The former municipality of Jona extended from the eastern shore of the main part of Lake Zürich (Kempraten) to the northern shore of Obersee, the upper or eastern division of Lake Zurich (Bollingen, Busskirch). The former village of Jona is located on the River Jona, which flows into the Obersee.
History
The River Jona flows through the former Jona municipality in the Obersee (upper Lake Zürich). The settlement is named after the river, first recorded in Latinized form Johanna in AD 834, as super Johannam fluvium. The Middle High German form Jonun is recorded 1243.[1]
The river name was likely adapted into Alemannic (Old High German) around the 8th century from a Gallo-Roman *Jauna as a weakly inflecting feminine *Jōna(n), yielding modern dialectalJōne(n).
In 1350, Rapperswil and its castle was widely destroyed by Rudolf Brun, and the Herrschaft Rapperswil – Rapperswil and some surrounding villages including Jona – was acquired by the Habsburg family.
After 1803's Act of Mediation, Rapperswil and Jona joined the canton of St. Gallen, and the former Herrschaft Rapperswil was split into the municipalities Rapperswil and Jona. Jona, as municipality, was established in 1803 around the former boundaries of the city of Rapperswil, comprising the small rest of the former Herrschaft Rapperswil and the villages of Bollingen, Busskirch, Curtiberg, Kempraten-Lenggis, Wagen and Wurmsbach.
In the early 19th century, Jona river's hydropower was used for a larger number of watermills along the small river. As a renewable source, the river was important for industrialization of the rapidly growing village.
On January 1, 2007, the municipalities of Rapperswil and Jona merged to form a new political entity: Rapperswil-Jona has a population of 25,777 (as of December 2007). This makes it the second largest town in the canton after the capital St. Gallen itself.
The main railway station of the former Jona municipality is Jona, which is served by S-Bahn trains of the Zürich S-Bahn (lines S5 and S15, combined quarter-hourly service between Rapperswil and Zürich HB). Jona railway station and adjacent bus station were renovated between 2013 and 2015.
^ Alois Stadler: Jona, Switzerland in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 2008.; Daniel Gut, Lunnern. Londons Zwilling im Reusstal: Eine sprach- und kulturgeschichtliche Verortung von Siedlungsnamen (2013), S. 48.