Portrait
The historic street- and bridge village in the rear Grosstal is located on the right side of the river Linth and North of the Durnagel. Around 1340, the name Rüti appears the first time in written form. It means clearing or reclaimed land.
Until 1836, Rüti formed together with the Linthaler Ennetlinth a so-called Wahltagwen. The connection was the bridge, which was first mentioned 1388 and is the oldest Linth bridge in Glarus. Remains of medieval residential tower were found at the house "Spielhof" on the square of the same name. Only in 1939, Rüti was separated from the former large alp area Braunwald. Together with Braunwald and Linthal, Rüti was part of a Landrat district.
Rüti belonged first to the church in Glarus and from about 1300 to the church in Betschwanden. Since the reformation in 1528 the majority of the citizens are Protestants.
The agriculture and alpine farming was the main source of income in the 19th century. The population was around 250 at the end of the 17th century. Then the cotton hand spinning emerged. However, its decline and the increase in population led about 1770 to impoverishment. But in 1837, there were still over 800 villagers. The cotton mill in the Sätliboden, opened in 1846 by the two local entrepreneurs Becker and Milt, was owned between 1979 and 2002 by Greeks, and had then to close as the last industry operation in the village. In 1856, the founders purchased the water rights for the Linth and the Marglen creek and at the beginning of the 20th century, the municipality of Rüti asked for permission source water from the Marglen spring.
Since 1856, there was also the "Industrielle Versorgungsanstalt" (industrial accommodation institute) in a house next to the factory. This was a home for needy boys and girls from the age of nine. Under the supervision of Catholic sisters, the children were educated during 12 hours factory work per day! On two half days a week, also the pastor of Linthal taught the workers offspring in school and religious matters. In 1897, the new company Schuler took over this institute. Its fate was sealed at the end of the 1970s, after the company had changed ownership again.
The former wool mill in the Tschächli, built in 1850 by the brothers Hefti from Hätzingen, processed between 1982 and 2002 plastic threads to structure yarn for the automotive industry. In 1900, the two textile factories attracted many foreign workers. Still today, the municipality has with about 35% the highest proportion of foreigners in the canton. In 1980, about four-fifths of the labor force worked in the industrial sector. In 1930, over 1000 people were officially registered in Rüti, but already in 1941 there were only 670 and 1990 504 and today Rüti has only about 410 registered inhabitants. Since the mid-1990s, the financial situation of the municipality worsened and the village was dependent on financial support from outside.
Not only costs but also harm caused destructive forces of nature in the history of the village. Five woodchopper from Rüti died on February 5, 1891 when they were swept away in the Schütti gully area by an avalanche, which had loosened in the Saasberg. A gravestone on the Betschwanden cemetery remembers of this accident. However, the major Durnagel disaster on August 24, 1944 claimed no lives. The mountain stream flooded the plain between Rüti and Linthal with half a million cubic meters of rubble after a thunderstorm. Forest, fields and meadows were destroyed, the machine halls of the Schuler plant and living rooms were flooded and the railway line was interrupted. Today, the Durnagel creek is tamed. From 1947 to 1992, the creek was plugged with 82 locks and sixty thousand tons of concrete. The damage caused by the flooding of the Schütten gully was less serious (for example in 1953 and 1983). On the other hand, the landslide Bätschen coming from Braunwald and debris flows in the Wüechten gully end of February 1999 caused great devastation, especially in the area of the old bridge. A restoration of the bridge was decided in 2001.
Today the main road runs outside of the core village. The local wood block buildings with their richly decorated roof purlins enjoy the protection of the Federal Government. The Spielhof house, built in the early 16th century, has a late Gothic carved ceiling, showing among other things a Fridolin crest. This was the place where the jurisdiction was exercised and the street toll was imposed. The Spielhof-Platz (playground place) served in early modern times as a place for the military music performance and the presentation of the weapons for the whole rear Glarus valley. The fact that in the 17th century a shooting range was maintained in the village at the expense of the State, documents the importance of this site.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the family name Kloter disappeared in Rüti. Since 1395, the family was documented in the valley and belonged most probably to a rural leadership group, which was connected to Zurich. In 1692, eleven family members lived in Rüti. The term Klotersegg for a forest area on the Priester gully reminds it, as well as the so-called Kloterstein (Kloter stone) below the Saasberg. The name of Jacob Kloter and the year 1656 are carved into that stone.
In 1823, for the first time school teaching happened in Rüti. A room in the Brugghaus served as classroom. In 1834, the village built its own schoolhouse. Ten year later, Fridolin Vögeli was elected as schoolmaster. He served for more than four decades and was the founder of a teacher dynasty of same name. In the 1920s, the schoolhouse was expanded and became its today´s appearance. The secondary school pupils went to the school in Linthal which was built in 1865.
1990 the community completed a multi-purpose hall, which promotes the club life in Rüti.
In 2011, the community structure of canton Glarus was reorganized and Rüti became part of the new administrative community Glarus Süd.
Translation of the official website of Rüti