Seutula () is a district in

Vantaa Vantaa (; , ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland. Vantaa is part of the Helsinki Metropoli ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, located inside the curve of the River Vantaa. Seutula is also a village in the medieval town of Helsinki, stretching to Rajakoski in the north, Lavanko in the east covering the whole district of Kiila, and including Sotilaskorpi in the south. On the other hand, the western part of the river's curve, including the Königstedt Manor, belongs to the village of Riipilä. Seutula is often considered a region stretching even outside the official district, and it has an active local community. In terms of government, Seutula, Riipilä, and Kiila belong to the Kivistö major district. Vantaa Seutulan koulu1

In the early 1950s, a new

airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

for

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

was built along the Seutulantie road, stretching from Tuusulantie in Ruskeasanta to Seutula. This airfield was opened in 1952, and became the

Helsinki Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (, ) , or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport serving Helsinki, the capital of Finland, as well as its surrounding Helsinki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region in Finland. ...

in 1977. Already during its construction, the airfield was commonly called the Seutula airfield, because Tuusulantie had a sign pointing to Seutula. In reality, the airfield was built about 8 kilometres southeast from Seutula, in the northern parts of Veromiehenkylä and Kirkonkylä. Nowadays, Lentokenttä ( Finnish for "airfield") is its own district in Vantaa. The name Seutula is often connected to

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

s, although there never has been a prison in Seutula. The reason for the connection is that the airfield was mainly built using prisoner labour. Some of the prisoners used to build the airfield were public figures of the 1960s, convicted of driving under influence, bringing the activity to light. An

open prison An open prison or open jail is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells. Prisoners may be permitted to take up employmen ...

was located in Seutula until 2009. This prison was originally called a labour colony, and one of its inmates in the 1960s was Irwin Goodman,Vantaan Sanomat
who had made records about the subject called ''Terveisiä Seutulasta'' ("greetings from Seutula") and ''Autolla Kanarian saarille'' ("to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

by car"), with lyrics by Vexi Salmi.

References

* Vantaa alueittain (2003). Downloadable as two PDF files fro
the web site of the city of Vantaa
Pages 104-107 in the beginning part are about Seutula. * Vantaan väestö kaupunginosittain 1.1.2006. Statistics map, downloadable as a PDF file fro
the web site of the city of Vantaa
{{Vantaa Districts of Vantaa