Stavanger kommune

The population grew from 2 500 in
1800 to 30 000 a hundred years later.
Stavanger became a large town by
the standards of the time, with the
cultural and material ambitions of a
large city.
By the late 19th century, the period
of growth had in reality ended. The
herring disappeared in about 1870.
The freight market stagnated and
almost disappeared during the next
decade and the town went into a
deep recession.
In about 1890 a new business came into existence, the canning
industry. The raw material was brisling from the fjord. In the
course of a few decades, tinned brisling from Stavanger became
one of the country’s most important export products. At the outbreak
of the First World War, Stavanger was one of the leading
industrial towns in Norway. Shipbuilding and maintenance was
an important industry as well as the canning industry and its
subcontractors.
Sardine packing at Egeland’s canning factory, Hillevåg. Photo: H. Johannesen, ca 1910
Ship under construction at Rosenberg. Photo: O. Gulliksen, ca 1920
International crises in the period between the two World Wars
also affected Stavanger. Many firms struggled and several local
banks went bankrupt. However, this was a relatively short recession
and by the end of the 1930s the town was on the rise again.
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE CITY
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