DORNBIRN

dornbirn, a township in the austrian province of the vorarlberg, on the right bank of the dornbirner ach, at the point where it flows out of the hilly region of the bregenzerwald into the broad valley of the rhine, on its way to the lake of constance. it is by rail 71⁄2 m. s. of bregenz, and 15 m. n. of feldkirch. it is the most populous town in the vorarlberg, its population in 1900 being 13,052. the name dornbirn is a collective appellation for four villages--dornbirn, hatlerdorf, oberdorf and haselstauden--which straggle over a distance of about 3 m. it is the chief industrial centre in the vorarlberg, the regulated dornbirner ach furnishing motive power for several factories for cotton spinning and weaving, worked muslin, dyeing, iron-founding and so on. (w. a. b. c.)