Cortébert

Cortébert
Coat of arms
Cortébert Show map of Switzerland Cortébert Show map of Canton of Bern
Location of Cortébert
Coordinates: 47°11′N 7°6′E / 47.183°N 7.100°E / 47.183; 7.100Coordinates: 47°11′N 7°6′E / 47.183°N 7.100°E / 47.183; 7.100
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Bern
District	Jura bernois
Government
• Mayor	Maire Michel Walther (as of 2008)
Area
• Total	14.78 km2 (5.71 sq mi)
Elevation	680 m (2,230 ft)
Population (Dec 2015)
• Total	710
• Density	48/km2 (120/sq mi)
Postal code	2607
SFOS number	0433
Surrounded by	Courtelary, Mont-Tramelan, Corgémont, Nods.
Website	www.cortebert.ch SFSO statistics

Cortébert is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking part of the canton in the Jura mountains.

Cortébert is first mentioned in 1178 as Cortaibert.

In 1179 the cathedral chapters of Saint-Imier and Moutier-Grandval are listed as major land owners in Cortébert. The Seignory of Erguel held the village as a fief for the Diocese of Basel.

In 1530 Biel introduced the Protestant Reformation into the parish of Corgémont which included the village of Cortébert.

During the Early Modern era the village had a successful agricultural and small scale handicraft economy. A number of houses and workshops were built during the 16th through 19th century, many of which still exist in the center of the village. In 1865, the watch manufacturer Raiguel Juillard et Cie opened a factory in the village. It was later renamed Cortébert Watch & Co. The watch factory changed the entire socio-economic structure of the village. A village school opened in 1872, though it and the municipal archives were both destroyed in a fire in 1959. A train station opened in 1874, followed by a Reformed chapel in 1902. In 1938 a pumping station was built in the municipality which provided water to the villages in the Franches-Montagnes plateau. However, in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, demand for watches plummeted which devastated the municipal economy. Cortébert Watch struggled to remain in operation until 1962 when it finally closed. In the 1990s, a new industrial and shopping zone was created in the west of the village.