Kauhajoki is a city in the province of Southern Ostrobothnia in
Western Finland. The city has a population of 13,172 and is the 80th
largest municipality in Finland. The municipality code of Kauhajoki
is 232 and its area is 1315.46 km², of which 15.68 km² are water
bodies. The population density is 10.14 inhabitants / km². Most of
the Kauhajoki is located north of the Suomenselä watershed. Most of
the area of the city is a gently descending plain, an opening
expanse, and a barn sea to the west and north.
The
neighboring municipalities of Kauhajoki are Honkajoki in the south,
Isojoki in the southwest, Karijoki in the west, Karvia in the
southeast, Kurikka in the north and Teuva in the west. Kauhajoki is
the center of the Suupohja economic area.
The local newspaper
in Kauhajoki is called Kauhajoki magazine.
The birth of the settlement
There has been
permanent settlement in the area of present-day Kauhajoki since
the middle of the 16th century. In 1584 a separate chapel room was
built in the locality. Construction was the first gesture of
establishing one’s own community. Later, from this beginning, the
Kauhajoki Chapel Parish developed, which in 1858 seceded from
Ilmajoki as an independent parish.
A riot took place in
Kauhajoki in 1658, where about 20 men from Kauhajoki clashed with
Captain Arvid Mikonpoika Tim and Lieutenant Nandelstad.
The
time of the Finnish war
During the Finnish War in the summer of
1808 in Kauhajoki, the peasants revolted the Russians. The event,
called the Kauhajoki uprising, ended with a revenge trip by the
Cossacks of the Russian Vasily Orlov-Denisov. The Kauhajoki was
destroyed by burning and looting. During the Finnish War, the
Russians are known to have tortured and raped the local population
only in Kauhajoki. By early September 1808, the Russians had killed
at least 13 people. During July and August 1808, a total of five
battles of the Finnish War were fought in Kauhajoki: the Battle of
Samelinlakso on July 27, the battle of Aro on July 28, the Battle of
Parjakanneva on July 28-29. July, the Battle of Kauhajoki on 10
August and the Battle of Nummijärvi on 28 August. The Russians
burned the Kauhajoki church with its staves and the rectory on
September 1, 1808.
According to tradition, the bell of
Kauhajoki Church was hidden in a Vaunulampi in Sahankylä during the
uprising, and it is not known whether the bell is still in the pond.
After the Finnish war, Kauhajoki was without a church for a long
time, which was due to the impoverishment of the parish due to the
war on the one hand, and the disputes over the location of the
church on the other. Finally, in 1818–1820, a new church was built
on the site of the former church, designed by Salomon
Köykkä-Köhlström, a well-known church builder born in Jalasjärvi,
and his son Juha was the master builder. The Kauhajoki Chapel
Congregation became an independent parish in 1858, but the first own
pastor was not obtained until 1891. The Kauhajoki municipality began
its activities in the meantime in 1868. The church was thoroughly
repaired in 1902–1903 and 1955, but was destroyed by fire in 1956.
The municipality of Kauhajoki was founded in 1868. The Suupohja
railway from Seinäjoki through Kauhajoki to Kaskis was officially
opened to traffic on August 1, 1913. In 1918, a civil war broke out
in Finland, involving 1,115 Kauhajoki rivers. Of these, 51 fell and
three prisoners of war died in red. During the Civil War, Kauhajoki
served as a hub for transportation and maintenance. For example,
1,580 horse rides were made from the locality, mainly to Kankaanpää.
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Commander-in-Chief of the Defense
Forces, held talks at Kauhajoki Railway Station on 8-9 September. on
the night of March 1918 with his front commanders from the conquest
of Tampere.
In 1908, the Koski school was founded. The
following year it was the turn of the Muurahainen and Hangaskylä
schools. Kokonkylä and Lylysalo schools were founded in 1914 and the
following year the Ikkeläjärvi school. The schools of Pukkila, Uuro,
Nummikoski, Nummijärvi and Kiviluoma were founded in 1918. In 1919,
the schools of Harja and Luomankylä and the Suupohja country school
were founded. The Household School and the Aro School were founded
in 1920. The Kainasto School was founded in 1922. The Evangelical
Folk High School and the Yrjänäinen School were founded in 1925.
Kauhajärvi got its own school in 1926 and Nirva in 1928. In the same
year, a joint school was established in the municipality. Puska
School was founded in 1929.
Agriculture was the most
important industry in the 1920s, employing 91.1 percent of the
municipality's population. 51.98% were landowners and their family
members, 21.57% were lampshades and crofters, 23.65% were
self-employed and hill dwellers, and 1.27% lived in office
buildings. Others were 1.49%.
The recession of the 1930s
plagued the Finnish economy, but gradually the country began to
recover. The peat and grain dryer industry and sawmills began to be
established in Kauhajoki. In 1934, the Kauhajoki Museum Association
was founded. Other events of the decade included the paving of the
main street Topeeka, an agricultural exhibition and the drying of
Lake Ohmerojärvi. The Ohmerojärvi school was founded in 1930, the
following year the Lustila school and in 1933 the Pentilä and
Jokimäki schools. Piipari School was founded in 1935, Möyky School
in 1937 and Lamminmaa School in 1939.
