THE HISTORIC VILLAGES IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF HULTSFRED
MÖRLUNDA-TVETA
Mörlunda, "Woody swamp land" is mentioned in 1339. The area of Emådalen (The Emå valley) area around Mörlunda and Tveta is extraordinary important for the social history of the municipality. People has lived in this big, open landscape from The Stone Age until present time. The time period up to the 12th century is rich on graves from the Stone Age-, Bronze- and Iron Age, slag heaps, prehistorical roads, traps, sacrifying springs and the oldest church in the municipality, all of it gathered around The Em river.
Here are also examples of medieval ways of forming a village, in a row or in a bunch.
Danish armies burnt farms and villages during the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century. The Church of Mörlunda was built in 1845 on the same place two previous churchs were.
Markets were held in Mörlunda during the whole 19th century. At the end of the 19th century Mörlunda had a potash factory, flour mills and saw mills. Mörlunda also had a carpenter´s workshop and furniture factories who had a good financial strength.
In the folkpark of Mörlunda is the building inheritance preserved.
MÅLILLA
Målilla is mentioned in 1329 as "Malhella" (which might mean "meeting place on flat rock"). Gårdveda might have been the central place in a bigger administrative district already during the Younger Stone Age. The courtplace was in Tingsberg or Komberg from the middle of the 14th century to the beginning of the 15th century. After that, Hägelåkra is known as a courtplace until the beginning of the 17th century. A courthouse was built in Målilla around 1670, and rebuilt again in 1755. The present building is from 1797. It was being used until 1918 when Aspeland´s härad and Handbörd´s härad united and incorporated in the judicial district of Oskarshamn in 1965.
Målilla was the conscription place for the infantry of Småland in 1621.
Where the church from 1822 is there have earlier been several other buildings, which have been burnt down during wars. A settlement of mostly farmhouses with 1 1/2 levels formed in the church village to the west of the church. These are originally situated in big gardens a bit from the road. The settlement has been added to with single big houses from the turn of the century. To the east and the west of the heart of the village is smaller houses mixed up with owner-occupied houses.
The Folkpark and Museum of Målilla is a living open air museum with theatrical performances and other activities.
ROSENFORS
Rosenfors is a name from the early 19th century. Rosenfors is a factory village around processing of iron ore. The oldest raw material was ore from the lakes Hulingen in Hultsfred/Vena and Illern in Mörlunda. The raw ore was exported. The activity was intensified from the Viking Time and the early Middle Ages. Memories from this time are the slag heaps you can see in many places.
A mill business was managed in the village Qvarnsö in Rosenfors of that time, where there was two natural waterfalls. The Iron mill of Rosenfors, where water powered hammers worked up the iron, was built in 1802. A village, which was depending on the mill´s business conditions, grew up around the mill. Most of the people that settled down were descendants to the Vallones who were smiths.
Iron manufactoring was built in 1802. There´s where the iron pigs from the Blast furnace of Hagelsrum (from 1742) got refined. The iron ore was taken from the lakes in the area, Hulingen, Illern and others. The stones for the process was collected at the quarry by Brånhorvan on the lake Hulingen. The iron products was to a great extent exported to England.
The blast furnace was closed at the end of the 19th century. The drifting of the nail smithy and the engineering plant continued in Rosenfors.
Markets were held in the parish during the whole 19th century.
In the 1870´s, when the railway was enlarged to Rosenfors, a dairy was built (closed 1966) and a carpenter´s workshop (closed 1957).
A furniture factory existed 1904-1934 and from 1909 an engineering plant.
VIRSERUM
Virserum is mentioned in 1278 "Widisrum," (clearance in the woods). Virserum has ancestry from the Stone Age. Here are among other things graves from this time. The village has for a long time been the natural market- and business place. The first church was built in the 14th century, maybe already in the 12th century, on the same place the present church from the 1880´s is.
There are three waterfalls in central Virserum, all of which have been used for mills and producing of power. The production in the factories increased a lot between 1830 and 1890. There was a paper mill, saw mill, spinning mill and a dyery here then. A furniture factory and Virserums Sparbank was started in the 1880´s. Also, a business bank came in the 20th century.
The mechanical furniture industry started in Virserum before the rest of Sweden did, and a big part of the companies in the furniture branch has its origin here.
The railway from Växjö was connected in 1911 and from Hultsfred in 1921. More factories were started and public buildings built in the 1920´s.
Virserum is located in a very beautiful landscape has an interesting environment in the central part, which is valuable for the social history.
