DORNBIRN, AUSTRIA

DORNBIRN, AUSTRIA. In May 2011 the Dubuque City Council voted to formally establish a sister city relationship with Dornbirn, Austria. On the weekend of May 15-16, 2010 a delegation from Dornbirn, visited Dubuque. Dubuque was a popular destination for Dornbirn immigrants in the 19th century, including Joseph A. RHOMBERG, Frank M. RHOMBERG and Liberat Alphonse "L.A." RHOMBERG.

The delegation included Mayor Wolfgang Rümmele, Vice Mayor Martin Ruepp and Public Relations Director Ralf Hämmerle. Their itinerary included visits to the NATIONAL MISSISSIPPI RIVER MUSEUM AND AQUARIUM, DUBUQUE STAR BREWING COMPANY and MOUNT CALVARY CEMETERY. (1)

Dubuque's sister-city relationships have a history of beginning with great expectations and then languishing through lack of oversight. Dubuque City Councilmen Dirk VOETBERG and Kevin Lynch hope to reverse that trend with the creation of the Sister City Relationships Advisory Commission. "We've had sister-city relationships for more than 20 years and they have ebbed and flowed with individual interest," Voetberg said. The city is seeking applicants for 12 spots on the newly created commission who would foster relationships with peers in Pyatigorsk, Russia, and Handan, China. The commission also is expected to facilitate potential relationships with Dornbirn, Austria, and Trois Rivieres, Quebec - the boyhood home of Julien Dubuque. Interested citizens were asked to submit applications to the City Clerk's Office by Wednesday, December 29, 2010. (2)

Another delegation from Dornbirn, Austria, visited Dubuque at the end of April, 2011. Dubuque's Sister City Committee hosted the five-person delegation, which included a Dornbirn City Council member, a community archivist, an author and two city staff members. The group visited the CENTER FOR DUBUQUE HISTORY at LORAS COLLEGE, Mount Calvary Cemetery, Mount St. Francis and Park Farm Winery. Dubuque was one of the most common destinations for the immigrants coming from Dornbirn during the 19th century. (3)

Dornbirn, a city in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, is the administrative center for the district of Dornbirn, which also includes the town of Hohenems, and the market town, Lustenau. Dornbirn is the largest city in Vorarlberg and the tenth largest in Austria. It is an important commercial and shopping center.

Dornbirn is located in western Vorarlberg in the Rhine Valley, at the foot of the Karren mountain, part of the Bregenz Forest Mountain chain at the edge of the Eastern Alps. It is near the borders to Switzerland, Germany and Liechtenstein. The Dornbirner Ach river flows through the town and later into Lake Constance.

Dornbirn once consisted only of 4 "quarters": Markt, Hatlerdorf, Oberdorf and Haselstauden. By the 20th century Dornbirn had annexed two formerly independent communities to the west: Rohrbach and Schoren bringing the total number of districts to 6.

The Town of Dornbirn constitutes almost 70% of the surface of the district Dornbirn and has numerous borders to other municipalities. As well as bordering on the two other municipalities in the Dornbirn district (Hohenems and Lustenau), the town shares borders with 15 municipalities of the Bregenz District: (Lauterach, Wolfurt, Schwarzach, Bildstein, Alberschwende, Schwarzenberg, Reuthe, Mellau, Damüls) and four with the Feldkirch District: (Laterns, Zwischenwasser, Viktorsberg, Fraxern).

The earliest evidence of human presence in the Dornbirn area can be dated from the Mesolithic era. The name "Dornbirn" derives from 'torrin puirron', meaning the 'Settlement of Torro' (the name of an Alemannic farmer living there) and thus has nothing to do with "pears" (German "Birnen"), although this fruit is prominently portrayed on the town emblem. This name is mentioned for the first time in 895, in a document from St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Dornbirn became part of the Hapsburg Monarchy in 1380. In 1793 it was elevated to a market community. It was not given municipal status until 1901. In 1932 the mountain village of Ebnit was annexed. In 1969 Dornbirn became the seat of the new Dornbirn district administrative authority.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±%

1869 8,707 —

1880 9,464 +8.7%

1890 10,810 +14.2%

1900 13,193 +22.0%

1910 16,320 +23.7%

1923 14,481 −11.3%

1934 16,650 +15.0%

1939 17,572 +5.5%

1951 22,532 +28.2%

1961 28,075 +24.6%

1971 35,113 +25.1%

1981 38,641 +10.0%

1991 40,735 +5.4%

2001 42,301 +3.8%

2011 45,605 +7.8%

2014 46,883 +2.8%

Nationality Population

Turkey 	1,813
Germany 	1,209
Bosnia & Herzegovina 	460
Croatia 	347
Russia 	239

The Dornbirn Municipal Council has 36 seats and the following party mandates:

   21 Austrian People's Party (ÖVP)
   8 Social Democratic Party of Austria
   4 Die Grünen
   3 Freedom Party of Austria

Dornbirn has town partnerships with

   Kecskemét, Hungary
   Sélestat, France
   Dubuque, Iowa, United States

Well-known citizens of Dornbirn

   Angelika Birck, psychologist
   Reinhard Eugen Bösch, politician
   Karl Cordin, ski racer
   Artur Doppelmayr, cable car constructor
   Francis Martin Drexel (1792–1863), Philadelphia banker and artist
   Margret Dünser, journalist
   Ingrid Eberle, ski racer
   Wolfgang Flatz, artist, scenic designer, musician and composer
   Elfi Graf, singer
   Gert Halbgebauer, Architect
   Ulrich Ilg, politician, former Governor of Vorarlberg
   Yvonne Meusburger, WTA tennis player
   Tamira Paszek, WTA tennis player
   August Paterno, Priest, pastoral counselor
   Aaron Pilsan, Pianist

Notable architecture

The Messestadion is an indoor sporting arena located in Dornbirn, and home to the local ice hockey team. Economy

Vorarlberg's regional studio of the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation) is located in Dornbirn.

Zumtobel Lighting Group is an ATX traded company based in Dornbirn. Many other large companies are situated there. The town was formerly a major center of the textile industry, which has been in decline since the 1980s.

Located in the middle of the Rhine valley, Dornbirn is an important junction of regional and inter-regional bus lines, connecting Bregenz to the north, Feldkirch to the south, and the Bregenz Forest to the east. The A14 Rheintal freeway/motorway (Autobahn) passes by to the west. The Achrain tunnel, opened in 2009, directly connects Dornbirn/Haselstauden with the Bregenz Forest - Alberschwende region. The town has an excellent network of municipal buses.

Dornbirn's railway station is an important stop for all trains from west to east Austria.

A small airport is located at nearby Hohenems.

Educational institutions in Dornbirn include the Fachhochschule Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences, two General Education Secondary Schools, and a Higher Technical Vocational College (Höhere Technische Lehranstalt).

One of the most important sportive institutions in Dornbirn is the RHC Dornbirn, one of the most powerful Austrian Rink Hockey teams. In 2010 it hosted the Rink Hockey Men's B World Championship. Baseball & Softball Club Dornbirn was founded in 1990, and has won the Austrian title twice. BSC Dornbirn consists of one youth team, two men's teams, and two women's teams. (4)

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Source:

1. "Group from Austria Visiting Dubuque," Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) - Friday, May 14, 2010, Section A, p. 3

2. Panel Aims to Improve Sister-City Relationships," Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) - Saturday, December 11, 2010, Section A, p. 3

3. "Delegation from Austria to visit Dubuque," Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) - Saturday, April 30, 2011, Section A, p. 5

4. "Dornbirn, Austria." Wikipedia