The story
In the Jyväskylä region, there are archeological findings from the Stone Age. According to the oldest available taxation documents (maakirja), there were seven estates on the Jyväskylä region in 1539. One of them, the estate of Mattila, alone possessed the areas stretching from the village of Keljo to the villages of Vesanka and Palokka. The oldest estate in Jyväskylä continuously held by the same family is the estate of Lahti, which emerged when the estate of Mattila was split between two brothers in 1600. The history of the Lahti family and estate have had a significant impact on the development of Jyväskylä region. Lahdenrinne, in the south-west corner of Jyväsjärvi lake, belongs to the old heartland of the estate of Lahti.
The name Jyväskylä was mentioned in 1575 as Jyueskylä. Its name is derived from the lake Jyväsjärvi. A shorter form of the name, Jyväs (written Jyuexe) was mentioned slightly earlier in 1565 and again (this time written Jyues) in 1570.
The City of Jyväskylä was founded on 22 March 1837, when Emperor of Russia and Grand Duke of Finland, Nicholas I of Russia, signed the charter of the city and the infrastructure was essentially built from scratch; before that, Jyväskylä was a village belonging to the larger rural municipality of Laukaa, being the largest village of the whole parish. At the times Finnish military battalion Suomen kaarti participated under his rule in military operations against the Polish November Uprising and later in Hungary, Turkey and Bessarabia (today Moldova). While Nicholas I of Russia abolished many autonomous areas, it has been argued, that the loyalty of Finnish military influenced his approach towards Finnish autonomy. The original town was built between Lake Jyväsjärvi (which is connected to Lake Päijänne) and the Jyväskylä ridge (Harju), and consisted of most of the current grid-style city centre.
The establishment of schools in the 1850s and '60s proved to be the most significant step in regards to the later development of Jyväskylä. The first three Finnish-speaking schools in the world were founded in Jyväskylä, the lycée in 1858, the teachers' college in 1863, and the girls' school in 1864. Well-trained teaching staff and pupils from different parts of the country changed the atmosphere of Jyväskylä irrevocably.
In the early 20th century, the town expanded several times. Most of today's Jyväskylä was built after the Continuation War, when evacuees from ceded territories were settled in the city, and housing was badly needed. During the 21st century Jyväskylä has grown fast – by over 1,000 inhabitants every year.
Säynätsalo was consolidated with Jyväskylä in 1993, and Jyväskylän maalaiskunta and Korpilahti, for their part, on January 1, 2009.
From Wikipedia’s article on Jyväskylä, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5