ERIK BIRCK
Nykarleby stad Nykarleby city
1620 — 1970 1620 - 1970

(Föredrag hållet vid stadens 350-årsjubileum sfest 23. 8. 1970.)

(A presentation made at the city’s 350-year anniversary celebration on August 23, 1970)

Reprint from the calendar of “Svenska Folkskolans Vänner” (Friends of Swedish (language) elementary school) 1970

Särtryck ur Svenska Folkskolans Vänners kalender 1970
[ ]= Min kommentar. [ ] = My comment.

[ Se tillhörande innehållsförteckning om den inte finns i menyn till vänster.

N ykarleby stads historia erbjuder forskaren mycket av intresse.

The history of the city of Nykarleby offers the researcher many interesting things. Thanks to the fact that the city has never grown beyond the frame of a small town, it is possible to follow, in the history of the city, the detailed development of the town, from different aspects, from the foundation in the 1620s until today. The history of Nykarleby also reflects the history of the state and the country in a vivid way, which is very inspiring to the researcher. It also gives the opportunity to studies of personalities and culture as well as plenty of literary reflections.

I will now in short mention some problems in the history of the city and at the same time try to give a picture of the development in general.

The foundation of the city has created a number of myths. It is known that the parish of Nykarleby was created 1607 through the fact that parts of the parishes of Pedersöre and Vörå were merged into a new parish with the village of Leppo (Lepo) at the mouth of the Lapua river (Lapuanjoki). The measure was a result of the trade policy of Karl IX, which aimed at the merchant fleet of the farmers as well as the trade in the countryside, land purchases, which could not very well be controlled by the tax sheriffs of the king. The big parishes, Pedersöre and Mustasaari, also ought to be divided in order to decrease the income of the clergy and increase the income of the Crown. No clergyman were to be allowed to have more than 200 wealthy farmers in his parish; if there were more, churches were to be built for the villages which were situated at the longest distance from the parish church. The division took place at the late autumn of 1607 and met with dissatisfaction among the clergymen of Pedersöre and Vörå, who did not want to contribute to decreasing their salaries by refraining from homesteads to the new chapel.

The name of the new parish has sometimes been connected with the name of the king Carl IX – Niecarleby, and sometimes with Karby, Södra Karleby or Karlaby, in contrast to Norra Karlaby. I.a. the earliest seal and coat of arms of the parish are considered to support the former view. To this can be added, that the land surveyor Claes Claesson in 1649 and 1651 in his maps of the city calls it Nie (Nije-) Carleby city. Still 1756 the commissioning land surveyor M. G. Fillmer speaks about Nycarleby city in Nje Carleby parish, as did after him his colleague N. Myrman in 1760. In the Royal enfeoffment letter to Jacob De la Gardie of December 14, 1608, the new parish is on the other hand called “the Nyie Sochn (= new parish) Lappi Nye (= new Lappi) or Outer Lappi”, in contrast to the Lappo (Lapua) village higher up the river. Thus, the king himself does not seem to have known the name Niecarleby parish. The former name of the church village, Lepo village, was maintained still in the land book 1665 and only in the land book of 1675 it was called Kyrckio by. As is well known, Lepo and Leppo have for a long time remained as a local name of the church village and still live on in the island name The old man of Leppo at the mouth of the river [as well as in the water distribution company].

The first church was built in Leppo village, starting probably in 1608 or 1609. On November 5, 1610, the parish of Nykarleby was granted 10 barrels of corn for the building of the church, which indicates, that the erection was then still going on. As is well known, the name of the church, St. Birgitta, is connected to a tale of a pilgrimage in 1375, which three persons made to Vadstena, in order to invoke the Holy Birgitta and thereby find cure for their diseases. This is the first time the village of Leppo was mentioned in the history.

