Map - Saint-Imier

Saint-Imier is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (Jura Bernois).

The Observatoire Astronomique de Mont-Soleil is located above the village.

Saint-Imier is first mentioned in 884 as cella de sancti Himerii. The municipality was formerly known by its German name St. Immer, however, that name is no longer used. Its name refers to Imerius of Immertal, a 7th-century saint.

According to the legend of St. Imerius, he settled in the valley as a hermit in the late 6th or early 7th century on a piece of land that bishop Marius of Lausanne gave him as a present. In 884 a cella (probably a church, farm and monastery) was mentioned on the site. Archeological excavations around the former Church of St. Martin indicate that a village grew up around the cella around the same time. Two of the 142 graves from the church have been dated to the Early Middle Ages and the church was rebuilt at least three times before the 14th or early 15th century.

In 884 the cella with its outbuildings belonged to Moutier-Grandval Abbey. In 999, the Abbey donated Saint-Imier and a number of surrounding villages to the Prince-Bishop of Basel. In 1264, the Bishop appointed Otto of Arguel (or Erguel) as the vogt over the Saint-Imier valley fief. Otto raised the valley to become a seigniory and parish of the Diocese of Basel. By the end of the 15th century, Saint-Imier included the villages of Villeret, Sonvilier, Renan and La Ferriere.

Even though the physical valley was owned by the Bishop of Basel, religiously it was part of the Diocese of Lausanne. The Saint-Imier parish was probably founded in the 9th or 10th century. A village chapel was first mentioned in 968, with the parish church of St. Martin first appearing in the records in 1228. The church of St. Martin was later rebuilt in the gothic style. Another church, the collegiate church was built in the 11th century, probably under the direction of the Bishop of Basel. In 1530, Biel encouraged Saint-Imier to embrace the Protestant Reformation and convert to the new religion. The collegiate church before the parish church for the new Reformed parish. Over the following centuries, the Church of St. Martin was used less and less until it was demolished in 1828. In 1814 the town and the surrounding valley transferred from Lausanne to the Diocese of Basel. Catholic church services resumed in Saint-Imier in 1857 and in 1866 the neo-gothic Church of St. Martin was built. In 1912 a Christian Catholic church was built in the town.

In 1792 Théodore Frédéric Louis Liomin, the vogt or bailiff of Saint-Imier, threw his support behind the revolutionary movement that was sweeping the region. After the 1797 French victory and the Treaty of Campo Formio, Saint-Imier became part of the French Département of Mont-Terrible. Three years later, in 1800 it became part of the Département of Haut-Rhin. After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, Saint-Imier was assigned to the Canton of Bern in 1815.

During the 19th century the anti-authoritarian or anarchist movement gained a foothold in the region. In 1872, the Jura Federation, which had strong support in Saint-Imier, organized a congress in Saint-Imier at which the Anti-authoritarian International Workingmen's Association or Anti-authoritarian International was founded.

During the 18th century the inhabitants of the valley gradually gave up agriculture in favor of more lucrative jobs in the watch and lace-making industries. The first watch parts workshop opened in the 1720s and the industry continued to expand throughout the 19th century. By 1817 there were about 200 workers employed in either watchmaking workshops or small shops at home. The small scale workshops were replaced by large factory work, when Longines opened a factory in the town in 1867. By the end of the year, 1,600 people were employed in 47 watchmaking companies. Because the town's economy was so dependent on watchmaking, the economic crisis of the 1930s and the 1970s hit Saint-Imier hard. By the beginning of the 21st century, there were about ten watchmaking companies and the economy had diversified to include dental and medical technology and meteorology. Portions of the town were destroyed by fire in 1839, 1843 and 1856. A hospital opened in Saint-Imier in 1856. In 1874 the town was connected to the Swiss rail network. The town's infrastructure was modernized early, before 1900 it had municipal water, gas and electricity. Saint-Imier has grown into a regional education center. The town's secondary school opened in 1860, followed by a watchmaker's school in 1866. The watch-maker's school was expanded into a machinist's school in 1896 and a technical vocational school in 1961. In 1976 it became a school of engineering and in 2005 it was integrated into the Haute école Arc/Hochschule Arc. A number of other schools opened in the town including the Bernese Jura Music School (1981), a vocational and technical school (1997), and a training center for health professionals (1993).

On 31 December 2009, the district of Courtelary, the municipality's former district, was dissolved. On the following day, 1 January 2010, a new district (or arrondissement administratif) of Jura bernois was created, which includes all of the former Courtelary District, as well as the former district of La Neuveville and the area around Tavannes.