Otterup

 

Otterup is a former station town on northern Funen with 5,229 inhabitants (2020), located 15 km north of Odense, 6 km northwest of the charging station Klintebjerg by Odense Fjord and 23 km east of the municipal seat in Bogense. The city is the largest in Nordfyn Municipality and is located in the Region of Southern Denmark.

Otterup is located in Otterup Parish. Otterup Church is located in the city. 2 km northeast of the city is the manor Ørritslevgård.

 

Schools

Sletten Skole, with a total of 860 pupils, has three departments: Both the Northwest department in Otterup's north-western detached house quarter and the Skovløkken department, 3 km southeast of the city, have 0.-6. class, and department Otterup in the middle of the city has 0.-9. class. All three departments have after-school care for children in grades 0-2. class and club for children in grades 3-6. class.

Otterup Realskole from 1884 has 232 students, divided into one track in grades 0-6. grade and two tracks in grades 7-9. class. The school has an after-school program with guaranteed places for children in grades 0-3. class.

 

Sport

Otterup Ball- and Sports Club (OB&IK) has its home ground in the town. In 2009-13 the club played in the 2nd division (football). It was founded in 1913 and has over 500 members. In addition to football, it has room for other sports such as handball, badminton, table tennis, boxing, karate and gymnastics, but several of these have gradually been separated into independent clubs. Thus, Otterup Handball Club (Otterup HK) was founded in 1953. It has approx. 300 members and runs a gym together with OB&IK. Most recently, the Otterup Gymnasts have formed their own club.

 

History

The town is named Ottorp in 1427.

Vikinggrave
In the field Galgedil in western Otterup, Odense City Museums have found a burial site from the Viking Age with a large number of graves. In these, both bone material and Viking objects have been found. In the summer of 2005, when the area was to be laid out for detached house construction, a further 19 graves were found, which brought the total number up to 50. Thus, the burial site is the largest known Viking burial site on Funen. The finds can be viewed at Odense Museum.

Nislevgård
On the western outskirts of the town is the former manor house Nislevgård. Its owner established in 1722 the "Savior's Hospital" in a house by the church with room for 8 poor people. A couple of hundred years later, Otterup parish took over the house on Bakkevej 2 and used it as a library. When the library moved in 1958, the house became the Otterup Museum.

After the railway had come to Otterup, an 800 m long rowing track was built between the station and Nislevgård in 1896. Its route is preserved as Kærlighedsstien between Damløkkevej and Nislevgård and is one of Denmark's best preserved beetle tracks.

The State Land Law Committee took over Nislevgård in 1925. The buildings, which were later supplemented with extensions, were infant homes 1926-80. Nislevgård is now an after-school center for the dyslexic and has room for approx. 100 students.

The railway
Otterup had a station on the North Funen Railway (1882-1966). It was the largest intermediate station on the track. The railway took a major detour to get to Otterup, as the direct line between Odense and Bogense would be over Søndersø.

The names Jernbanegade and Banepladsen are still reminiscent of the station town time, but the station building has been demolished. Inside the city, small sections of path have been laid out on the track route between Gartnervænget and Banepladsen and along Skydebanevej. Outside the city, a longer section of the route is preserved between Rødevej and Åkandevej.

The development of the station town
Around 1870, the conditions are described as follows: "Otterup by Landeveien, with Church, Pharmacy and Hospital, Hjorslev with School".

The station was laid a few hundred meters west of the village street (Nørregade-Søndergade), where Otterup had already grown together with the neighboring village Hjorslev to the south. At the start of the course, Otterup, like many other villages, had a school, smithy and mill, but also a pharmacy, a doctor's residence and a midwife's house.

Around the turn of the century, the conditions are described as follows: "Otterup (formerly Form Ottorp), by Landevejen, with Church," Savior's Hospital "(founded 1722 by Gehejmer. Chr. Sehestedt, † 1740, and Wife, with a House by the Church for 8 poor af Nislevgaards Gods), Apotek, Lægebolig og Mølle; the Hjorslev (1497: Hiorsløff) built together with Otterup, by Landevejen, with School, Realskole, Forsamlingshus ("Otterup Forsamlingshus"), Brewery, Cementtagstensfabrik etc. and Post-og Jærnbanestation ("Otterup Station") ".

Around 1960, Otterup also had a technical school, mission house, stadium, police station, cinema, hotel, bank, savings bank branch, dairy, fruit warehouse, malting plant, cooperative cooling house, cooperative laundry, electricity plant, waterworks, printing house and factories that manufactured pipes, roof tiles, clogs, packaging. and furniture.

Between 1889 and 1994, the rifle factory Schultz & Larsen was located at Fabriksvej and Skydebanevej. The company mainly produced hunting and saloon rifles, but also in the 1920s and 1930s engaged in the production of rifle barrels for both machine guns and submachine guns. It developed the "Ultra 2" anti-tank weapon. The factory building is now a culture and community center.

 

Municipal conditions

Otterup Municipality was formed by merging 11 parish municipalities on 1 April 1966, i.e. before the municipal reform in 1970. A town hall was built for the new municipality where the railway station had been located. The new town hall replaced Otterup parish municipality's old town hall, which is still located opposite the Otterup Hotel in Jernbanegade. The old town hall most recently housed the school's dental care, but the municipality put it up for sale in September 2015.

In the municipal reform in 2007, Otterup Municipality was combined with Bogense and Søndersø municipalities to form Nordfyn Municipality.