History
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The Frösö Runestone is situated on Frösön in Östersund.
Main article: History of Östersund
Lake Storsjön's shores have long been inhabited. The area where Östersund is situated was for a very long time Frösön's link to the east mainland. Frösön, the island of the Norse god Freyr, was originally the centre of the region and it was here the only inland Scandinavian hill fort, Mjälleborgen, was built around 300 AD. The ancient Scandinavian thing Jamtamót was held on this island, the christening of Jämtland begun here and it was here the world's northernmost raised runestone, Frösö Runestone, was raised.
Plans regarding the foundation of a Swedish city or köping (market town, 'Chipping') in Jämtland existed among governmental officials already after the previously Norwegian province was ceded from Denmark-Norway in 1645. Queen Christina demanded the establishment of a sconce on Andersön shortly after the province became Swedish; this sconce would together with Frösö sconce secure Swedish control of Jämtland. Christina's intention was to locate the "Jamts' city" within this fortification. In order to construct the sconce the local inhabitants were coerced into forced labour 1651 but after protests and lack of capital the project was ended in 1654.
Östersund in the mid-19th century, the church in the picture was the first church in Östersund. When the houses were smaller it dominated the cityscape.
In 1758, the plans were brought back up through an initiative from the chief financial director Pehr Schissler and the proposition did however initiate a new debate whether or not a city was to be established in Jämtland, in order to counteract the trading and faring traditions of Jämtland's farmers. Several other attempts at concentration had previously been taken, and deemed unsatisfactory. Östersund was founded and given its charter by Monarch Gustav III of Sweden on 23 October 1786, shortly after the outskirt of the Odensala farmers' lands were bought for the purpose. Several other places had been suggested, like Huså, the then-largest settlement in Jämtland, along with Krokom, Sunne and Ede outside of Brunflo. Frösön was also a candidate but the lot fell on Östersund, as it was deemed most favourable. The only things actually located in the area at the time were the main road and the bridge to Frösön. Östersund was upon its foundation freed from taxes for a period of 20 years and completely liberated from trade regulations and guild order. In other remote locations of the Nordic region, similar cities were founded, like Reykjavík in Iceland the very same year, Tromsø (1794) in Northern Norway and Tampere (1775) and Kuopio (1782) in the Finnish inland. Östersund is however the only city in present-day Sweden to have been founded in the 18th century.
The main railway station was built in 1879
The city developed poorly and had to struggle in its infancy. The state tried to persuade the Jamtish traders on Frösön to migrate to the new city but they had no intentions of leaving such a rich parish with the fertile soils Frösön consisted of in favour of the swamp and marshes across the strait. During its first 50 years the city's population only grew by an average of eight people per year. The city became the county seat of the newly founded county consisting of the provinces Jämtland and Härjedalen in 1810, and a county council was established. Though, Östersund remained a de facto farming village with fewer than 400 inhabitants in 1820. An upswing occurred in the 1850s, as trade was liberalized and the logging industry developed.
"The Old Theatre", originally built as an IOGT assembly house in 1884. Now a hotel and a restaurant.
It took until the construction of the railroad in 1879 before Östersund became a real city and actually gained the status as Jämtland's centre, at Frösön's expense. Thanks to the "farmer chieftain" Nils Larson i Tullus, the railroad came to pass through the city itself instead of outside it, as planned. The railway from coast to coast across the then-union between Sweden and Norway was finished in 1882, connecting Östersund more closely to Trondheim and Sundsvall. Östersund then came to grow faster than any other Swedish city. After ten years it had passed 20 Swedish cities in population. The city attracted immigrants, a slight majority from the Jamtish countryside, though still with a high number of settlers from southern Sweden. While Östersund was in its most intense state of growth, popular movements emerged among the inhabitants. In Jämtland and Härjedalen the Good Templar movement (a part of the temperance movement) came to dominate completely. In 1883, 700 of the city's total population of 3,000 were organized Good Templars. The greatest symbol of the movements grandeur was the Order House constructed in 1885 in the city, Östersunds-Goodtemplars-Ordenshus. When one of the most prominent leaders, Joseph Malins, visited the city he announced that it was the world's largest order house.