However, the name of the city itself was from the start Nycarleby, which is seen i.a. from the letter of privilege dated September 7, 1620. It has often been stated, that the city was founded already 1617. This information must be considered totally invented. This is evident from several existing letters and documents from this period of time. In the resolution of Gustaf II Adolf for the appeal of the peasantry of Österbotten of October 25, 1617, market places and trade are thus vividly mentioned, but there is no indication on a new city. The state registry, where all outgoing letters were entered, also lacks any indication on a new city the year mentioned. Not until February 1618 the district governor Filip Scheding was sent to Österbotten to “scrutinize and inspect the harbours, which when land is purchased mainly are visited” and which could become cities. As there was a long distance between the already cities already founded, Oulu and Vaasa, the king had in mind to establish a city in Pedersöre. There the peasants, who wished to do so, could settle, as soon as they agreed and had applied for privileges from the king. The parish of Nykarleby was not at all mentioned in the letter as a possible location for a city.

After having studied the local conditions, Scheding however decided to place the city in the parish of Nykarleby instead of in Pedersöre. Hence it was Scheding who appointed the village of Leppo a city. The village was situated at the mouth of Lappo river and was considered to be better in handling the trade with the inland than a city at the church of Pedersöre. The peasants of Leppo village were urged to apply for city privileges. In the summer of 1619 Scheding returned i.a. to check the market places and could now with greater emphasis urge the reluctant peasants to get a city to Leppo by. The same year the king had put pressure on them by stipulating that they were not anymore allowed to sail to Stockholm, but only to Vaasa and Oulu.

It however turned out that the peasants were still reluctant and indifferent to the matter. They wanted the peasant sailing back. The governor Erik Hare therefore on April 17, 1620, got the command to seriously ask the delegates of the new cities planned, Nye- and Gamla Karleby, to go to Stockholm to apply for the privileges. These were then issued on September 7 the same year. The same day Dr. Olof Bure was ordered to travel to “Norlanden” (the Nordic lands) to draw maps of the places which were decided for the new cities in Gamla and Nye Karleby, as well as Tornio parishes, so that streets, squares and other things “with skill were to be disposed and arranged”, notice the length and width of the plots according to the location and space of the place, both for those who in the future could “be added” and for those who had already had stated that they wanted to move there.

The same day the new governor Christoffer Wernstedt also got the task to, on behalf of the king, negotiate with the tax paying peasants of the villages which were to be included in the city, and to assure them, that they were to be paid “sufficiently” for their land, so that they voluntarily would refrain from and leave it.

All this was also carried out. The city plans were drawn by Bure and during the winter timber was cut and transported to the new cities, for erection of houses. Only in the summer of 1621 the houses started to show. On May 21 this year the king asked Wernstedt to push the work so that the buildings were finished and the cities worked according to the drawing made by Bure. In order to push the work Wernstedt now appointed his secretary, Gabriel Ljungsson, mayor of Nykarleby. The city sent a representative to the parliament already in 1621. Only the year after the buildings were ready enough for the city to start working as a city with city council and citizens. This explains why the first seal of the city has the year 1622 and not 1620.

Thus, district governor Filip Scheding, Dr. Olof Bure, and governor Christoffer Wernstedt as well as the king Gustaf II Adolf are the ones we are to thank for the founding of the city of Nykarleby.

Karl IX, who died 1611, has nothing to do with the foundation of the city except for his general fincance politics, and the year 1617 is to be completely forgot, when it comes to the foundation.

What did the new city look like? The city plan made by Bure is not available in original, but is reproduced in the earlier mentioned maps by Claes Claesson, dated 1649 and 1651. The city plan itself remained practically unchanged until the fire of 1858. For rows of rectangular blocks stretched along the shore of the river, the curves of which they followed. The whole fenced city area surveyed somewhat more than 1.000 ells or 600 m at its longest length, in the direction north northeast – south southwest, and about 420 ells or 600 m in its highest width from the shores of the river towards east south east. The main street of the city, the Town hall street or Main street, was about 360 m long. It ended with a bridge over the town creek, which in the north northeastern direction limited the settlement in this direction. Further there were two more longitudinal streets; the western of these streets, the River street, was about 270 m long, and the eastern; the Eastern main street, was somewhat more than 360 m long. At the river below the church, at the Nybro rapids and at the mouth of the creek, the warehouses of the farmers and the fishermen were situated. The city plan was in reality, in a medieval way, adjusted to this row of waterside warehouses, as was the case also with Tornio, and other cities planned by Olof Bure. From the row of warehouses at the shore, the cross-streets started; the number of which were six, in the direction west northwest – east southeast, except for one.

