Ylöjärvi is a city in Pirkanmaa. The neighboring municipalities
of Ylöjärvi are Hämeenkyrö, Ikaalinen, Kihniö, Nokia, Parkano,
Ruovesi, Tampere and Virrat. The city covers an area of 1,324.14
square kilometers and has a population of 33,236. At the beginning
of 1954, the western part of Teisko municipality, west of Lake
Näsijärvi, was divided between Ylöjärvi and Kuru. On 1 January 2007,
the Association of Municipalities of the City of Ylöjärvi and the
Municipality of Viljakkala entered into force. The municipality of
Kuru was incorporated into Ylöjärvi on 1 January 2009. The coat of
arms of Ylöjärvi was designed by Gustaf von Numers and confirmed in
1954.
Ylöjärvi is located northwest of Tampere on the shores
of Lake Näsijärvi and is part of the Tampere metropolitan area and
the center of Tampere. The distance to Tampere is 14, to Helsinki
189 and to Turku 164 kilometers. The Tampere – Seinäjoki line,
highway 3 from Tampere to Vaasa and main road 65 from Ylöjärvi to
Virra run through Ylöjärvi. The railway, completed in 1971, has no
passenger seats in the Ylöjärvi area, so buses handle all public
transport.
Ylöjärvi is a rural town. It does not have a clear
center: the Tampere-Vaasa road and the Tampere-Seinäjoki railway
divide the municipality's city center into two distinct parts, the
church village and Soppeenmäki. Other parts of Lake Ylöjärvi include
Asuntila, Vuorentausta, Siivikkala, Metsäkylä, Haavisto, Kuru,
Viljakkala, Vahanta, Takamaa and Mutala.
In 2020, the city’s
municipal tax was 20.50 percent. The population of Lake Ylöjärvi has
grown quite strongly in recent years in the intake of Tampere; this
is especially true in the Metsäkylä and Asuntila areas. The age
structure of the population is also relatively young.
Ylöjärvi's attractions include, among others, Villa Urpo (the home of
publisher Urpo Lahtinen and the representative office of Lehtimiehet Oy,
which he founded), Teivo's race track (which replaced Hippos located in
Tampere's Kaleva), Puuvuori, representing environmental art, consisting
of 10,000 planted trees, and the Ylöjärvi Homeland Museum. The Homeland
Museum includes 11 buildings, the oldest of which is from the 18th
century. Ylöjärvi has four churches and two prayer rooms: Ylöjärvi
church, Kuru church, Viljakkala church, Pengonpohja prayer room and
Länsi-Teisko church (prayer room). Antaverka has the Suomen
Refrigeration Technology Museum founded by Paavo V. Suominen, the
mountain advisor of the founder of the Huurre company, and the St.
Michael's Chapel built by him next to the museum. In addition, Ylöjärvi
has the Ylisen church owned by the Ylisen service center, which was
originally completed as a grain warehouse in 1921 and consecrated as a
church in 1963.
Partly in the Ylöjärvi area lies Seitsimeni
National Park.
Ylöjärvi chapel congregation was founded in 1779 by separating it from Pirkkala. The parish became independent in 1895, but the separation from Pirkkala was finally realized only at the turn of the 20th century. The first church in Ylöjärvi, located on the site of the current church, was completed in 1781, and it was destroyed in a fire started by lightning in 1842. The rural municipality of Ylöjärvi was founded in 1869. The first public school in Ylöjärvi started its operations in 1871; before that, the municipality had operated an itinerant keeper's school since 1811 with the assets of assessor Gabriel Ahlman's will. After the Continuation War, Kaukola immigrants settled in Ylöjärvi. Agriculture and forestry remained Ylöjärvi's main livelihood for a long time, until the municipality began to rapidly industrialize after the last wars. In 1951, Hämeen Työläisnuoriso started operating in Ylöjärvi, the name of which was soon changed to Voionmaa, according to professor Väinö Voionmaa. The municipality became a city at the beginning of 2004.
According to the 2018 regional distribution, Ylöjärvi has the
following parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland:
Ylöjärvi parish
Kuru Chapel Congregation
Viljakkala parish
district
Ylöjärvi Pentecostal Church operates as an independent
Pentecostal church in Ylöjärvi.
Among the congregations of the
Finnish Orthodox Church, the Tampere Orthodox congregation operates in
the Ylöjärvi area.
In the following list, parishes that were dissolved in historical
time in the current area of the city of Ylöjärvi are mentioned.
Kuru parish (joined to Ylöjärvi parish in 2009)
Viljakkala parish
(joined to Ylöjärvi parish in 2007)
Districts, residential areas and
villages
Neighborhoods, residential areas and villages located in
Ylöjärvi are Antaverkka, Asunita, Elovainio, Haavisto, Ilmari, Kaihari,
Kirkonseutu, Lempianiemi, Metsäkylä, Mutala, Peräsilta, Pinsiö,
Siivikkala, Soppeenmäki, Takamaa, Vahanta, Vasama, Veittijärvi and
Vuorentausta.
