Äänekoski is an industrial city in the province of Central Finland at the southern end of Lake Keitele. The neighboring municipalities of Äänekoski are Kannonkoski, Konnevesi, Laukaa, Saarijärvi, Uurainen, Vesanto and Viitasaari. In the alphabet, Äänekoski ranks last among Finnish municipalities in terms of Finnish names. Östermark (Teuva) and Övertorneå (Ylitornio) are still in Swedish names after Äänekoski.
Äänekoski's attractions include:
Kalle Piilonen's statue, which
was sculpted by the artist Nora Tapper in 1996. Located in the
Independence Park in the center of Äänekoski.
Kapeenkoski area with
four flowing rapids and various outdoor trails.
Merchant monument,
Veikko Hirvimäki's work made in 1980 from the foundation stones of
Wessmann's store. Located in Wessmann Park.
Keitele Museum, a
functional special museum of water and rail transport in Suolahti harbor
and Wanhalla Station.
Koivisto local road, Koivisto village has a
part of the more than two hundred year old market and post road between
Vaasa and Kuopio.
Köyhydenkylä, a complex built by the villagers of
Rautionmäki.
The loaders sculpture, a bronze sculpture in the yard of
Suolahti's Wanha Asema. It was carved by the sculptor Tapio Junno in
1982.
Markkamäki wooden house area, a protected wooden house area
representing the style of the 1950s.
Pukkimäki wooden house area, a
wooden house area built in the 1920s, with buildings designed by Birger
Brunila, for example.
Mikon Puisto, which is named after Mikko
Niskanen, a film director from Tonokoski.
A monument to the war of
mace, in 1714 the Battle of Isonviha took place on that spot. An
obelisk-shaped memorial was erected on the site in 1950.
Paperipuu
swimming statue, which is a work by the artist Jussi Koivusalo in 1982
about the birth of Äänekoski. Located in the center of Äänekoski.
The
songbird trail, an outdoor trail in Sumiais in the villages of
Syvälahti, Lohilahti and Vihijärvi.
Hiskinmökki, the oldest wooden
house in Äänekoski, built in the 19th century.
Suolahti Old Station,
a protected railway station built in 1898 in Suolahti. The house has
been visited by e.g. Akseli Gallen-Kallela on his painting trips in
Central Finland.
The first building complex of Seurasaari in
Helsinki, Niemelä farm, which Akseli Gallen-Kallela and Yrjö Blomstedt
found in Konginkanga, can also be counted as an attraction in Äänekoski.
All the buildings in Torpa were moved to Seurasaari in 1909.
The independent Äänekoski municipality was preceded by the separation
of the parish from the Lauka parish: Äänekoski prayer house was founded
in 1902. By the decision of the Imperial Finnish Senate on March 23,
1906, the Äänekoski parish was ordered to be established from the
beginning of 1907. A new wooden long church was completed on Kirkonmäki
in Äänekoski in 1906. It was destroyed beyond repair in an arson attack
in 1968.
Äänekoski municipality was founded in 1911 by separating
the northern part of Laukaa municipality and the eastern parts from
Saarijärvi municipality into its own municipality. In 1932, the
townships of Äänekoski and Suolahti were separated from the
municipality, and the name of the Äänekoski municipality until then was
lengthened to Äänekoski rural municipality. The population of Kauppala
was 3,697 in 1937 and it doubled by 1964 (7,619 inhabitants). City
rights were granted to Äänekoski in 1973.
Mergers of
municipalities
Äänekoski rural municipality, whose old municipal hall
is still located at the intersection of highways 4 (E75) and 13 in
Äänekoski Honkola, was incorporated into Äänekoski township in 1969.
On January 1, 1993, the municipality of Konginkanka, located to the
north of the city, was annexed to the city of Äänekoski.
In
September 2005, the city councils of Äänekoski and Suolahti and the
municipal council of Sumiainen approved the association agreement
between the municipalities and a proposal to the Government to change
the municipal division. The State Council decided in May 2006 that the
municipality of Sumiainte, the city of Suolahti and the city of
Äänekoski will be abolished and a new municipality will be established
in their place, including their areas, which will adopt the name
Äänekoski and the city designation. The new municipal division came into
effect on January 1, 2007. Hannu Javanainen, the mayor of the old
Äänekoski, was elected to lead the new Äänekoski city. Suolahti's former
mayor Heli Möller served as Äänekoski's deputy mayor. Matti Tuononen has
been the mayor of Äänekoski since 2015.
