Memory trail

Waypoints

• Old Church, 16–17 July 1932

  The photograph shows the Old Church of Rovaniemi at the time of the parish’s 300th anniversary on 16–17 July 1932. The old wooden cruciform church seated 1,200 people, and was located close to the current church. Just before their northbound withdrawal, the German troops set the church on fire with petrol bombs. The new, current church was completed in August 1950...
• View of Maantiekatu, around the 1910s

  Maantiekatu used to be the main road of Rovaniemi.  Over 30 shops varying from hardware shops to delicatessens were located along the street in the 1910s, not to mention the Rovaniemi markets. This photograph taken from the old church’s tower shows buildings on Maantiekatu; at the front are the post office and Ida Hannula’s book and paper shop, the Konttinen Manor is visible in the background...
• Ounaskoski bridge, 1930s

  The railway from Rovaniemi to Kemijärvi was completed in 1934. On the first part of the route, large and expensive bridges needed to be built, such as the Ounaskoski bridge. The old bridge in the photograph was used only for about 10 years, because the German troops blew it up when withdrawing from Lapland in October 1944. The current bridge was completed in 1951...
• Konttinen, 1910s

  The Konttinen Manor depicted from across River Kemijoki. The Konttinen Manor was commissioned by Norwegian timber businessman Terje Olsen in late 19th century. As of 1900, the manor housed the forest division of the Kemi company operating in the wood processing industry. The building was destroyed in the air raids of Rovaniemi in 1940...
• Tuisku’s house, around the 1910s

  Shopkeeper A. E. Tuisku had a shop along Maantiekatu and a house on the shore of River Kemijoki. Tuisku being a local force served as a municipal foreman in municipal administration in 1897–1899 and as the foreman of the municipal board in 1912...
• Beer factory, 1930s

  Before the war, the Tornio porter and beer factory operated in Rovaniemi along the current Koskikatu street. The factory building was completely destroyed in the war. After the war, the company considered transferring all beer manufacturing operations to Rovaniemi, but the new town plan did not allow for the factory site to be expanded. The factory was, however, rebuilt at the previous site and operated until 1972...
• Castrèn’s trestle bridge, late 1940s

  The bridges crossing River Kemijoki were destroyed in the Second World War. A temporary trestle bridge was constructed every spring between 1946 and 1951 after the ice had broken at the site of the current Jätkänkynttilä Bridge. For a few winters, the Kemijärvi trains crossed the river on rails that were installed on the ice. A ferry boat also crossed the rivers Kemijoki and Ounasjoki...
• Log floating on River Kemijoki, 1960

  The log floating on River Kemijoki began in the 1860s. Felling usually ended in March and then the logs were stored upstream, marked and measured. In the spring, the logs were debarked and, once the river had thawed, the floating of the logs along rivers to steam sawmills of the south began. The fall log floating started after salmon fishing ended on 15 August...
• Maantiekatu street, late 1910s

  Maantiekatu used to be the main road of Rovaniemi.  Over 30 shops varying from hardware shops to delicatessens were located along the street in the 1910s, not to mention the Rovaniemi markets. This photograph taken from the old church’s tower shows buildings on Maantiekatu; at the front are the post office and Ida Hannula’s book and paper shop, the Konttinen Manor is visible in the background...
• Wiiri boat, 1910s

  Although Rovaniemi was accessible by rail in the 1910s, northbound road connections from Rovaniemi were still rather modest. Steamboats Wiiri and Wanttaus transported passengers upstream from Lainaanranta along rivers Kemijoki and Ounasjoki in the 1910s. When cars became more frequent, the boat connections were considered slow and were terminated at the end of the 1920s...
• Pitkäniemi Sawmill, 1910s

  The sawmill industry grew in Northern Finland in the latter half of the 19th century. The first steam sawmill of Rovaniemi, Pitkäniemi steam sawmill, was established in Sahanperä by River Ounasjoki in 1901. During the depression of the 1930s, the difficulties of the Pitkäniemi steam sawmill grew unbearable and it ended its operations in 1934...
• Marttiini 9 December 1955

  Janne Marttiini established the Marttiini Knife Factory in 1928. As the operations of the factory grew, a functionalist factory building was completed in Vartiokatu street in 1940. The building was partly destroyed in the war, but was repaired right after the war. It is the sole industrial building of Rovaniemi to have survived the war...
• Ahon Auto, late 1950s

  The current Kukkola company building was built in 1939 to serve as facilities for the Ahon Auto car shop. The building housed also a service station. The building is one of the few pre-war buildings representing functionalism in Rovaniemi...
• Lauri’s workshop, 1950s

  Johannes Lauri established a company called Laurin Tuotteetand a knife factory in 1924. Besides knives, products made of reindeer antlers and bone were produced by the workshop, for example, as souvenirs. The original production building was destroyed during the Lapland War and a new one was built at its site. The current workshop and shop operate in a house built in the late 19th century that was transferred from the village of Namma to the workshop’s courtyard in the 1970s...
• Postal vehicle depot, 1940s

  Finland’s first postal vehicle line between Rovaniemi and Sodankylä was inaugurated in 1921. The postal vehicle depot was completed in 1931–1933. After the Second World War, the depot was expanded and housing was also provided to depot workers who had lost their homes. Bricks collected from the city’s ruins were used as construction material...
• First railway station, around 1910s

  Rovaniemi’s first railway station was completed in 1909. Rovaniemi was enlivened by the railway; transport of goods became easier and passengers travelled. Once the new track was completed in 1934, the old station was transformed into housing for railway workers. Since the war, the building has served, among other things, as a post office, temporary railway station, women’s work house and the Provincial Museum of Lapland...
• Workers’ hall, 1920s

  The hall of the local workers’ association built in part as voluntary work by loggers served as the headquarters of the Red Guards during the Finnish Civil War in 1918. In February 1918, the White Guards had a strong hold on Rovaniemi and the local workers’ association did not get the hall back for their own use until 1920. The building burnt down during the Lapland War in 1944, but a new hall was built at the site in 1949...
• Second railway station, 7 July 1935

  The second railway station became necessary, when the train connection to Kemijärvi was constructed. The photo shows people waiting for the train transporting President Pehr Evind Svinhufvud to arrive at the station...