Pfetterhouse

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Administration
Commune of Pfetterhouse
Location
Longitude	07° 10' 02" Est
Latitude	47° 30' 06" Nord
Country	France
Region	Alsace
Department	Haut-Rhin
Arrondissement	Altkirch
Canton	Canton de Hirsingue
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes de la Vallée de la Largue
Mayor	Jean-Rodolphe Frisch (2001-2008)
Statistics
Altitude	391 m–501 m (avg. 481 m)
Land area¹	14,28 km²
Population² (1999)	972
- Density ()	68/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	68257/ 68480
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 mi² or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Pfetterhouse is a French village, situated in the Haut-Rhin "département", in Alsace "région" (north-east of France).

1 Geography
2 Origins of its name
3 History
4 Demography
5 Other links

[edit] Geography

Pfetterhouse is located in Jura Alsatian foothills, just in the border of Switzerland and Territoire de Belfort.

[edit] Origins of its name

The first mention of this village is dated from 732AC and comes from Latin : « Petrosa » (rocky road). An explaination of this origin could be the fact that rocks from Pfetterhouse's career were used to build a roman station not far from Petrosa. From XVIIth century to 1919, the German Pfetterhausen (-hausen is an often-used suffix for German village names) was used, then in 1919 Pérouse (which more sounds French, because Alsace was taken back by France) and, in the end, Pfetterhouse (the actual name sounds more Germanic, because of Germany's last occupation between 1940 and 1945).

[edit] History

Before World War One, a big clock factory attracted several new citizens, but this factory didn't manage to recover after WW1 and WW2, and finally closed just after WW2.

The Borne des Trois Puissances (Three Powers Boundary Stone) is situated in Pfetterhouse area. Until 1919, this stone was the point where France, Germany and Switzerland borders were gathering. This boundary stone gave to the village an international renown: many people from France, Germany or Switzerland came to have their photograph taken with it, which they could send to relatives as a postal card.

A railway was passing by Pfetterhouse, but because of a lack of travellers and industrial stuff, it closed in 60's. The rail station was renovated into housing.