The number of the plots was about 20. The whole city could be fit between the present town hall and museum as well as between the river and the Esplanade avenue. The city square was situated roughly at the present pharmacy plot [former farmacy plot at the crossing Church street – Citizens’ street] and was about 60 x 42 m, including the streets, or 2.520 m2. As a comparison it can be mentioned, that the present square is about 7.075 m2.

[A comparison between the old town, and today.]

At the eastern side of the square, the Town hall was situated. At the hill closed to the present museum there were windmills. As far as the sailing is concerned, it was considered good all the way to Åminnet, the mouth of the river, and a bit further up the river, although not all the way to the town. The fishing was considered mediocre. The city at its foundation consisted of 60 households, and 1640 it had a population of 240 persons.

As Nykarleby 1648 was appointed seat of the county governor, certain irregularities in the city plan were found disturbing. This was the era of the regular square-plan cities. The general governor of Finland, Per Brahe, therefore gave the earlier mentioned Claes Claesson the task to modify the city plan of Nykarleby. This task was carried out by Claesson in 1649, and this year the earlier mentioned modified map was dated. Claesson wished to consider the outer lines of the town a big rectangle, in accordance with the principles of the Swedish city planning of that time, and drew a wide axis in its longitudinal direction. The axis touched the square at the town hall. This proposal was obviously not approved, and 1651 Claesson made a new proposal, where he divided the town in two rectangles with double rows of squares. None of these proposals were carried out, but the city plan of Olof Bure remained, as has been mentioned before, to a big extent until the fire in 1858.

Bure’s city plan shows that the church that existed in 1620 was situated in the same place as the present church, within the city boundary. The distance to the closed plot to the north was about 45 m and to the school of that time a little less than 48 m. Between the church and the closest plot to the northeast there were some small houses, probably church cottages.

Bure’s city plan does now show how buildings were situated on the plots. However, the geometrical map, dated 1750, by the land surveyor Gullich Wislander shows this. This map was the result of a command of the Royal Highness, and of repeated letters by the county governor Gustaf Abraham Piper, as well as of the written request by the city council, dated Nov. 26 the same year. It shows in detail the appearance of town at this time, with every house indicated, as well as streets and alleys and so on, and it even lists the owners of the plots. The number of plots has grown, and it is now 113. The number of longitudinal streets is 4 and of cross streets 6 – 7, and additionally numerous alleys of different length and width. The number of houses has grown, above all in northeast, where 23 new plots have been staked out to the east and north of the city creek. Furthermore there were new plots in south and southeast of the church, which, as mentioned earlier, was situatied almost exactly at the same place as the old church. The town fence is situated in the same place as before, and the two toll cottages, the so called Döbeln house in the south and the present museum in the north, are indicated, as well as the bridge over the river. A bridge led down the steep river slope, to the quay at the Nybro slope, and in the rapid outside the quay, the so called Stadsöhren, fish such as salmon, lavaret and lamprey were caught. The new plots east of the city creek were inhabited by fishermen, workers, widows and other poor people. Källbacken (“Spring hill”) was only partly inhabited. To the west of the river no buildings are indicated.

With the map of Wislander, which I do not have the opportunity to further go into now, the renovated map of the city square, dated 1756, by the earlier mentioned land surveyor M. G. Fillmer, agrees. The map shows, that the square, minus the streets, measured 36x47 m or 1.692 m2. At the square, the town hall with stairs and punishment pole was situated to the east. To the right of the town hall, if you were faces towards the square, the building of the court judge Lars Neuman was situated, and to the left the the building of the merchant Kilian Malm [model]. Along the whole southern side of the square the building, gate and malt house of the merchant and court judge Anders Munstrin were situated, and at the western side the building of the court judge Erik Rydman, and to the right of this, the buildings of court judge Abraham Collin. The whole northern side of the square was covered by the building and courtyard of the court judge Samuel Lithovius. [model] A country road led across the square, from the eastern to the western corner, and then continued along the River street over the church square north of the church to the bridge, where a road led towards southwest along the eastern river shore to the Lapua parish and another one led across the bridge and from there south to Vaasa and to the north to the pitch mill. What is meant here is of course the old bridge, which was situated some 10 ells southwest of the southern toll house and the toll gate. This bridge was as you know burnt by the Russians in 1808 [The bridge that was burnt by the Russians was built in 1806.]