The former coat of arms
of the city of Suolahti was chosen as the coat of arms of the new town
of Äänekoski. Äänekoski's old three-horn coat of arms fell out of use.
On Highway 4 in Konginkanka in Äänekoski, in the morning of March 19, 2004, the most serious accident in the history of Finnish road traffic occurred, when a bus that was running on demand collided with a trailer carrying a heavy roll of paper from an oncoming vehicle combination that had drifted into the wrong lane. The accident site is located approximately 20 kilometers north of Äänekoski's central station. The bus driver and 22 passengers died in the accident. 14 passengers were injured.
The mayor is Matti Tuononen. There are 43 seats in the Äänekoski city council. In the period 2021–2025, the largest council groups are the SDP (11 seats), the Center (8 seats), the Left Alliance (8 seats) and Perussuomalaiset (8 seats). The chairman of the council is Jari Halttunen. The city council has nine seats, and its chairman is Kari Kiiskinen.
In 2016, the companies that paid the most corporation tax were Valtra, known as a manufacturer of tractors and agricultural machinery, its parent company AGCO Suomi Oy, and Kurikka Timber Oy, which produces blanks for the window industry.
Äänekoski is known as a strong and traditional industrial town.
Industrial activity in Äänekoski began in 1896–1900, when Äänekoski
Aktiebolaget established a wood grinding and cardboard factory near
Äänekoski. Today, Metsä Board's folding cardboard factory founded in
1899, which moved to new premises in 1966, Metsä Fibre's sulfate
cellulose factory started in 1985, Metsäliitto Cooperative Finnforest's
plywood factory, CP Kelco Oy's chemical products factory, Valtra Oy Ab's
tractor factory and Valio Oy's production plant are located in the city.
The operation of the fine paper mill, founded in 1906 and renovated in
1987, was closed in 2011.
Äänekoski has had an electronics
industry since the 1970s. The state-owned Televa started its operations
in Äänekoski in 1974 in premises rented from the city and moved to its
own premises in 1976. In 1987, the factory was completely owned by Nokia
Oyj. Nokia sold the factory to Scanfil Oy from Sievi in July 2000. In
the same year, Nokia also moved its product development unit to new
premises in Jyväskylä. Scanfil stopped the operation of the Äänekoski
factory in September 2007 and transferred production to its other
factories.
Äänekoski bioproduct factory
Metsä Group built a
bioproduct factory in Äänekoski, the largest investment ever in the
history of the Finnish forest industry, totaling more than 1.2 billion
euros. The investment decision for the factory was made in spring 2015
and production started at the end of 2017. In addition to pulp, the mill
produces various bioproducts, such as pine oil, bioelectricity and wood
fuel. Possible new refined products obtained from production side
streams are new fiber products, bioplastic raw materials, fertilizers
and bio-oil and biogas. The pulp production capacity of the bioproduct
factory is 1.3 million tons per year. The employment effect of the
factory is more than 2,500 jobs in the entire value chain. The pulp
production capacity in the new mill is 1.3 million tons annually. The
factory increases Finland's exports by an estimated 500 million euros
annually, and it increases the country's renewable energy production by
a total of more than two percentage points.
The community structure of Äänekoski is heavily based on private car
traffic. Highway 4 from Jyväskylä to Äänekoski has been improved in
recent years by, among other things, building a highway north of
Jyväskylä, improving the safety of busy intersections with structural
measures, and building overtaking lanes. Public transport connections by
bus from Äänekoski to Jyväskylä are good. Highway 4 is currently being
improved due to the bioproduct factory built in the community. New road
solutions are being built between Äänekoski and Jyväskylä, which
include, among other things, a motorway, new 2+2 carriageway roads and
new bridges. The project will be completed by 2021.
The
agglomerations of Äänekoski and Suolahti are along the
Jyväskylä–Haapajärvi line, which currently serves only freight traffic.
