History
During Neolithic times, between 10000 and 8000 BCE, settlements were first established near the fish-rich Bünzersee (a small lake). In 1930, a cemetery, dated to have been from between 350-325 BCE, was discovered north of Boswil, and is seen as evidence that the area was occupied by Celtic peoples during the same time period. Various wall remains of farm estates and mansions from Roman times lie nearby.
Boswil was first mentioned as Bozuuila in a document found in a Zürich cathedral. Although this document is not dated, recent research places the document's origin between 874 and 887 CE.
Boswil and the surrounding regions were ruled by successions of counts and dukes of the Habsburgs up until 1379, when they began losing territories to the expanding Swiss Confederates. Herren von Hallwil, and his knights, maintained control over Boswil from 1380, until it was handed over to the ministrations of Muri Abbey in 1483. Meanwhile, the eight Old Cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy had unified and taken control in 1415, and jointly exercised power in all external affairs.
In 1649, a third of the village was destroyed in a fire.
After the Second War of Villmerger of 1712, the lands consisting of Zürich, Bern, Glarus, and the Freie Ämter were divided into two parts. One section of the new boundary line, extending west from the church in Oberlunkhofen to the Hochgericht in Fahrwangen, passed directly through Boswil, with the northern section under French control, and the southern portion by the Swiss Confederacy. Because of its unique position under the domain of two separate jurisdictions, Boswil's development was constrained. Even with the formation of the Helvetic Republic in 1798, Boswil remained divided between the canton of Baden and the newly formed canton of Aargau, until the two cantons were merged in 1803 as the canton of Aargau. Since then, Boswil has been a part of the Muri district.
Industrialization began in 1874, when Boswil became a stop on the Aargauische Südbahn line from Aarau to Muri. From 1870, peat was dug from the Bünnzmoos swampland which had resulted from the silting-up of the Bünzersees. In the 1930s and the 1940s, several peat mining companies came into prominence, and an area comprising over 2 square kilometers was cleared, to a depth of 6 meters. As more factories were built, Boswil developed to an industrial site.
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