Skutskär is a bimunicipal

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivi ...

and the seat of

Älvkarleby Municipality Älvkarleby Municipality (''Älvkarleby kommun'') is a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Skutskär. The municipality is one of few in the country which has not been ...

Uppsala County Uppsala County ( sv, Uppsala län) is a county or '' län'' on the eastern coast of Sweden, whose capital is the city of Uppsala. It borders the counties of Dalarna, Stockholm, Södermanland, Västmanland, Gävleborg, and the Baltic Sea. ...

, Sweden with 6,075 inhabitants in 2010. According to the census of 2000 6,003 people lived in Skutskär, most of them in Älvkarleby Municipality, but a minor part in

Gävle Municipality Gävle Municipality (''Gävle kommun'') is a municipality in east central Sweden. The municipal seat is located in the Stad (city) of Gävle. Geographically the municipality is situated north of the mouth of the river Dalälven and is the south ...

Gävleborg County Gävleborg County ( sv, Gävleborgs län) is a county or ''län'' on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders the counties of Uppsala, Västmanland, Dalarna, Jämtland and Västernorrland. The capital is Gävle. Provinces Gävleborg Co ...

History

Originally Skutskär was the area south and south-east from the industries located there. The first record of Skutskär (Ship Reef) is done 1741 and describes an anchoring point for the industries of Harnäs. The industries in question are iron smelting furnaces in Harnäs (shut down in the 1910s) and later the saw mill and wood pulp mill Skutskärsverken owned by

Stora Enso Stora Enso Oyj (from sv, Stora and fi, Enso ) is a manufacturer of pulp, paper and other forest products, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. The majority of sales takes place in Europe, but there are also significant operations in Asia and ...

which is still one of the largest in the world. This mill and its subcontractors remains by far the largest employer in Skutskär and the surrounding area. Skutskär back then had a large percentage of laborers and their families, which led to the building of all the facilities needed in a small town, including schools, shops, a fire brigade, ambulance and police. Even a public bath (shut down and demolished in the 1970s) and other facilities that must have been a luxury for the working class was built, often with support from the pulp mill. The other half of what is now Skutskär is still called Upplandsbodarna or just Bodarna, especially by the older generations. It is located further south, along the Boda river, which is a small branch of the

Dalälven The Dal River ( sv, Dalälven, Elfdalian: ''Dalövę'') is a river in central Sweden that flows from the north of Dalarna and runs into the sea in northern Uppland; it is commonly considered to be the southern border of Norrland, however only th ...

river, before they both flow into the sea. The population consisted mainly of farmers and fishermen. This village was present a long time before the industries of Skutskär and associated to the Älvkarleby population. Skutskär and Bodarna was not physically the same town until the 1930s, when the new housing district of Kyrkbyn was built. By then the combination of the two urban areas was known simply as Skutskär. Skutskär now remains a stable community population-wise due to the wood pulp mill, the saw mill (that is now run by other ventures after Stora shut down its saw mill operations in Skutskär), and the vicinity to

Gävle Gävle () is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 77,586 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the List of cities in Sweden, 13th most populated city in Sweden. It is t ...

but the municipality is struggling with its financial situation due to political decisions in the 1980s and 90s, mainly integration problems and failed building projects.

Subdivision

Sports

The following sports clubs are located in Skutskär: * Skutskärs IF, bandy club, as of 2018 the Swedish champions among women * Skutskärs IF FK, association football club * Skutskärs OK - orienteering, orienteering clu

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skutskar Municipal seats of Uppsala County Swedish municipal seats Coastal cities and towns in Sweden Populated places in Uppsala County Uppland Populated places in Älvkarleby Municipality Populated places in Gävle Municipality Gästrikland