The first settlement at Wallisellen dates from 58 BC. The municipality Wallisellen has its origin between 400 and 700 BC, after the Germanic migration of the peoples. Wallisellen is named according to both parts "Walchen" and "Seller". The Germanic peoples described as "Walchen" its Celtic and Romanic neighbours. The word "Seller" stands for immigrated farmers, in contrast to long-established farmers, who cultivated small and modest farms. Linguists think that the name originated because Franks or Alemanni gave the name "Wallisellen" to a small farmer settlement, which was inhabited or founded by Celts or Romans. With inauguration of the NOB-line Zürich–Wallisellen–Winterthur on 25 June 1856 Wallisellen had its first connection with the Swiss railway network. In 1916, the municipality of Rieden merged with Wallisellen. In the interwar period Wallisellen developed from a village to a growing suburb-municipality of Zurich, but didn't want to have a town charter. During the Second World War, Wallisellen took part hugely in the "Anbauschlacht" . In 1958 the Roman Catholic church of St. Antonius was built.
Geography
Wallisellen has an area of. Of this area, 23.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 20.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 54.5% is settled and the remainder is non-productive.
Demographics
Wallisellen has a population of., 25.5% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 11.8%. Most of the population speaks German, with Italian being second most common and Serbo-Croatian being third. In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 38.6% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SPS, the FDP and the CSP. The age distribution of the population is children and teenagers making up 19.1% of the population, while adults make up 64.4% and seniors make up 16.5%. In Wallisellen about 76.9% of the population have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education. Wallisellen has an unemployment rate of 3.21%., there were 50 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 3085 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 137 businesses in this sector. 8950 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 731 businesses in this sector.
The largest sports club of Wallisellen is the FC Wallisellen, which first team in the season 06/07 was promoted to the 2. league. Other successful sports clubs are the EHC Wallisellen and Faustball Wallisellen. Also very active is the TV Wallisellen. That club has organised since 1993 the Walliseller Lauf, from which all of the earnings go to children who are suffering from cancer. In Wallisellen there are two scout troops: scout troop Gryfensee and scout troop Winkelried.
Language and rhyme
Wallisellen is known in the German part of Switzerland due to a rhyme: "Aazelle, Bölle schelle, d'Chatz gaht uf Walliselle, chunnt si wider hei, hät si chrummi Bei, piff paff puff und du bisch duss". A song of the Bernese dialect-band Stiller Has is "Walliselle". Today the native German-speaking population speaks a mixture of Swiss German dialects. A levelled Zurich-German with a tendency of integration of elements of German is widespread. Long-time residents recognise only in its pronunciation of the toponym Wallisellen with sharp "s".
Notable people
Anton Trieb, watercolourist, illustrator and graphic designer
Charles Rathgeb, soldier and honorary citizen of Wallisellen