Träarbetarnas Museum (The Wood Worker´s Museum) has formed in collaboration with the municipality, popular movements etc. They have here created the industrial environment that existed before the electrification: water wheels that, via different transmissions/straps etc, gives power to the old machines. The museum is in the right environment, on "Bolagstomten", where furniture used to be made.
JÄRNFORSEN
1337 the village is mentioned for the first time as "Öaerithe", but the spelling Järhida is already used in 1355. The church of today, on which place there´s has been two wooden churches earlier, was built in 1771. It´s been renovated three times 1848, 1926 and 1939. A wandering monk is said to have cast one of the church bells in 1450.
When the railway between Vetlanda and Järnforsen was opened it was a big happening in the village. The public traffic on this railway was kept up until the 1st of September, 1961.
A new railway was opened the 14th of May, 1987, the so called Emådalsbanan, which connects the factories within the area Vetlanda-Järnforsen-Pauliström.
In 1805, 753 people lived in the parish of Järeda. The population in 1986 was 836 people.
HULTSFRED
Hultsfred is mentioned in 1320 as "Huluszfarahult" (their grove, who live by the lake Hulund Hålsjön). From times immemorial until the 1920´s a cattle market was held every year on what´s now known as "Silverslätten". Earlier market shops are today kept at Skansen in Stockholm.
The area of Hultsfred probably belonged to Saint Birgitta´s husband, Ulf Gudmarsson Hjorthuvud, in the 14th century.
The Hostelry of Hulingsryd existed between the 17th century and 1878.
The Lake Hulingen (Huling, the hollow lake) has been very rich on fish in the past times, and was certainly a big reason for the location of the settlement. Another reason was all the iron ore in the lake, which was used as raw material for the blast furnaces in Hagelsrum and in Storebro (in the municipality of Vimmerby). The present promenade is the location of the village´s earliest factory and the place for stocking of iron ore and coal and also for melting. Where the central built-up area is situated today used to be called Hulingsryd´s hage (The Grove of Hulingsryd).
Parts of the Regiment of Kalmar got conscripted on the Plain of Hultsfred for the first time in 1630, during the time Sweden was a great power, when a conquest war in the countries around the Baltic Sea was going to take place. When the dividing office should start working in the 1680´s, a training was demanded for the domestic soldiers and a place for it. A troop was inspected on the plain in 1685 and in 1687 there was training. King Charles XI came to Småland and the conscriptions on many occasions. The king took in at the Hostelry of Hulingsryd in 1688. The Regiment of Kalmar got completely effaced in 1709 at the battle of Poltava under Charles XII, who has also been at the Plain of Hultsfred.
Sporadic trainings took place by the Hussars of Småland and the Regiment of Kalmar until 1796, when the regiment got permanently installed at the Plain and was stationed there until 1918. The Plain was suitable for military training since it was big, didn´t have much vegetation, flat, beautiful and was "comfortably located". King Oskar II inspected the regiment in 1880 and Gustaf V in 1913. The soldier´s- and the cultural life at the regiment brought both goods and people that strongly affected the surrounding countryside, but also the growth of the built-up areas. Some buildings of military extraction still remains on the Plain of Hultsfred, where the Nursing Home of Hultsfred is today.
The first railway to Hultsfred was built in 1874, when the sharp growth of the village started. The station community became, like in other villages in the society, a link in the network between the countryside and other markets. It became a natural business place in the increasingly industrialized village.
The first 19th century factory in the village was the brewery, close followed by a several timber factories and then engineering plants and iron foundries. The first joiner´s workshop was built in 1898.
The settlement was in 1900 mainly stretched out along the old highway to Linköping, Storgatan. The village could then be divided into two parts, west and east of the railway Nässjö-Oskarshamn.
The station community increased a lot from the middle of the 1870´s when the railway was working well. A residential area grew up between the the railway Hultsfred-Västervik and the highway, and if you look at the map from 1902 you can see that some vacant sites had been parcelled out, but not yet been built on. This residential area got established and got its shape from the railway which was directed by for instance existing settlement, but also by the necessity of being able to obtain a platform and a station area beside and parallel with the Nässjö-Oskarshamn-track. The former train service had a locomotive garage of its own where the warehouse of SJ is today.
In around 1890 there were some central buildings. The station, the hotel, the joiner´s workshop (now a slaughterhouse), the brewery by the river, Fröklängning institution, house for poor people, Free Churches and certainly some shops. There were around 100 properties in 1910. It wasn´t a very planned village at that time.
To the west of the railway tracks was except for the mentioned settlement along Södra Storgatan one settlement to the north of Silverån, and one to the south of the river between the station area and Södra Storgatan. The last one in connection to the present block Oredan and Sämjan.