The next city map is by land surveyor Abr. H. Holm, following Wislander’s updated map of the year 1806. The number of plots has now grown to 126, and a new shorter cross street leads in northeast parallel to the country road, between plots where buildings had recently been erected. The old cemetery of the town, established in accordance with a decision of Dec. 17, 1797, is for the first time indicated. On the map it is a rectangle, about 52 x 72 m, and was as you know situated to the east of the present square, where i.a. restaurant v. Döbeln [year 2002 now situated at the square. The restaurant exists year 2004, but no longer with the venerable name] and the police station [civil service building] now are situated, outside the town area of that time and divided from the closest buildings by the Rope maker line, spice growing plots and cabbage plots in a wide zone of about 54 m.

The long side extended along the Ropemaker Line in the direction to the northeast and north between the existing bell tower northeast and southwest corners of the cemetery was the distance approximately 180 m in the direction eastsoutheast. Moreover, this map differs not much from Wislander’s. On Gyldén’s famous map from 1841, which is a copy of Wislander’s, the number of lots has been incorrectly set to 113. The new bridge, which was built 1815, ÄR INRITAD.

During the 19th century the number of lots increased gradually, especially west of the river in the new part of the town, where between 1816 and 1858 14 new lots are formed, namely numbers 129, 132-135, 137-139 and six without numbers. Lot No 128 was formed here as early as the late 1700s, and plot No. 130 was the customs house in the south, No. 131 belonged later to miss Lotti Dyhr and and No. 136 was Heikel’s house [Kivinen], which got its lot number not until after 1828.

Before the fire the city is estimated to have had a girth of 24 acres or approximately 120.000 m2. Its overall length was then 703 and the maximum width was still 252 m. The existing urban area is approximately four times larger than the former dating from before the fire. The number of lengthwise streets was then five, namely seen from the river River street (Beach street), Town hall street, East street or East boulevard, East little street (from 1844 Garden street), and along the city boundary to the east running 12 m wide Ropemaker Line, later renamed to East fence street. The River street was cut by the river at the New bridge. Town hall street, East street and East little street united in the north to Main street, which then continued in the road running towards north. Among the cross-streets from south may be mentioned South street, Southern square street, Nothern square street, North street, New Brigde street and its continuation Little spring street, which made an angle to the north and ended at the middle of Spring street, which on its behalf continued into Spring slope street.

The width of the main streets didn’t exceed 9 m. They were paved already in 1767 like the market square; formerly they had been coated with wooden rollers. The lot size was 200-2.000 m2. Almost 50 % of the lots had a smaller area than 500 m2 and 78 % of the lots were over 800 m2. Only six lots had a size between 1.500 and 2.000 m2. The lots had through divisions become quite irregular, very different from the square lots in Nykarleby after the fire. There were no plantings or public parks. About ten of the lots in the city had been laid out as gardens by individual citizens, but only for the owners’ pleasure and comfort. Among these was the Lithén’s garden, by the citizens called Fåfängan (Vanity), the finest. Partly on this site i.e. between the pharmacy and the river lies today the planting which has inherited that name. The KRYDDGÅRDAR and the kabbage plots, which were, as mentioned earlier, located outside

the bounds of the town, partly close to the east of the city and partly north of town. There were no magnificent buildings in Nykarleby of that time. In the literature, there are some opinions highlighting the situation. So for example Porthan writes to Calonius: “On July 16 (1794) I traveled through Nykarleby, the worst city in this trip I hitherto have seen, poorly planned, poorly built, without stir and without efficient tradesmen...” Zachris Topelius writes in his diary, when he had been informed that Hamina had burned down: “I’m thinking of our ramshackle Nykarleby - wretch! Poor wretch unless God’s illusory finger preserves you ... [The diary for June 4 1840] This city is stupidly planned.” In another passage, he writes about the rather luckless Nykarleby, on behalf of architectures.

We also have some sources, from which you can get a fairly good idea of the size of the houses. The window tax is one of these sources. Tax was paid for each window and consequently, in the census the number of windows in each house is indicated. This was during 1806-1808. In the city there were 140 buildings then:

7 had only 1 window

33 " " 2 windows

23 " " 3 "

27 " " 4 "

14 " " 5 "

9 " " 6 "

27 had more than 6 "

Most houses were therefore small cottages with roofs of bark, until this roofing material was rejected in 1836.