The Finnish Parliament convened secretly in Kauhajoki during the
Winter War on 5 December 1939–12. February 1940. The meeting place
was located upstairs in the wooden part of the Sanssi school. That
is why there are two presidential gavel in the coat of arms of
Kauhajoki. Of those who took part in the Kauhajoki winter war, 46
fell.
In the Continuation War of 1941–1944, 287 Kauhajoki
were killed. Nearly 2,000 Ingrians arrived at the investment camp
established in 1943 in Kauhajoki. Of this crowd, 509 people remained
in the locality. Mostly the Ingrians returned to the Soviet Union
after the end of the war. In addition, 1,500 immigrants arrived from
Karelia to Kauhajoki, staying mainly to live in the locality. At the
turn of the 1940s and 1950s, the largest unified frontline area in
Finland was established in Sahankylä, Kauhajoki, based on the Land
Acquisition Act. The village was visited by clearers from all over
Finland, who established a total of 42 settlements in the village.
The emergence of service industries after the wars
Pihkakylä
school was founded in 1946, Koivumäki school the following year and
Äijö and Nummilahti schools in 1948. Hakokallio school was founded
in 1949 and Könnö and Sahankylä schools in 1951. Now there were 36
elementary schools in the locality. The Pihkakylä school was closed
in 1958. This was the first closure in Kauhajoki.
Service
industries with construction and industry took over the sector from
agriculture and forestry during the 1950s, when agriculture and
forestry provided a livelihood for 76% of Kauhajoki's residents.
During the decade, the working-age population moved from the
locality to Sweden and the cities. The church built on the Kauhajoki
River in 1820 burned down in 1956. Two years later, a new church was
completed.
Still in the 1960s, agriculture employed 71% of
the bucket rivers. During the decade, the primary schools in
Koivumäki, Hakokallio, Teevahainen, Möyky, Nummilahti, Lamminmaa,
Pentilä, Kiviluoma and Puska were closed after the number of
students decreased. Instead, the Suupohja Business School, Kauhajoki
Citizens' College, Kauhajoki Vocational School and Kauhajoki Music
College were established so that local youth could study in their
hometown. Passenger traffic on the Suupohja line ended in 1968. In
addition, main road 67 through the municipality was renovated in the
1960s.
Industry grew in the 1960s and 1970s, and agriculture
and forestry employed only 39% of the Kauhajoki population in the
1970s. Services employed 32%. Major employers Rauma-Repola,
Strömberg, Tiklas, Esko Salo and Maan Liha established their offices
in Kauhajoki within a decade. The traffic volumes of Kauhajoki also
increased and the center of the municipality changed when a new one
was built to replace the old one. The primary schools of Uuro,
Turja, Hangaskylä, Ohmerojärvi and Koskenkylä were abolished in
1972. The primary school was transferred in 1975.
Kauhajoki
was also briskly built in the 1980s. Similarly, the number of jobs
increased in industry and services. The roads leading to Hyyppä,
Nummijärvi and Ikkeläjärvi received permanent pavement during the
decade. The schools in Pukkila, Kauhajärvi, Harja, Piipari and
Jokimäki were renovated and a nursing home, new apartments and a
health center were built in the municipality. Architect's office
Sipinen Oy won an invitation competition in 1981 for a new municipal
building. The building was completed in 1983. The library building
designed by Touko Saari was completed in 1989. The recession in the
1990s led to the departure of Strömberg and Rauma-Repola from
Kauhajoki and at the same time to a deterioration in the employment
situation.
The road from Kauhajärvi to the Satakunta border
was paved during the 1990s. During the decade, schools such as
Ikkeläjärvi and Harja were closed down in 1999.
After 133
municipal years, Kauhajoki became a city on July 1, 2001.
A
shooting incident took place on September 23, 2008 at the Kauhajoki
Service Education Institute, in which eleven people died.
The Kauhajoki is named after the river of the same name that flows through it. According to the history of the Kauhajoki chapel in the Kauhajoki church archives, the chapel was once known in Swedish as “sleff-åå”, or kapustajoki. The son of the first permanent priest of the Kauhajoki chapel took the surname Haustramnius, or “Kauhajoki resident”. The first part of the name comes from the Latin words haurio, Hausi, haustum, which means to draw. The latter part of the name comes from the word amnis, which in turn means river.
The name Kauha may also have come from the original Nordic word
gauža, meaning flood and boiling. Bucket is also a dialect and means
horror. Originally, the meaning of the bucket was pale, lightness.
The meaning then gave way to the word for the sign. Horror, on the
other hand, originally meant pallor, and was accompanied by the word
horror. The words kausta and kausa, which mean page and set aside,
have also been suggested as the root word for the word Kauha.
Admittedly, it is unlikely that the folder would have turned into a
bucket.
It has also been noted that the majority of
Kauha-derived names are located either on the watershed or above
their immediate surroundings. So possibly a bucket could mean the
upper reaches of a river, a watershed, or high terrain. The base of
the bucket could be the ancient Scandinavian word haugr, from which
the Swedish word hög and the Norwegian word Haug have been formed.
Both words mean high place, mound and high.