in the Late Middle Ages by the Lords of Bichelsee. In 1419 it was given by the Landenberger's to Fischingen Abbey. Until 1798 it was part of the old court of Fischinger. In 1521, certain farm land usage rights were extended to Ifwil, followed in 1651 by limited civil benefits to existing farmsteads. In 1884 an arsonist caused a large fire in the village. It was always part of the Bichelsee parish. The major sources of income were vineyards, fields and orchards, and peat extraction until the 19th century, when the livestock industry moved into the village. By 1900, there were several small embroidery businesses, but local economy remained rooted in small businesses and agriculture until around 1970. Between 1941-50 the Riet Soor marsh was drained which opened up additional land. In 1979 a freight storage and transshipping facility opened. The late 20th-century economy included a pneumatic equipment company (est. 1950), a storage facilities company (with a total of about 250 employees), and numerous residential buildings in the village. Geography Bichelsee-Balterswil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 51.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 36.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 9.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.2% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 4.8% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 0.7% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.5%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 3.6%. Out of the forested land, 35.0% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.9% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 49.2% is used for growing crops, while 1.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.6% is in lakes and 0.7% is in rivers and streams. The municipality is located in the Münchwilen district. It consists of the villages of Bichelsee and Balterswil and the hamlets of Höfli, Niederhofen am Bichelsee, Itaslen, Zielwies, Ifwil and Lochwies. The lake Bichelsee is located in the municipality. Demographics Bichelsee-Balterswil has a population () of . , 8.7% of the population was foreign nationals. Over the ten-year period from 1997 to 2007, the population changed at a rate of 8.9%. Most of the population () spoke German (94.1%), with Italian being second most common