Among other taxes devoted to illustrate the circumstances during this period, the following may be mentioned:

1) the right to play cards. Those who paid this tax in 1806 were 12 persons, namely

the mayor Stenman the town clerk Bärlund

the tradesmen Daniel Juthe Johan Turdin

Samuel Kempe Carl Backman

Johan Juthe Adolf Hammarin

the pharmacist Kantzau the doorkeeper Matts Salin

the shoemaker Nils Hellström and the city surgeon Zacharias Topelius.

2) tax on dogs, partly useless, partly hunting dogs. Of the former category, there was none in town, of the latter five.

3) tax on CHAIS and CHAISKÄRROR. The lucky holders of those was 14, while only two persons owned so-called SLÄDRACKOR.

4) Furthermore, there was the tax on watches, different for those of gold and those of other materials. For gold watches, four owners had five watches. The mayor Carl Jacob Stenman showed off with 2, while the tradesmen Carl Backman, Adolf Hammarin and alderman J. J. Kempe had one each. In 1808 sea captain Reinhold Backman got the sixth gold watch. 32 persons had watches of other materials.

After this excursion on tax policy, I will return to the housing issue. Judging from the number of windows, we saw that most houses were quite small. Only 10 houses had 13 or more windows and thus can be called big houses. The largest was built on the lot No. 22, located on the square, and had previously been owned by Alderman Lithovius and later by Alderman Nils Aulin and by Alderman Adolf Hammarin. It had no less than 24 windows. The second largest house was Calamnius’s house, which had previously been owned by among others Alderman Collin, an old-fashioned house with two floors, probably built shortly after the Nordic War. This house had 22 windows and was the native home of Zacharias Topelius’s mother. After that Juthe’s house followed, with 21 windows, partly built in two floors and situated in the southern corner of the square. Here the young town doctor and district medical officer Zacharias Topelius lived, also as married, until he moved to Kuddnäs in 1814. - Almost all the houses were painted red.

So a few words about the population. What kind of people lived in the city? Relatively few officials were needed for the management of the small city. Since the city’s foundation a mayor with a number of aldermen by his side stood at the forefront of management and administration of justice - earliest five, later three and now two. Moreover, there were law clerk and treasurer. As State Department officials we had a postmaster with mates and a duty manager with writers and customs guards. MEDICINALVÄSENDET SKÖTTES during the 18th century by surgeons. The first doctor was Z. T. s:r, who in 1811 was appointed to the town doctor and in 1812 furthermore to district medical officer. A pharmacy existed in the town from 1782. Not until 1830 the town got its first certificated midwife.

TILL SKOLSTATEN belonged during 1640-84, when TRIVIALSKOLAN existed in the town, its 4 teachers, and after that only 1 pedagogue, who some time at the same time was curate. He was also the only teacher, when the PEDAGOGIN UPPGICK I the lower elementary school, but later another teacher was hired, when the school got its second class. The priests lived in the rural area, though their work also included the city; only the parish curate lived in the city. The great majority of the population consisted partly of the actual citizens with burghership, and partly of persons, like sailors, fishermen and workers, without burghership and therefore without right to vote. The trade profession had always STÅTT HÖGT in the old Nykarleby. From the beginning of the 19th century the seaman profession developed in such a direction that for example in 1845 over 50% of the city’s male population over 15 years practised this profession. Among the craftsmen we encounter ropemakers, coopers, glovemakers, FINSMEDER, KARDMAKARE, needlemakers, block maker, cabinet makers  and others.

