Hauptwil-Gottshaus is a municipality in Weinfelden District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.

[4] By no later than 1377 Hauptwil was part of the fief granted by the Bishop of Constance and the Abbey of St. Gall to Welter von Blidegg of the Ryff family.

Reformed services were held at the castle chapel by 1667 by the Gonzenbach family for the village.

In 1880 about 10% of the inhabitants belonged to this church, and currently there is still a Bund Freier Evangelischer Gemeinde (a type of free church) community in Hauptwil[3] The Gonzenbach family had made their money in the textile industry, so after their arrival, the farming village evolved into a textile producing factory settlement.

The industrialization was beneficial by providing wages and easy access to water power (five artificial ponds were built).

Towards the end of the 19th century, the village made the transition from orchards and crops to livestock and dairy farming.

It is now characterized by well-preserved old buildings and the now converted industrial landscape of the 17th to 19th Centuries and in 1999 was awarded the Wakker Prize.

[3] The farms of Gottshaus were likely part of the grants given to the Abbey of St. Pelagius in Bischofszell in the 9th century by the Bishop of Constance Salomo I/Solomon I.

From the Middle Ages until 1798 Pelagi-Gottshaus formed a lower court in the bailiwick of Bischofszell.

In 1908 the eastern part of the municipality split off to form the Catholic community of St. Pelagiberg.

A weir was built on the river in 1430 by the Abbey and served in the 17th-19th Centuries to provide the textile industry in Hauptwil with power.

[4] Hauptwil-Gottshaus has an area, as of 2009[update], of 12.49 square kilometers (4.82 sq mi).

[6] It includes the village of Hauptwil, Gottshaus, the settlement around the church of St. Pelagiberg and about 40 farm houses and hamlets.

Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (95.4%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common (1.6%) and Italian being third (1.1%).

[8] The age distribution, as of 2009[update], in Hauptwil-Gottshaus is; 209 children or 11.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 246 teenagers or 13.8% are between 10 and 19.

In the federal election, a total of 554 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 43.2%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][4][16]The Former Tavern Zur Traube, Hauptwil Castle and the Tortürmli are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The entire village of Hauptwil is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[9] From the 2000 census[update], 836 or 43.7% were Roman Catholic, while 719 or 37.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.