Sundsvall

History

The town was chartered in 1621, and a first urban plan for Sundsvall was probably created by Olof Bure in 1642, less likely in 1623. It has a port by the Gulf of Bothnia, and is located 395 km north of Stockholm. The city has burned down and been rebuilt four times. The first time, in 1721, it was set on fire by the Russian army during the Russian Pillage of 1719-1721.

According to one historian, Swedish industrialism started in Sundsvall when the Tunadal sawmill bought a steam-engine driven saw in 1849. In the early 20th century Sundsvall was an even greater centre of forestry industry in Sweden than it is today. The first large Swedish strike was the "Sundsvall strike" in 1879. The industrial heritage makes social democrat and socialist sympathies more prevalent in the Sundsvall region than in Sweden as a whole.

In 1888 on 25 June, strong wind and dry conditions contributed to two city fires in Sweden on the same day. On this day both Umeå and Sundsvall caught fire. The Sundsvall fire was the largest in Sweden's history. It is presumed that the fire was caused by a spark from a steamship. After the fire, and unlike Umeå, the decision was to rebuild using stone. Sundsvall's centre was later nicknamed Stenstaden (the stone city). One advantage of the new construction was that within three years the town was arguing that it should be allowed reduced insurance as new rules had been brought in that applied to wooden towns. One disadvantage was that after the fire only the better off could afford to live in the centre.

Today Sundsvall is not only dominated by the pulp and paper industry, and the aluminium production but there are also banks, insurance companies, telecommunications administration and a number of large public data-processing centres such as the national social insurance board. The main campus of the Mid Sweden University (Mittuniversitetet) is also located in the city. The university, established in 1993, is a collaboration between Östersund, Sundsvall and Härnösand.

Climate

Sundsvall has a climate which is on the border between subarctic (Dfc) and cold humid continental (Dfb), leaning towards the latter in recent years. Temperatures are made significantly milder and regulated by the influence from the Gulf Stream. The weather station is located 20 km to the north and somewhat further inland near Timrå, which renders that Sundsvall's urban centre is likely milder in terms of low temperatures by some degree.

|Jan record high C = 11.0 |Feb record high C = 13.8 |Mar record high C = 15.2 |Apr record high C = 21.9 |May record high C = 27.4 |Jun record high C = 35.0 |Jul record high C = 33.0 |Aug record high C = 31.3 |Sep record high C = 27.2 |Oct record high C = 21.5 |Nov record high C = 14.0 |Dec record high C = 10.5 |year record high C = |Jan avg record high C = 5.3 |Feb avg record high C = 6.8 |Mar avg record high C = 11.5 |Apr avg record high C = 16.8 |May avg record high C = 22.2 |Jun avg record high C = 25.7 |Jul avg record high C = 27.8 |Aug avg record high C = 26.0 |Sep avg record high C = 21.1 |Oct avg record high C = 14.5 |Nov avg record high C = 8.8 |Dec avg record high C = 6.7 |year avg record high C = 28.8 |Jan avg record low C = -22.5 |Feb avg record low C = -21.5 |Mar avg record low C = -17.4 |Apr avg record low C = -7.4 |May avg record low C = -3.0 |Jun avg record low C = 2.3 |Jul avg record low C = 6.1 |Aug avg record low C = 4.5 |Sep avg record low C = -0.1 |Oct avg record low C = -6.4 |Nov avg record low C = -11.5 |Dec avg record low C = -16.8 |year avg record low C = -24.9 |Jan record low C = -35.5 |Feb record low C = -34.8 |Mar record low C = -34.2 |Apr record low C = -20.0 |May record low C = -8.2 |Jun record low C = -2.0 |Jul record low C = 1.9 |Aug record low C = -0.6 |Sep record low C = -7.7 |Oct record low C = -15.2 |Nov record low C = -22.1 |Dec record low C = -36.6 |year record low C = -36.6 |Jan snow depth cm = 38 |Feb snow depth cm = 45 |Mar snow depth cm = 43 |Apr snow depth cm = 23 |May snow depth cm = 0 |Jun snow depth cm = 0 |Jul snow depth cm = 0 |Aug snow depth cm = 0 |Sep snow depth cm = 0 |Oct snow depth cm = 0 |Nov snow depth cm = 9 |Dec snow depth cm = 22 |year snow depth cm = 52

Culture

During 1987–2013, there was a summer music festival called Gatufesten. Starting in 2014 there's a new one called Hamnyran. There are two theatres and various musical venues. There is also a small guitar festival and a larger heavy metal festival every autumn called Nordfest. Sundsvall is also home to the unique festival Musikschlaget, which is a song contest for groups around Sweden with disabilities.

Transport

The city is served by Sundsvall-Timrå Airport, also known as Midlanda. The airport provides direct flights to Stockholm which are operated by Scandinavian Airlines.