The old city was destroyed almost totally by fire January 12, 1858. The new city plan was drawn up by the county architect in Hämeenlinna County, Carl Albert Edelfelt, father of the famous artist. It was modernized and somewhat changed in 1912 by the surveyor-engineer Thure Heikel. This city plan is too well known to be mentioned here any further. Nykarleby of that time is moreover reproduced in detail street by street and house by house in a model from 1916 [should be 1910-17] done by, typographer Joel Nilsson, and it’s kept in NORMALSKOLAN, unfortunately now in demolished condition [the model was restored 1989-90 by Hilding Haglund.]. The current city plan has as you know been formed by by the architect Olli Vikstedt 1966. Edelfelt’s plan denoted a radical change from the previous city plan. In that Nykarleby, which grew up after 1858, there were no simililarities with the oldest Nykarleby with the exception of the church, the school house, Heikel’s house, customs houses and some smaller buildings in the northeast. Vikstedt’s plan will on its turn completely change that Nykarleby we we previously knew as an idyllic, partly in simple empire architecture built, beautiful and harmonious city, with broad, streets as straight as an arrow, leafy gardens, boulevards, and parks.

Now a few words about the city’s fortunes in the old days. The development during the 17th century didn’t proceed with any faster speed. The population increased slowly until 1660, when it amounted to 660 persons, the highest population during the 17th century. But then came a setback. The population fell by half. There were certainly many reasons for this. Competition in the commercial market by Jakobstad, founded in 1653, made significant impediment to the development. UPPKOMSTEN AV the county Carleborg, which was established in 1652, promoted most likely to make the circumstances more difficult to some extent. This county, which in south STRÄCKTE SIG TILL HALVA Vörå and Lapua, Queen Kristina donated the county to her favourite Clas Tott, on of Åke Tott’s sons. Åke Tott was known from the Thirty Years War. Of course Clas Tott would not have stayed here, but his bailiffs or so-called hauptmanns brought on his behalf spire in the county. Among these may be mentioned here one Freese, one Verne and one Forsman, the Finnish ancestor of the family Forsman, Koskimies and Yrjö-Koskinen.

Bailiffs were not so easy to get along with, but fortunately the city at that time had an extremely powerful and polemical man in its mayor Kort Bochmöller, which succeeded in preventing many injustices and arbitrariness. He was certainly not a lawyer by profession, but an innkeeper and bottler and later alderman. - Karl XI’s reduction in the 1680s declined the land, which was donated to the city at the city’s TILLKOMST to a fifth of its original size, from 25 ̋ to 5 ̋ mantal or approximately 21 km2. Among the setbacks can also include the loss of DEN 1641 HÄR INRÄTTADE TRIVIALSKOLAN, which happened in 1684, when the school was relocated to Vaasa. Through the removal of this school the city didn’t suffer only a material loss, but the city also lost the nimbus that the ownership the only seat of learning in southern Österbotten had given the city. Parallels can be drawn here to the closure of the seminar in 1970 [shut down 1971], which presumably means that the city’s character of schoolcity again more or less disappears.

Two views from the river in the Nykarleby that was: Brunnsholmarna and Mikael Lybeck’s native home. [Lybeck’s native home can be found at Nygård, home of his childhood can be seen in the picture.]

Severe years of famine also occurred occasionally, the worst 1695-97, and epidemics followed the years of famine. The later half of the 17th century was consequently a time of affliction and disappointment for the little town. Its existence was even strongly questioned, because of intrigues from Vaasa and Jakobstad (Pietarsaari) which would prefer to avoid this competitor. The fights with neighboring cities were both numerous and long, but the will to life and development could not be stifled.

The 18th century began with the Nordic War, tough Nykarleby got in touch with the war not until in February 1714 after the disastrous battle at Napo. When the Russians were approaching the city, its inhabitants managed to extract mercy by paying a fire tax of 10,000 rix-dollars. It wasn’t possible to escape during the winter, but during the following summer most of the inhabitants in the city escaped either IN I LANDET or, and that concern

the majority, to Västerbotten in Sweden, when Umeå and the rural district Bygdeå seems to have been the places to which the majority went for refuge. Not until Peace in Uusikaupunki 1721 the inhabitants gradually began to return. The city had been relatively spared by the Russians, but the damage to property and personal property amounted to at least 268,335 rix-dollars, an enormous amount of money for that time. The city’s ships among other things had been burned, and a major part of the previous inhabitants had died in exile, partly of deprivations, partly in epidemics. The city’s mayor Isak Falander and his wife died already in 1716, probably in an epidemic. Of the old trading families only the families Turdin and Aulin returned. Some families moved somewhere else, such as the famous family Bladh to Vaasa. The family Turdin, of which 4 sons came here from Bygdeå in Sweden in the late 17th century, lived here until 1840s. One in that family, Johan Turdin who died in 1834, was the only KOMMERSERÅD in the city. Only in 1720s we find only new merchants; we encounter the names Malm, whose descendants later founded the famous merchants’ house in Jakobstad (Pietarsaari), further Juthe, Kempe, Forssén, Vessler and others.

