ziegelbrücke station is a railway junction between the SBB line from Zürich to Chur and the regional line from Rapperswil to Linthal; Postauto lines and a local service connect it to Weesen, Amden, the communities of the Gasterland, and the localities of Bilten and Niederurnen.

Why this place is remarkable

Ziegelbrücke owes its shape to a canal that is at once a cantonal border and an industrial backbone: on one side the station that ties together the lines to Zürich, Chur and Rapperswil, on the other the Jenny mill founded in 1833, whose built ensemble — chimney, factory pond, workers' housing — is listed in the federal inventory of built heritage sites. The place's very name comes from a tile-roofed bridge recorded as early as 1532, at the exact spot where the canal is still crossed today.

History and origin

Before the Linth correction (1807-1823), a small stream, the Maag, flowed here from Lake Walenstadt toward the former Linth; a tile-roofed bridge, recorded as early as 1532, crossed the Maag at the spot now occupied by the bridge over the Linth Canal. The place, at this former confluence of the Linth and the Maag, was long a transshipment point and customs post on the Walenstadt-Zürich waterway; a Roman bronze statue of Mercury was found here.