Hyvinkää, Finland

Hyvinkää (IPA: /ˈhyʋiŋkæː/; Hyvinge in Swedish) is a small town in the province of Uusimaa, approximately 50 km north of the capital Helsinki. The town was chartered in 1960. Hyvinkää belongs to the Province of Southern Finland. The population was 43,523 (2004-12-31).

The municipality encompasses 336.66 km² of which 13.48 km² is water. Population density was 134.67/km².

Highways and rail connections make it one of the suburban commuter centers of Greater Helsinki. The city planning has had an emphasis on recreational facilities, acknowleding the fact that the modest city center cannot compete with the shops and boutiques of the capital.

Some of the more well-known buildings in Hyvinkää are, among others, the Church (1961) of Hyvinkää and the manor house of Kytäjä. The Finnish Railway Museum is located in Hyvinkää.

History

Since the 1500's there has been a tavern in the area now known as Hyvinkäänkylä, which lies approximately half-way between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna. The first tax catalogs also marked the existence of some houses in the area around the same time.

Hyvinkää village was gradually formed in the latter half of the 19th century. The construction of railways through Finland, beginning in 1861, marked the starting point for the rapid growth.

The location of Hyvinkää's present centre was indeed determined by the construction of Finland's first stretch of railroad, the the Helsinki-Hämeenlinna line. Hyvinkää's railway station is one of the few original stations still in use. From Hyvinkää the railroad also branches off to the port of Hanko. The Hanko-Hyvinkää RR was the first private railroad in Finland, founded in 1872, and acquired by the Finnish State RR Co. in 1875. In the early 1900's the station village in Hyvinkää was an intermediate stopping point for many emigrants leaving by ship from Hanko for a new life in North America.

The air quality of Hyvinkää was considered healthy due to dense pine forests, and in the 1880s a group of physicians from Helsinki opened a sanatorium for patients seeking rest and recuperation.

The industrialization brought a wool factory, the Donner family's Hyvinge Yllespinneri, to Hyvinkää in 1892. The factory ceased its operation in the 1990s, but the red-brick halls still remain. The building has found several new uses, including an exhibition centre.

Hyvinkää airfield served as the country's main airport for a short time after the second world war while the airport at Malmi in Helsinki was under the control of the Allied Powers. There is now a motorsports centre near the airfield.

Famous People from Hyvinkää

• Tauno Kirves, mayor of Hyvinkää
• Esa Saarinen, philosopher
• Helene Schjerfbeck, painter