Tuusula

Tuusula (; ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Tuusula is situated in the centre of the Uusimaa region. The population of Tuusula is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland and the second most populous municipality without city status () after Nurmijärvi. Tuusula is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area, which has approximately  million inhabitants.

A laurel branch in the coat of arms of Tuusula refers to the local artist community and a wheellock was borrowed from the coat of arms of the Stålhane noble family, which has long been influential in Tuusula. The coat of arms was designed by Olof Eriksson in 1953.

Geography

Tuusula, lying on the shores of Tuusulanjärvi lake, is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa region. It covers an area of of
which
is water. The population density is
.

Tuusula has three population centres. The administrative centre is Hyrylä (about 19,500 residents), other two are Jokela (5,300 residents) and Kellokoski (4,300 residents). The remaining 4,400 residents are distributed to the rural areas outside of municipal centres. The most significant main road connection between Hyrylä and Helsinki is the Tuusulanväylä motorway.

The neighbouring communes are Vantaa to the south, Nurmijärvi to the west, Hyvinkää to the north, Mäntsälä and Järvenpää to the north east, and Sipoo and Kerava to the east.

Villages

Huikko, Hyrylä, Jokela, Jäniksenlinna, Kellokoski, Kirkonkylä, Lahela, Myllykylä, Nahkela, Paijala, Riihikallio, Ruotsinkylä, Ruskela, Rusutjärvi, Savikulma, Siippoo, Vanhakylä

History

The area in what is now Tuusula was located in the larger municipality of Sipoo. In 1643, it became a separate parish in the municipality, and in 1653, it became a separate municipality. Tuusula's boundaries have not always remained the same: in 1924 the municipality of Kerava split from here; in 1950 the municipality of Korso was split between Tuusula, Kerava, and Sipoo; and in 1951 the municipality of Järvenpää split from here.

During the Crimean War (1853–1856), a Russian garrison was stationed in what is now Hyrylä. The modern parish mostly developed around it. Since the departure of the Helsinki Air Defence Regiment, the former garrison area has been redeveloped.

The area had always been a fairly fertile area, thus encouraging farming. The development of other industries began in 1795, when an ironworks was created in Kellokoski that functioned until the 1980s. The establishment of a railway in Jokela furthered the growth.

Soon after this industrial time another aspect of Tuusulan history was realised. The Tuusulanjärvi lake attracted many artists who wanted to paint the beautiful landscape. Following the footsteps of Aleksis Kivi, the Finnish national poet who spent the last years of his life in a hut on the shores of the lake, Jean Sibelius, Juhani Aho, and Pekka Halonen even established their main residences here. Recently these houses have become tourist sites, especially Sibelius' house Ainola. Also, Tuusula Lake Road on the eastern shore of the lake is an outside museum.

The Jokela rail crash was a rail crash which occurred on 21 April 1996 here.

Jokela High School was the site of the Jokela school shooting, a school shooting which occurred on 7 November 2007, leaving 9 dead (including the 18-year-old perpetrator, Pekka-Eric Auvinen).

Notable people

*Ilmari Juutilainen, the top flying ace of the Finnish Air Force
* Eino Leino, poet
* Teemu Suninen, rally driver

Demographics

Tuusula, in the Helsinki suburbs, has been in a positive balance of population, with it more than doubling in size since 1970.

The municipality is officially Finnish. Swedish was the second official language until 1943. Today only 2% are Swedish-speaking.

''Population in:''
* 1970 – 17.235
* 1980 – 22.151
* 1987 – 26.234
* 1990 – 27.328
* 1997 – 29.957
* 2000 – 31.957
* 2007 – 34.890

Politics

Parliamentary elections

Results of the 2019 Finnish parliamentary election in Tuusula:

*Finns Party 21%
*National Coalition Party 20.4%
*Social Democratic Party 16.5%
* Centre Party 12.3%
*Green League 11.3%
* Movement Now 5.3%
* Left Alliance 4.8%
* Blue Reform 2.6%
* Christian Democrats 2%
*Other parties 4%

Municipal Council

Twin towns – Sister cities

Tuusula is twinned with:

Economy and Infrastructure

Economy

Due its proximity to the Helsinki, Tuusula is, for the most part, a commuter town. Tuusula itself has around 10,000 jobs. 66% of the jobs are in the service sector, 31% in the workforce, and 1.5% are farmers. The unemployment rate amounted to 3% (2007), far below the national average.

Transportation

From the centre of Tuusula, Hyrylä, there are good bus connections to Helsinki, via the ''Tuusula motorway''. There are also two train stations in the main railway line of Finland, '' Jokela'' and '' Nuppulinna''. Nuppulinna, however, was discontinued in 2016.

Education

Tuusula's network of schools include:

*18 primary schools
*4 secondary schools
*3 high schools
*1 hospital school

See also

* For Tuusula
* Tuusula Highway

References

External links

Municipality of Tuusula
– official site

{{Authority control

Greater Helsinki
Populated places established in 1643
1643 establishments in Sweden