The village grew out from its "mother village" Vena during the 1920´s and became an urban district of its own in 1927 to be able to grew more. Hultsfred had 1 750 inhabitants by the time for the founding of the urban district. The first town plan was confirmed in 1929, and it secured the continuing expansion of the built-up area.
The Church of Hultsfred was built in 1936. The largest village in the municipality has the youngest church.
The small factories in the village turned big in the 1950´s thanks to the railway connections that made the village to a centre of business and service with new establishments and location shiftings.
From being one of the biggest joiner´s workshop villages in Sweden with for instance building of prefabricated houses the economic life in Hultsfred is more full of nuances.
The Airfield of Hultsfred having regular flights in 1958. Many towns in the country are connected here through Stockholm.
VENA
Vena was mentioned in 1337 as ("swampy meadow land"). A settlement in the built-up area of Vena has existed at least since the 14th century, because there was a church here then. Here was Malmroten situated, the place where parish´s iron ore was collected for a transport to the iron factory. The lakes Hulingen and Versjön and others belonged to the Mill of Storebro´s right to take the iron ore for the blast furnace in Storebro, the municipality of Vimmerby, at least since the middle of the 17th century.
The church village of Vena has preserved its character as a agricultural village with Käreby and Främsteby as central areas. Several roads meet in Vena and markets have been held here for a long time.
The church was built in the 18th century, as well as the "parish cottage" and the parsonage. The previous church was probably built in the 12th century on the same place as the present church. It´s the biggest church in the diocese next to the cathedral of Linköping.
The museum building inheritance is looked after at the Folk Park of Vena.
Visböle
Visböle village is an unique farmer´s village of the medieval village of the terrace house type. Before the 18th century people lived here as an extended family. The development of the economic life during the beginning of the 18th century brought a big increase of the population. The first farm´s garden and arable was divided into a new property grouping. The oldest farm in the village is from the beginning of the 18th century. The village is beautifully situated in the landscape on a hill from where you can see the elderly dividing of arables.
Dalsebo
Dalsebo is located in a with arables and roads with similarities to the late 18th century. The village, which was parcelled in 1771, is still located at the same place. The buildings are in good condition and typical for the countryside of the 19th century. A windmill from the 19th century is today a museum.
SILVERDALEN
The name Silverdalen is from the 1930´s, earlier it was "The stop of Lönneberga-Råsa". The village grew up around the paper mill (built in 1874) and Råsa.
Silverdalen is a factory village with refining of wood and paper. In the 17th century there was a smaller mill by the waterfall in Silverån.
There were a bit more than twenty paper mills in the county of Kalmar in the beginning of the 19th century. Paper machines were imported in the 1830´s and one machine came to Silverdalen (the Mill of Hällefors), the second one in the country, from Lessebo in the 1890´s. A saw mill had alredy been built by then, and machines had been installed for making of material for grinding and then cardboard. Bags and envelopes were made in the 1880´s, with among others Haddarp´s mill as a subcontractor. After 1900, they started using steam power as a complement to the water power and then the electricity was brought. In the 1920´s a new water main was built from Lillån and a new pond for generating of electricity. New extensions were built for water power, furnaces, steam turbines and papermachine.
Silverdalen made the paper for the telephone directories, for Åkerlund´s weekly magazines and the department store Åhlén & Holm in the 1940´s. More improvements were carried through by the activities in the 1950´s-70´s.
The mill helped their workers to get land, for around 50 owner-occupied houses. The mill has also financially supported health insurance, stadiums, assembly halls and health service for the companies.
Early a temperance movement was formed (1882), orchestra (1894) and sportsclubs (1923). The school was built in 1933.
LÖNNEBERGA
Lönneberga is mentioned in 1334, "grove of maple trees" and "mountain". The chapel of Gunill on Åkarp´s hill in Lönneberga is known from the 13th century. The Church was built in 1341, rebuilt in the 1580´s and burnt down in 1612 during the Kalmar war and rebuilt again in 1616. It was renovated in the 1690´s and finally pulled down in 1870. The present church was finished in 1872. There are several Free Churches in Lönneberga. Lönneberga is well known because of Astrid Lindgren´s "Emil in Lönneberga". The building heritage is preserved in the Open Air Museum of Lönneberga.
The Mill of Haddarp
A water saw has been used for a long time at the Mill of Haddarp. Among others an engineering plant was started during the end of the 19th century. The present furniture factory was rebuilt in the 1920´s after a fire.
