St. Stephan is located in the valley of the river Simme,
Bernese Oberland, which is part of the Canton of Berne,
Switzerland. There is no English home page for this village so
far but there are some links related to this village.
Sankt Stephan (French Saint Étienne) history: (Lit: Historisch-Biographisches Lexikon der Schweiz,
1924; Schweizer Lexikon):
The municipality is split into Bäuerten
(communities; hamlets) Ried, Häusern, Grodey (a view to the mountains),
Matten, Fermel, Obersteg and Zu Hählingen
St. Stephan was part of the second belonging of
the baron of Mannenberg. It came to Bern in 1493.
There are several houses with rich painting and
wooden carving work (exemples: 1, 2,
3, Andreas cross on
the roof beam). The church was
first mentionned in 1335 when Heinrich of
Strättligen donated St. Stephan to the monastery
of Interlaken.
The church was dedicated to holy Saint Stephan
and was a place of pilgrimage before reformation
of the area. Interlaken refused to the peoples
wish to become an individual parish. But this was
later granted on the Konzil zu Basel in 1433. But
Bern made 1525 the final split off from
Zweisimmen. In 1528 the church (Kirchensatz) came
to the Staat of Berne. The people resisted long
to the reformation, it finally got accepted in
1528. - Until 1504 the town of Lenk was part of
the St. St. parish too. It's church was built
1504-1508.
Since 1912 St. Stephan is linked by the regional
Montreux Oberland railway to Zweisimmen.
Postoffice: -; Town telegraph and telephone
services startet: -.
Wedding and birth registers available since 1609;
death register since 1683.
St. Stephan