Many of the leading people behind the popular movements in Östersund saw industrialization as a significant threat to the native districts and the old village and farming community. The work from the movements made the city and its centre-right governance extremely hostile to industry. Instead they wanted to portray Östersund as a centre of outdoor activities, culture, education and tourism. Industry was not allowed to threaten the good environment and cultural history traditions.
In 1917 when the Great War was fought on the continent and with the February Revolution in Russia, the beginning of the Russian Revolution also affected Östersund. Rationing led to lack of supplies and a revolution was feared. Some of the citizens, primarily soldiers, went on hunger strikes and at the first of May that year 4,000 demonstrators gathered in front of the city hall demanding lower prices on milk and wood. The year after, the Spanish flu spread the world. The city doctor in Östersund noted that "Östersund ought without objection to have been more haunted by the flu than any other Swedish city", which is why Östersund was referred to by locals as spanska sjukans huvudstad, 'capital of the Spanish flu'.
The large brick church was built in 1940.
Despite the Great Depression and several crises resulting in a very high unemployment rate, Östersund continued to grow in the interwar period. In 1918 the Odenslund area was incorporated. The business sector remained largely unaffected and Östersund continued to be one of the least industrialized cities in Sweden. Instead Östersund continued to focus on wholesale trade and became a centre for it in northern and north-central Sweden. The city's central position was strengthened when the Inlandsbanan railway was constructed through Jämtland from the north to the south. The first scheduled bus route was created in the 1920s between Östersund and the nearby town of Brunflo. In the next decade well over 40 bus routes were functioning in Östersund. The dairy was located west of the bus square, Gustav III:s torg, at the current site of the shopping mall Kärnan. This square naturally become a central part of the city.
Östersund continued to grow after the Second World War. Lugnvik was incorporated into the city in 1954 and Östersund was, like the rest of Jämtland, affected by the Rehn-Meidner-model, though not in the same way. The Swedish Keynesian policy was launched in order to improve the mobility of the labour force. Jämtland was struck hard by this when the people moved from the countryside to cities, from inland to coast and from the north to the south. As an urban area Östersund was affected by the Million Programme and urban districts like Körfältet were created.
Östersund became the capital of the Republic of Jamtland. Its flag can be seen throughout the year at the main town square.
The negative view towards industry changed when the Social Democrats came to power for the first time in the city's history in 1952. Industries were enticed to Östersund through the national localization policy and industrial areas were created in Odenskog and Lugnvik. Development was not, as already mentioned, as good in the rest of Jämtland as it was in Östersund and as a counter to the governmental policy, the Republic of Jamtland was established in 1963. Östersund became the capital of the tongue-in-cheek republic and the home of the freedom festival Storsjöyran.
Östersund continued to grow and in 1970 Frösö köping was made part of Östersund. In 1971 a major reform occurred in Sweden creating large municipalities replacing all the older institutions; the new large municipality was named after the city. As in the rest of Sweden, the public sector greatly expanded at this time. In 1960 the public sector of Sweden constituted about 30 per cent of Sweden's total gross domestic product; by the mid-1980s the number had grown to 65 per cent. At the time jobs were growing in the county council, the government and in the new municipality. The main reasons for the large expansion were the expanded transfer payment to the households that occurred along with growing interest and public consumption.[citation needed] Everything was financed by heavy tax increases. The entirety of the 1970s was a period of expansion. Besides the new industrial complex the Frösö bridge was constructed, a new police station, Z-kupolen (burned to the ground in 1989), Storsjöteatern, Folkets hus, neighborhood churches, malls, etc. The county administrative office and the hospital were expanded and large residential areas grew up in the aforementioned Körfältet and Lugnvik areas, as well as in Odensala.
As early as the 1940s, the city tried to have a humanities university college located on Frösön. Opposition between cities in Norrland was great and it was Umeå that finally emerged victorious in 1962. Östersund did, however, get a university college for social workers (socialhögskola [sv]) in 1971. Since 2005 Östersund has been one of the main campus sites of the Mid Sweden University (Mittuniversitetet). A number of governmental offices have also been built in the city in recent years.[citation needed]
