1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Herisau

HERISAU, the largest town in the entire Swiss canton of Appenzell, built on the Glatt torrent, and by light railway 7 m. south-west of St Gall or 131/2 m. north of Appenzell. In 1900 it had 13,497 inhabitants, mainly Protestant and German-speaking. The lower portion of the massive tower of the parish church (Protestant) dates from the 11th century or even earlier. It is a prosperous little industrial town in the Ausser Rhoden half of the canton, especially busied with the manufacture of embroidery by machinery, and of muslins. Near it is the goats’ whey cure establishment of Heinrichsbad, and the two castles of Rosenberg and Rosenburg, ruined in 1403 when the land rose against its lord, the abbot of St Gall. About 5 m. to the south-east is Hundwil, a village of 1523 inhabitants, where the Landsgemeinde of Ausser Rhoden meets In the odd years (in other years at Trogen) on the last Sunday in April.