Korkeakosken teollisuusympäristö

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

The industrial site at Korkeakoski has developed on the historic mill and sawmill site where, it is believed, one of the country's earliest industrial plants operated. Along the river today are the A. Ahlström Osakeyhtiö Korkeakoski factories and, beside them, the former Enso-Gutzeit Oy Insulite factory with its uniform workers' housing area. Kierikkala and Kalliokoski also have older settlements of factory workers. The rapids and natural beauty of the Kymijoki rapids have also attracted artists over the ages. The old Turku-Viipuri road crosses the Kymijoki rapids at Korkeakoski.

The oldest brick factory buildings date from the founding period, from the 1880s and the early 1900s. The groundwood mill and board mill were extended in the 1920s. The older hydroelectric power station was built in 1906, and the newer one, designed by architect Karl Lindal, was built in 1926, as was the steam power station completed in 1923. Korkeakoski is home to Finland's oldest fibreboard factory, The Insulite Company of Finland, which was founded in 1930. In the early 1930s, a uniform workers' housing area called Pahvikylä was built in the immediate vicinity of the factory. Its "American-style" Insulite houses were designed by architects Hytönen and Luukkonen.

History

At the old mill site at the Kymijoki rapids at Korkeakoski, a first water sawmill was already operating in the 1550s, and the industrial plant was reportedly the first in Kymenlaakso. Karhula sawmill owner William Ruth had bought the rapids rights at Korkeakoski by 1887, and construction of the groundwood mill began the same year. The mill was rebuilt in 1901, and the first hydroelectric power station was built at the end of the 19th century. Later, the A. Ahlström Osakeyhtiö Korkeakoski factories were located along the river, and beside them the Enso-Gutzeit Oy Insulite factory with its housing area. The Insulite factory was the first of its kind in Finland and in the 1930s produced both porous and hard wood board.