Dragsfjärd
Dragsfjärd [ ˈdragsfjæːrd ] is a former municipality in south-west Finland . It is located on the island of Kimitoön in the eastern part of the archipelago off the coast of the Varsinais-Suomi landscape . In early 2009, Dragsfjärd merged with the two other communities on the island, Kimito and Västanfjärd, to form the new community Kimitoön (Kemiönsaari).
The municipality of Dragsfjärd had an area of 280.05 km² (of which 8.12 km² inland water) and included the southwestern part of Kimitoön, the second largest island in the Finnish Baltic Sea, as well as the island group of Hitis (Hiittinen). A total of 2000 skerries and cliffs belonged to the municipality, some of which are tens of larger islands. The municipality got its name after the inland lake Dragsfjärden.
Dragsfjärd last had 3,284 inhabitants. Half of the residents in the former municipality live in the main town of Dalsbruk (Taalintehdas). Dalsbruk was built around an ironworks founded in 1686 . A special feature of the place is that most of the houses are built from cinder block , a by-product of smelting. The oldest surviving buildings date from the 18th century. Another important settlement center is Kasnäs on the southern tip of Kimitoön. 77% of the residents are Finland-Swedes . Officially, the community was bilingual with Swedish as the majority and Finnish as the minority language.
Dragsfjärd was detached from the parish of Kimito as a chapel parish in 1694 . In 1903 Dragsfjärd became an independent municipality. The municipality of Hitis was incorporated into Dragsfjärd in 1969. The Church of Dragsfjärd is a wooden cruciform church from the years 1753-55.
Personalities
The Swedish politician Mikael Gustafsson (* 1966) was born in Dragsfjärd . The Finnish publisher Amos Valentin Anderson (1878–1961) died here.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ As of December 31, 2008. Source: Väestörekisterikeskus (Finnish population register). ( Memento from September 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 60 ° 4 ′ N , 22 ° 29 ′ E