History
The history of the turbine plant is also the history of Ottenbach's textile industry. In its heyday at the beginning of the 19th century, more than 350 looms were in operation and the Mechanische Seidenstoffweberei Zürich at times employed more than 200 people in Ottenbach, who came from the surrounding municipalities in Zurich and Aargau. By far the largest industrial enterprise in the municipality, it initially produced sieve fabric for mills, then umbrella fabric and later dress, upholstery and decorative fabrics.
The map from 1737 by Joseph Hess indicates that the later factory channels werde former side arms of the river Reuss. After 1838, Reuss water initially drove a water wheel belonging to a flour mill.From 1867, the water power was used to directly mechanically drive the looms of the silk weaving mill. In its heyday at the beginning of the 19th century, more than 350 looms were in operation and the Mechanische Seidenstoffweberei Zürich employed at times more than 200 people in Ottenbach, who came from the surrounding Zurich and Aargau communities. By far the largest industrial company in the community initially produced pouch cloth (a sieve cloth for millers), then umbrella cloth and later clothing, upholstery and decorative fabrics.
Water power was initially used for the direct mechanical drive of the looms. Bevel gear wheels and transmission belts were used to drive the king shaft, to which the looms could then be connected via complicated transmissions. In winter, the water power was not available due to too low water supply and a movable steam engine - the locomobile - was connected to the transmission system. Two horse-drawn carriages constantly drove back and forth between Ottenbach and Affoltern a.A. railway station and transported the required coal. The winter was also used to carry out the necessary maintenance work on the turbine system and channels.
If one wanted to trace the history back even further, a history of the mills of Ottenbach would have to be written. After all, hamlets and villages were preferably built along streams and rivers, where the water was used to drive mills - mainly grain mills - and as a transport route. It is known, for example, that in 1645 a miller Heinrich Grob received permission to operate a mill approximately at the present turbine location. Nothing is known about the fate of this mill. The actual beginning of the use of water power from the Reuss river took place in 1838 with the grain mill of Jakob Beerli. He led the water from the Reuss with a canal to the mill wheel.
Messrs Bodmer and Hürlimann then acquired the mill in 1871 and developed it into a silk weaving mill. Pretty soon they replaced the water wheel with a Jonval turbine.
Today the condition of the plant, as it has existed since 1920, can be admired. At that time the transmission system was dismantled and the looms were converted to electric operation. With the world economic crisis, the slow decline of the textile industry in Ottenbach was also announced. The silk and decorative fabric weaving mill A.F. Haas & Co. took over the loss-making plant until 1970 when production was discontinued and a pure textile trading business, today Haas-Shopping, was established.
At the end of the 1970s, in connection with the protection of the banks of the Reuss, the Canton of Zurich acquired the entire plant, including hydraulic structures, and opened it to the public. The floods of 2005 and 2007 flooded the turbine building and caused additional damage to the hydraulic structures, some of which had collapsed earlier. In 2011 and 2012, the embankments of the headrace channel and the side weir were repaired, so that the plant could be visited again in spring 2012. Since 1 January 2014, our association has been responsible for the supervision of the project on behalf of the Canton of Zurich.