Grönvik

Grönvik is a village and secluded part of the larger village of Iskmo in the municipality of Korsholm, ca 15 km north of the city of Vaasa, in Finland. The population of the village is mostly Finland-Swedes and the number of inhabitants is ca 80 persons. The village lays on a stretch of coast, approximately 3 km long, and stretches about 600 m up country.

Lying by the sea, most of the land in Grönvik was under the surface of water until the 16th century, when the elevation of the ground made the village a part of the mainland.

Grönvik before the founding of the Glassworks

The hill of Haltija in Grönvik was in Old Finnish belief the place of a local tutelary, Haltija, who answered for the unthreatened living of the inhabitants in the area. [ [http://www.edu.fi/svenska/distansgymnasiet/ny_laroplan/religion/religion5/1.shtml DISTANSGYMNASIET - RELIGION - Vad tror finländaren på (RE5) ] ]

In Grönvik there lived at the end of the 18th century much affluent people from Vasa, among others the associate judge of appeal in Vasa ‘’Johan Casimir de la Chapelle’’, see below about the mansion of Grönvik.

The glassworks of Grönvik

On the 30 of July 1812 the great merchant Johan Grönberg (1777-1845) obtained from the government licences for production, which were necessary for the founding of a glassworks. The factory was erected in 1813 and was during the end of the 19th century the biggest one in the Nordic countries. On the shores in Grönvik there were plenty of sand and silicon, which were needed for the production of glass. Great forests, as here in Iskmo, were as well important for the provision of fuel for a glassworks.

In the area there were good places for a harbour, which was needed for out shipping of the glass products. In connection with the factory there were also a shipbuilding yard, for some time a minor earthenware foundry and 1831-1876 the papermill of Jungsund, which produced paper from rags.

At first bottles and drinking-glass were produced here, from the 1890’s solely window glass was manufactured. The glassworks produced as the first factory in Finland pressed glass, which came about from the 1840’s. The factory was subjected to fires in 1887, 1890 and 1891 which except financial losses gave the possibility of renewing the works. At the beginning of the 20th century the number of employed was about 100 persons, but the factory was overproducing and the manufacturing processes were getting antiquated. The glassworks of Grönvik reached bankruptcy in 1903 and was discontinued in April 1907. The glassworks counteracted emigration from the villages nearby as a great number of people in Jungsund and Iskmo were employed there. In addition, there were also employees from Belgium, France, Germany and Sweden.

Grönvik after the discontinuation of the glassworks

In 1917, after the discontinuation of the glassworks, the manor and the surrounding gardens were bought by Erik von Troil, while the rest of the properties by degrees were sold out, to, among others, local farmers.

In the 1970’s and 1980’s a lively immigration to the village took place and around 1980 Alskatvägen (“the Alskat road”) was built, from Vasa to Replot/Björköby, through Grönvik.

The village holds a public beach, were the organisation Folkhälsan arranges a yearly swimming school in the summers.

The mansion of Grönvik

The mansion of Grönvik was built ca 1780, for an associate judge of appeal in Vasa, Johan Casimir de la Chapelle, and new floors were added in the 19th century when it was functioning as the main building of the glassworks. The manor with the surrounding gardens were owned for three generations by the family Grönberg which ran the glassworks, after that for three generations by the family von Troil, and bought at the end of 1990’s by the Hästbacka family.

At the mansion as well as on a forest road behind it observations have been made of what is said to be ghosts.

References

The article is a translation of the article Grönvik, Korsholm on Swedish Wikipedia, 30.12.2006.

ee also

*Ostrobothnia
*Grand Duchy of Finland

External links

* [http://www.gronvikgard.com The manor of Grönvik]
* [http://matochfritid.yle.fi/specialartikel.php?id=1186 The manor of Grönvik in the TV-show "Strömsö"]