Villages and residential areas in the Viljakkala
area: Hanhijärvi, Harhala, Haveri, Hiiroinen, Inkula, Karhe, Manni,
Nisu, Pikku-Pispala, Viljakkala church village.
Kuru region
villages and residential areas: Hainari, Itä-Aure, Kallio, Karjula,
Kulju, Kuru church village, Kyrönlahti, Länsi-Aure, Länsi Teisko, Luode,
Niemikylä, Parkkuu, Pengonpohja, Poikelus, Riuttanen, Seiseminen.
The town of Ylöjärvi has four basic schools with only elementary
school (grades 1-6): Mutala, Siivikkala, Takamaa and Vahanna schools.
The Unified Schools of Kuru, Viljakkala, Metsäkylä and Ylöjärvi, as well
as the schools of Kauraslammi and Vuorentausta have both upper and lower
grades. There are ten elementary schools in total.
In addition,
there is a high school in the city and the Tampere region's vocational
college Tredu, which offers vocational basic degrees in the fields of
mechanical and metal, social and health, and business administration at
the Valo Education Center. In addition to the national curriculum,
Ylöjärvi High School offers the opportunity to deepen the student's
vision and knowledge of the possibilities of social influence and
entrepreneurship. A separate Y-line operates in the high school.
Ylöjärvi's main library Leijan was designed by architect Tero
Harjunniemi and was completed in 2002. The library hall's 80-meter glass
wall opens onto Kuruntie.
Ylöjärven Ilves is a special sports club founded in 1990, which is
known as a hobby and competitive sports club with football and futsal as
its main sports. Ylöjärven Urheilijat is a sports club from Ylöjärvi
that operates in athletics, skiing, swimming, orienteering and fitness.
Uplakers is a club active in ice hockey, figure skating and ringette.
Ylöjärvi Ryhti operates in the areas of volleyball, powerlifting,
skiing, frisbee golf and football. The power of mountain background
(VuVo), works in boxing.
Ylöjärvi has a sports hall in the
downtown area, which includes a swimming hall and a ball hall. In
November 2019, the Ylöjärvi multipurpose hall, or Ylöjärven Ilves
Areena, owned by Ylöjärven Areena Oy, was also opened in Ylöjärvi.
Ylöjärven Urheiluhallit Oy, a limited company owned by Ylöjärven Ilves,
is responsible for renting the halls. The hall has both an artificial
turf and an indoor game platform. The multi-purpose hall is located in
the Elonvainio area, where the Ylöjärvi ice rink and the sports center
are also located. There is a 26-hole frisbee golf course in Julkujärvi.
Among the most well-known companies from Ylöjärvi are Avant Tecno and
Huurre Group Oy's kylmakalustehdas. Plastiroll Oy manufactures garbage
and bio bags and waste bags.
From 1943 to 1966, Outokumpu Oy's
Parointen copper mine, which was one of the most important employers in
the municipality, operated in the legal field near the Hämeenkyrö
border. Since 1967, the Defense Forces Research Institute has operated
at the former mine.
Among the Ylöjärve associations, Rantajätkät
organizes various events, the most famous of which is Räikkärock held in
summer.
The outdoor scenes of the comedy series Tankki rinneen, which was
first shown in 1978–1980 on Yle TV2 and was one of the most popular of
its time, were filmed at the closed Kesoil gas station in Soppeenmäki.
The service station was built on the west side of the highway 3 and
Kuruntie intersection in 1960, and it was demolished in the late 1980s.
Well-known residents of Ylöjärvi
The most famous residents of
Ylöjärvi include the Syrjä brothers Martti Syrjä and Mikko "Pantse"
Syrjä and their cousins Aku Syrjä and Juha Torvinen, who belong to the
Ylöjärvä band Eppu Normaali. The Syrjä brothers' parents, writers Jaakko
Syrjä and Kirsi Kunnas, are also well-known.
Other well-known
people who lived or currently live in Ylöjärvi include, among others,
Aron, Antti Honkkila, Pasi Kaunisto, Esa Keskinen, Sanni Leinonen, Maria
Lund, Tiina Lymi, Jaakko Löytty, Pate Mustajärvi, Toni Nieminen, Ville
Nieminen, Ari Vallin, Matti Nykänen , Mervi Tapola, Tenho Saurén, Carl
J. Danhammer, Kirsi-Kaisa Sinisalo, Saara Tuominen, Joni Karvinen, Rosa
Lindstedt, Harri Veistinen, Jenni Banerjee and Maria Ylipää. Well-known
politicians from Ylöjärvi are MP Sami Savio (ps.) and deputy MP Juho
Ojares (co.). Vuorineuvos Paavo V. Suominen founded Huurre Oy, a
refrigerator manufacturer operating in Ylöjärvi.