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.
History
The independent municipality of Äänekoski was preceded
by the secession of the parish from the Laukaa parish: the Äänekoski
prayer room was established in 1902. By decision of the Imperial
Finnish Senate on March 23, 1906, the Äänekoski parish was
established from the beginning of 1907. A new wooden long church was
completed in Äänekoski Kirkonmäki in 1906. It was destroyed beyond
repair in 1968.
The municipality of Äänekoski 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 towns of Äänekoski and Suolahti were
separated from the municipality, and the name of the then Äänekoski
municipality was extended to Äänekoski rural municipality. The
township had a population of 3,697 in 1937 and doubled by 1964
(7,619 inhabitants). City rights to Äänekoski were granted in 1973.
Mergers of municipalities
The rural municipality of
Äänekoski, whose old town hall is still located at the junction of
highways 4 (E75) and 13 in Äänekoski Honkola, was annexed to the
Äänekoski township in 1969.
On January 1, 1993, the
municipality of Konginkangas, located to its north, was annexed to
the city of Äänekoski.
In September 2005, the Äänekoski and
Suolahti City Councils and the Sumiainen Municipal Council approved
an inter-municipal merger agreement and a proposal to the Government
to change the division of municipalities. In May 2006, the
Government decided that the municipality of Sumiainen, the city of
Suolahti and the city of Äänekoski would be abolished and replaced
by a new municipality covering their territories, which would adopt
the Äänekoski name and city designation. The new division of
municipalities came into force on 1 January 2007. Hannu Javanainen,
the mayor of the old Äänekoski city, was elected to lead the new
city of Äänekoski. Heli Möller, former mayor of Suolahti, served as
Deputy Mayor of Äänekoski. 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 city of
Äänekoski. The coat of arms of Äänekoski's old three post horns fell
out of use.