Kramfors () is a locality and the seat of

Kramfors Municipality Kramfors Municipality () is a municipality in Västernorrland County, northern Sweden. Its seat is located in the town Kramfors. The rural municipality of ''Gudmundrå'' was in 1947 made one of the last administrative cities of Sweden and got ...

Västernorrland County Västernorrland County () is a county ('' län'') in the north of Sweden. It is bordered by the counties of Gävleborg, Jämtland, Västerbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. The name ''Västernorrland'' means "Western Norrland", as it was in the ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It had a population of 5,990 inhabitants in 2010. The town grew on the western bank of the Ångerman river in the 19th century as harvested logs were floated downriver to be processed at local sawmills and

pulp mill A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fiber sources into a thick fiber board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical, or ...

s. Christopher Kramm introduced the river's first steam-driven saw, naming it after himself. The name of the town in turn derives from his name and the word ("

rapid Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

"). In the 1960s and 1970s, as the timber industry went into decline, the population of Kramfors declined as well. The original settlement of Kramfors was located in Gudmundrå municipality, but in 1889 received the status of a so-called or

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

, still remaining part of the original municipality. In 1947 it was awarded

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

status, one of the last in the country to do so. Since municipal reform in 1974, it serves as the seat of Kramfors Municipality. The municipality of Kramfors has about 20,000 inhabitants, and is situated almost in the middle of Sweden's east coast in Northern Sweden. Within 100 kilometres from Kramfors there is a population of about 250,000 people, and within 200 kilometres about half a million people, and the large Norrland towns of

Sundsvall Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. Old town i ...

and

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

are within commuting distance. Kramfors is probably best known for its beautiful and varied

High Coast The High Coast () is a part of the coast of Sweden on the Gulf of Bothnia, in the Ångermanland province of northeast Sweden, centered in the area of the municipalities of Kramfors, Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik. It is notable as an area for ...

landscape, which has been given World Heritage status, and which provides the inhabitants with the opportunity of an outdoors lifestyle. One of the

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

academies of Sweden is situated in Kramfors. Kramfors also hosts the

Folke Bernadotte Academy The Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) () is the Swedish government agency for peace, security and development. FBA conducts training, research and method development in order to strengthen peacebuilding and statebuilding in conflict and post-confli ...

, a government agency focused on improving international conflict and crisis management, with a special interest in peace operations. It offers courses in peacekeeping intelligence and information operations that are open to all nations and to non-governmental organizations.

Notable people

* Sune Bergman (1952–2021), former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player. *

Einar Blidberg Vice Admiral Carl Einar Blidberg (20 September 1906 – 21 March 1993) was a Swedish Navy officer. Blidberg served as Chief of the Naval Staff from 1957 to 1961, Commander-in-Chief of the Coastal Fleet from 1962 to 1966, and as commanding office ...

(1906–1993), a

Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy () is the maritime service branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet (), formally sometimes referred to as the Royal Navy () – as well as marine units, the Amph ...

officer. * Erika Grahm (born 1991), former professional ice hockey player. * Mario Kempe (born 1988), current

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

player for the

HC Dinamo Minsk Hockey Club Dinamo Minsk or HC Dinamo Minsk (; , ''Dynama-Minsk'') is a professional ice hockey club based in Minsk, Belarus. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Dinamo has qualified for the KHL playof ...

. * Adrian Kempe (born 1996), current

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player for the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

. * Sandra Näslund (born 1996), a freestyle skier. * Mattias Norlinder (born 2000), current NHL player for the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

. * Anna Olsson (born 1976), Winter Olympic cross-country skier. * Gunnar Östberg (1923–2017), Winter Olympic cross-country skier. *

Tobias Viklund Tobias Viklund (born 8 May 1986) is a Swedish people, Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman, who is currently under contract with Modo Hockey of the HockeyAllsvenskan (Allsv). Playing career Viklund joined Russian club, Avtomobilist Yekate ...

(born 1986), professional ice hockey player. * Magnus Wernblom (born 1973), former professional ice hockey player.

References

{{authority control Populated places in Kramfors Municipality Ångermanland Coastal cities and towns in Sweden Municipal seats of Västernorrland County Swedish municipal seats