FISKARS 1649 – 360 years of Finnish industrial history

Fiskars 1649
Fiskars 1649
A narrow-gauge railway was built between Fiskars and the harbor at Pohjankuru in 1891. This locomotive, known as
Pikkupässi (Little Ram), was still in use when the track was closed in 1952.
Originally build as a plow workshop in 1914, this building was extended to include new factory space in the 1970s. Today, it
houses workshops and offices.
Next Page: The upper works in the 1920s. Some of the warehouses have been pulled down, as has the rolling mill in the middle
of the picture. Fiskars had its own narrow-gauge railway, which ran all the way to Pohjankuru harbour.
cowshed behind Åkerraden was completed in
1921. In the upper works area, the extension to
the machine workshop, the product workshop, a
long factory building made of coccolith, various
outbuildings and three of the Hasselbacka
tenements (the fourth was destroyed by fire in
1986) have been preserved. The Suutarinmäki
housing development was built northwest of the
ironworks. As the number of workers increased,
the company built new housing further away from
the central production areas. Fiskars employees
were also allowed to build small cottages or houses
for recreational use on company land. The factory
hospital completed in 1892 still stands on the
eastern shore of Ålsviken bay.
Old ironworks communities such as Fiskars were
obviously different from those in farming villages
or in towns. They also differed from the industrial
communities that emerged in the 1870s and 1880s.
The ironworks owner held absolute sway, and
in spite of technological advances, the ironworks
have reflected old handicraft traditions right up
to our time. Thus the ironworks industry and its
various sub-sectors should be seen as a historical
phenomenon dating back to the 17th century which
has greatly enriched Finland’s culture.
The Fiskars ironworks town plan is made up
of areas concentrating on administration, industry,
agriculture and dwellings. The buildings include
different structures for industry, agriculture, storage
and housing. Apart from the buildings, the entire
ironworks milieu also takes in rivers, reservoirs,
bridges, roads with planted trees, gardens, and the
surrounding fields and forests.
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