Passenger traffic on the line was phased out by 1987, when local traffic
between Äänekoski and Jyväskylä was stopped. In the fall of 2011, the
section of track from Äänekoski to Saarijärvi was overhauled as the
first part of the renovation of the entire Haapajärvi line due to its
good traffic growth prospects. As the new bioproduct factory increased
the amount of freight in the railway network, the railway was renewed
and electrified in 2016–2017. The cost estimate for the project was 158
million euros.
Nationally valuable built cultural environments located in Äänekoski
are Suolahti's old railway station, Riihiaho farm's big house and
courtyard, Sumiainte church and the entire church village, and the
Central Finland College building. Konginkanka's church milieu is also
considered a significant built environment, with its equal-armed, wooden
cross church built between 1864 and 1866. The church landscape is also
joined by the Konginkankaa cemetery, which was inaugurated in 1856, and
a granary, which has served as a local museum since 1956. The same
building areas also include the wooden town districts of Pukkimäki and
Markkamäki. Pukkimäki with its classic wooden houses is a district built
by the Äänekoski Aktiebolaget factory for its workers between 1920 and
1927, and all the buildings have preserved their original appearance.
Markkamäki's single-family house area is an area of
one-and-a-half-story, wooden single-family houses typical of the
reconstruction period of the 1940s, which got its name from the nominal
redemption price of one marka set for the plots. The buildings of
Klubinmäki, located next to Äänekoski's central train station, are
closely related to the history and management of Äänekoski's factories.
source?
The central area of Äänekoski is a low-lying, high-rise
area. There are no large shopping centers in the city. In 2011, the
approximately 6,500 square meter K-Citymarket was completed in the
center of Äänekoski. High, art-patterned apartment buildings knock on
the sides of Äänekoski's entrance roads. In the immediate vicinity of
the city center, there are spaciously built neighborhoods of
single-family homes and townhouses.
A modern church building was
built in the Äänekoski settlement in 1973, which was completed in 1968
to replace an old church building that was severely damaged in an arson
attack. The massive building of Keskuskanskaoulu completed in 1931,
several old residential and office buildings in the factory area, the
town hall and city library completed in 1986 with works of art, and the
swimming hall completed in 1996 can be considered significant buildings
in the city.
Basic education in Äänekoski is given in eight elementary schools, of which the Äänekoski central school is the largest. It has approximately 580 students. There are two primary upper secondary schools. General education high school education is organized at Äänekoski high school. Vocational education is offered by Pohjoinen Keski-Suomen ammattiopisto (POKE), Keski-Suomen Opisto in Suolahti has been providing education since 1894.
In the 1980s, Äänekoski's traditional dishes were named oven roast and pea tuvinki, as well as berry porridge made from barley flakes.
According to the 2018 regional distribution, Äänekoski has the
following parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland:
Äänekoski parish
Konginkanga Chapel Congregation
Sumiainen Chapel
Congregation
Suolahti church district
Äänekoski church district
Among the congregations of the Orthodox Church of Finland, the
Jyväskylä Orthodox congregation operates in the Äänekoski area. In
addition, the Äänekoski Pentecostal Church and the Äänekoski Free Church
and the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses operate in Äänekoski. As for
the Orthodox Church, the city belongs to the Jyväskylä Orthodox Parish
and has its own tsauna.
Former parishes
In the following list,
parishes that were dissolved in historical time in the current area of
the city of Äänekoski are mentioned.
Konginkanka parish (joined to
Äänekoski parish in 2005)
Sumiainen parish (joined to Suolahti parish
in 2006)
Suolahti parish (joined to Äänekoski parish in 2007)
Äänekoski Huima is a general club with a division specialized in
basketball. On the women's side, Huima plays in the main basketball
league and the men in the 2nd division. In addition to Huima, several
other sports clubs operate in the community, such as Koiviston Kipinä,
Äänekoski Urheilijat and Suolahten Urho. The Suolahten Urho men's ice
hockey team plays in the II division.
The most well-known
athletes from Tunakoski are javelin throwers Jorma and Kimmo Kinnunen.
Several events are organized in Äänekoski every year. The biggest of
them have been the Keitelejazz and Rautalanka festivals every summer. In
2018, Summer Clubs were organized in Äänekoski, Liimatala in
Konginkanka. Äänia Festival was founded in 2021 as the successor to
Keitelejazz, which was discontinued in 2020.
The summer clubs of
the old age group were organized in Äänekoski in 2018.