Degerfors () is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

and the seat of

Degerfors Municipality Degerfors Municipality () is a municipality in Örebro County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Degerfors. The northern part of the municipality was before 1925 part of Karlskoga Municipality, from which it was detached to ...

Örebro County Örebro County () is a county or '' län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Västra Götaland, Värmland, Dalarna, Västmanland, Södermanland and Östergötland. It is frequently culturally divided into the hilly northern region of ...

, Sweden, with 7,160 inhabitants in 2010. Degerfors is the sixth-largest city in Örebro County. It is located at the southern shore of lake Möckeln, 13 km (8 mi) south of neighboring

Karlskoga Karlskoga () is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and the seat of Karlskoga Municipality, Sweden. It is located within Örebro County, 45 km (28 mi) west of Örebro, and 10 km (6 mi) north of Degerfors. With a 2020 population o ...

. Degerfors evolved around the

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

, that is nowadays owned by the Finnish conglomerate Outokumpu Oyj. It is also home to the football club

Degerfors IF Degerfors IF is a Swedish professional association football, football club located in Degerfors. The club, formed 13 January 1907, is currently playing in the highest tier in Swedish football, Allsvenskan. Background Degerfors IF first played ...

, which is playing in the first tier of Swedish football, Allsvenskan.

History

Degerfors has traditionally been an industrial community closely connected to the large

, associated with members of the Camitz family. The settlement (originally called Johannelund) grew up around this industry and got the status of a ''municipalsamhälle'' (a type of borough within a municipality) in 1912. Today it acts as seat of the larger Degerfors Municipality. In the 1870s, a group of people native to the Degerfors-area emigrated to the Ural region (then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

Economy

The steelworks is now owned by the Finnish conglomerate Outokumpu Oyj. The location has a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

and a narrow-gauge railway connecting it with Bredsjö, the . Tourists to the region usually stop at the Sveafallen nature reserve.

Sveafallen

Degesfors is the site of Sveafallen, a geological landscape of small canyons and

giant's kettle A giant's kettle, also known as either a giant's cauldron, moulin pothole, or glacial pothole, is a typically large and cylindrical Pothole (landform), pothole drilling, drilled in solid rock (geology), rock underlying a glacier either by water ...

s. Immediately south of Degerfors lies the

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

of Sveafallen. The reserve contains a series of small canyons as well as numerous and large

s. Sveafallen was long held to be the outlet of the

Ancylus Lake Ancylus Lake is a name given by geologists to a large freshwater lake that existed in northern Europe approximately from 8,750 to 7,850 years Before Christ, BC, being in effect one of various predecessors to the modern Baltic Sea. Origin, evoluti ...

, a fresh-water predecessor to the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

. The site was first discovered in 1923 by Lennart von Post being the focus of a protracted and sometimes bitter scientific debate that involved not only von Post but also figures such as Henrik Munthe, Astrid Cleve and Curt Fredén. The site was initially proposed to be the dry remnant of a dramatic river or waterfall comparable to

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

. Research by Curt Fredén cast well founded doubts on this view, with the final demise being a 1981 study by Birgitta Ericsson et al showing that the giant's kettles in the area are older than the Ancylus Lake. Sveafallen is now believed to have formed by meltwater streams under the Fennoscandian ice sheet.

Sports

Nationally, Degerfors is best known for the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team

. Despite the relatively small size of the town, Degerfors has always had strong local support, and played a total of 29 years in the highest division

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

. In 1997 the team were relegated and were playing in the second highest Swedish league,

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

until they achieved promotion back to Allsvenskan (highest Swedish league) in 2020. Another sports club located in Degerfors is Strömtorps IK.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in Degerfors Municipality Municipal seats of Örebro County Swedish municipal seats Populated lakeshore places in Sweden