Highlights

History

Strömfors Ironworks received a privilege from the Swedish Crown to forge iron in 1690’s for its founder Johan Creutz. Originally called Petjärvi Ironworks, ironworks started to harness the west most stream of Kymijoki from agriculture and fishing to industrial production. The hardships of war and famine in the beginning of the 18th century was hard on the ironworks and resulted in Creutz selling the site for two entrepreneurs: Nohrström and Forselles in 1740s. They named the site again to be Strömfors Ironworks and rebuilt several workshops and habitats in the area. These included renewed lower forgery, small sawmill and brick factory.  

The buildings in Strömfors as we know them today were mainly built in 1790 to 1870s, mostly by the impactful figure called Her Grace Virginia af Forselles, who after her husband’s passing in 1790’s became the sole ruler of the ironworks due her sons being still too little. She was a great forward driving force in Strömfors but also in local politics, respected in the community. She rebuilt factories and habitats, also setting a direction for the architecture of the area. 

The af Forselles family’s era with Strömfors ended in 1880’s due poor economic situation after the ironworks was purchased by Antti Ahlström, a businessman who had previously also bought other ironworks sites from western Finland. Under Ahlström guidance the iron production started losing its position as the main operation and giving a way for sawmill to become the industry carrying the area. Ahlström company further shifted the balance of the area in the 1950’s when they decided to end all the traditional industries: brick, sawmill and iron, all at once and built one totally new factory to the area for newly discovered plastic product production. During this time the old factory buildings were first left vacant, then occupied temporarily by plastic factory functions before all the plastic factory expansions were completed and the functions retrieved to the newer facility in the late 1970’s. 

The importance of industrial heritage was recognized in Finland in 1970’s and caused several motions in the culture heritage field to conservative, reconstruct and exhibit industrial history around the country. Forerunners of this movement were ironworks sites around Finland which offered a soft first step to introduce industrial heritage as a travel destination due their village-like appearance and handicraft focused orientations. Strömfors Ironworks was one of the first ironworks in Finland to be shaped into travel destinations with other famously known ironworks in Finland, Fiskars. 

In Strömfors the change began from the wish to revitalize the area after the industrial functions had left the buildings empty. Already in 1950’s one part of the Lower Forgery had been turned into a museum, but in 1980’s also the Upper Forgery was seen as a museum prospect. This resulted in Strömfors to become the only site in Finland with operating water-powered forge, giving a nice homage for the fact that Strömfors was also the last of the Finnish industrial sites to operate with water-power in 1950’s when the production ended. Other parts of the revitalization included founding an art exhibition space, butiks and cafes and workshops for craft workers and renovating apartments. In the beginning of 200’s Strömfors Ironworks was already a well known holiday destination for Finnish visitors.