Rambling along Hämeenkatu street

My home town Tampere has been established in 1779 [1], but it became as major city only after Scotsman James Finlayson arrived here [2]. He established the cotton mill and hydro power station in the beginning of 19th century. Rather rapidly the town grew, and the typical "modern" grid plan for the town center became established. And that is also when the Hämeenkatu street was built.

Hämeenkatu was not the main street of Tampere at first [3]. The town grew to the east, the Hämeensilta bridge became built over the Tammerkoski rapids, and the railway reached Tampere in 1870s. At this time the eastern part of Hämeenkatu was built to connect the railway station to the rest of the town on west side of Tammerkoski. Ever since the Hämeenkatu street has been the "heart of the city", the main street where all the major saloons, banks and shops can be found.

During the civil war (1918), the major battles happened in Tampere. There are still some buildings where the bullet holes can been seen on the brick walls. And there are old pictures taken at that time, where dead bodies lie on streets [4].

Then on World War II Russians bombarded Tampere very heavily because this was a major industrial town, manufacturing weapons for war. Also civil buildings took the damage, and many houses were either destroyed completely or badly ruined. For example my mother's family had to leave the town because the staircase of their apartment building got a direct hit, making it impossible to use their flat.

In 1990s, when I arrived to Tampere, Hämeenkatu was filled by cars. At that time shop owners and their customers believed they just have to have the right to park their car right in front of the shops. It took somewhat 20 years before the plans to make the city centre as car free zone finally became somewhat true. Today there are huge underground car parks, and only buses and taxi cars are allowed to drive along Hämeenkatu. So, now the pedestrians can finally ramble along the Hämeenkatu more freely.

References

[1] History of Tampere en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampere#History
[2] James Finlayson en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Finlayson_(industrialist)
[3] Hämeenkatu www.cs.tut.fi/staff/pk/OldTampere/html/hameenkatu.html

[4] Civil war pictures www.flickr.com/photos/vapriikki/albums/72157668009883972