The city is also served by buses with local and city routes,the company operating the buses in Din tur

Sport

• Alnö IF, association football
• GIF Sundsvall, association football
• IF Sundsvall Hockey, ice hockey
• IFK Sundsvall, association football
• Sundsvalls AIK (sv), wrestling
• Sundsvalls DFF, association football
• Kovlands IF, multi-sport alliance club
  • Kovlands Ishockeyförening, ice hockey
• Selånger SK, multi-sport alliance club
  • Selånger FK, association football
  • Selånger SK Bandy, bandy
• Sidsjö-Böle IF, association football
• Sund IF, association football
• Sundsvall Dragons, basketball
• Sundsvall Flames, American football
• Njurunda MK, Motocross, Enduro and Trial

Former

• IBK Sundsvall, floorball (1986–2006)

Notable people

• Otto Wallin, boxer

• Garmarna, folk band

• The Same, punk band

• Sigrid Hjertén (1885–1948), painter

• Harry Ahlin (1900–1969), actor

• Per Arne Collinder (1890–1975), astronomer (born in Sundsvall)

• Gina Dirawi (1990–), television presenter, host of Melodifestivalen 2012 and 2013

• Elin Ek (1976–), TV and radio personality (as Grynet), singer

• Fredrik Ericsson (1975–2010), extreme skier

• Jessica Falk (1973–), singer-songwriter and musician

• Anders Abraham Grafström (1790–1870), poet

• Anders Graneheim (1962–), bodybuilder

• Stan Hasselgård (1922–1948), musician

• Bengt Lindström (1925–2008), artist

• Kjell Lönnå (1936–2022), musician

• Fredrik Modin (1974–), ice hockey player

• Max Magnus Norman (1973–), artist

• Daniel Ohrn (1993-), ice hockey player

• Erik Ringmar (1960–), political scientist and author

• Mattias Saari (1994–), ice hockey player

• Helen Sjöholm (1970–), singer, actress and musical theater performer

• Hanna Glas (1993–), football player

• Carl Strandlund (1899–1974), Swedish-American inventor and entrepreneur

• Henrik Zetterberg (1980–), ice hockey player

• Yohio (1995–), singer and guitarist

• Kevin Walker (1989–), football player and winner of Idol 2013

• Charlotte Kalla (1987–), cross-country skier

• Carl-Herman Tillhagen (1906–2002), folklorist

• Emil Forsberg (1991–), football player

• Elias Pettersson (1998–), ice hockey player and 2019 Calder Trophy winner

• MyAnna Buring (1979–), actress (born in Sundsvall)

• Ursula Wirth (1934–2019), rally driver

Gallery

Sundsvall - KMB - 16001000021997.jpg|Sundsvall in the late 1930s Sundsvall in Sweden Storgatan.jpg|Storgatan, the main street in Sundsvall in the heart of Stenstaden ("The stone city") Stadshuset Sundsvall 107.jpg|Sundsvall City Hall Storbron Sundsvall 15.jpg|Storbron, a bridge across Selångersån river in central Sundsvall Bredsand stockvik sundsvall.jpg|Bredsand, Stockvik in Sundsvall Sundsvall västra station perrong.jpg|Sundsvall västra station, train station Gustav Adolfs kyrka 21.JPG|The church building of "Gustav Adolfs kyrka" at Rådhusgatan 36 in Sundsvall Norrporten Arena sett från Norra Berget 02.jpg|Idrottsparken, Sundsvall Norra berget.jpg|View from Norra berget, Sundsvall

References

References

1. (28 November 2024). "Statistiska tätorter 2023, befolkning, landareal, befolkningstäthet per tätort² 2005 och 2010". [[Statistics Sweden]].
2. (1979). "Svenska ortnamn med uttalsuppgifter".
3. (2018-06-04). "Tätorter och småorter".
4. (2025-12-16). "Kommunsiffror {{!}} Sundsvalls kommun".
5. Nils Ahlberg, [http://diss-epsilon.slu.se:8080/archive/00000930/ ''Stadsgrundningar och planförändringar : Svensk stadsplanering 1521–1721''] {{webarchive. link. (14 August 2011 , avhandling vid Institutionen för landskapsplanering Ultuna och Konstvetenskapliga institutionen, Stockholms universitet 2005, s. 550)
6. "Lokal historia".
7. (May 2018)
8. [http://minnen.sundsvall.se/handelser/sundsvallbrinner/branden1888.4.5fa0c5b211481decdd980002345.html Fire of 1888] {{webarchive. link. (29 May 2014 , Sunsvall.se, retrieved 28 May 2014)
9. Rohland, Eleonora. (1 February 2011). "From Wood to Stone: The Risk Management of Swiss Re in The Sundsvall Fire 1888". Environment and History.
10. "Nordfest".
11. "www.musikschlaget.se".
12. "Start : Din tur".
13. The city officially changed it's name to "Sundsvall och Timrå" following a merging of the two cities formerly known as Sundsvall and Timrå.