By diligent work it went upwards again. The population was almost the same in 1730 as in 1700. Especially during the years 1750-90 a relatively fastexpansion took place, but then a decline followed, and this decline continued far into the 19th century. The reason for this was partly a general depression in the economic field, partly the political conditions with wars, bad harvests and plagues. Thus there were for example pock epidemics in the latter half of the 1700s with 130 deaths. Furthermore typhoid fever and dysentery that carried off many human lives.

In the 1830s-1850s a big boom took place - you could even talk about palmy days in the history of the town. This applies particularly to commerce and shipping. Numerous vessels, including large ones (the biggest bark before the fire was “Alku” OM 274 LÄSTER), built in the city’s and shipbuilding yard and went in shipping also in overseas countries, exporting mainly tar, planks and cereals and importing salt, groceries, wines and spirits, textiles and all sorts of KRAMS, which was intended not only for the city but also a large hinterland, stretching back to Mikkeli, Kuopio and Joensuu. This development continued initially also

after the fire, but soon it started to go down. The sea was constantly pulled back and destroyed the port conditions. New communication routes, mainly the Saimaa Canal and the Österbotten coast path, led traffic the other way and past the city and graveled the city’s previous trade. After 1861, when the trading was made free in the rural areas, the merchanting citizens’ position was impaired considerably because of the competition from rural shopkeepers. The end of the 19th century and the time around the turn of the century was therefore the time of the many bankruptcies in Nykarleby, crowned by the bankruptcy of Nykarleby Aktiebank in 1913, that shook the whole countryside for miles. The attempt that through a narrow gauge railway link the city with the coastal path in 1899 led to great economic losses, and the track was sold in 1916, thanks to fortunate circumstances, without further loss. The only profitable company in the city at that time was in fact the retail sale company, whose profits funded a large part of the city’s expenses including of the railway. The seminar, which was founded in 1873 and overtaken by the state in 1885, and the associated NORMALSKOLAN provided the city of intellectual forces, which remain largely left their mark on the city’s politics, culture and management, we can mention here the names Zachris Schalin, Gustaf Hedström and Karl Fredrik Spolander.

Financially it constituted the backbone of the city, in addition to the power plant constructed in 1926, which has developed in a favorable way for the city. Other local companies and some industries established after the war haven’t been equally successful.The new, broad-gauge railway, which opened in 1949, has been making losses for the Treasury, with passenger services ceased in 1956 and is also currently threatened by discontinuation. [The traffic was shut down in 1982.] The port at Andra sjön, which was established in 1864, has over the years required a huge expenditure without meeting expectations, but the city, whose customs house was withdrawn in the early 1920s, has still harbor rights. [?] The city has a major asset in its forests that have been unused for a long time on approximately 1,500 hectares, which in future will be a valuable source of income. The new city plan, which reportedly includes approximately 200 hectares instead of the previous 80, has reserved sites for the appropriate industries. The future of the city lies undoubtedly also in the industrialization, as in the development of tourism. Thus the deathblow for the city, that the

liqudation of the training college means, may be obstructed remedied. Hopefully the new elementary school and the secondary school, which the state has taken over and Kristliga folkhögskolan also in the future will preserve the city’s traditions as schooltown.

The path of the city Nykarleby during the 350 years has not been DANS PÅ ROSOR, filled as it has been by continous quarrels, parlty with the county bailiffs, partly with neighboring cities, further by wars, years of famine and finally by a ALLHÄRJANDE fire. The city has always been one of the smallest town in the country, but the will for life and development has yet been found. Of the former trade and shipping city became in time a schooltown‘skolstad, a city of idyll and resignation, and it is now blasting its shell and is developing into a modern regional plan center with high rise buildings and asphalted streets, increasing traffic and industrialization. The future will show what this means for the welfare and well-being of the individual inhabitants in the city of poets.

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