Jyväskylän maalaiskunta

Location of Jyväskylän maalaiskunta in Finland

Vaajakoski in winter.

Jyväskylän maalaiskunta (Swedish: Jyväskylä landskommun), 'The Rural Municipality of Jyväskylä' is a former municipality of Finland. Together with Korpilahti, Jyväskylän maalaiskunta was consolidated with Jyväskylä on 1 January 2009. It was the last municipality to carry the name maalaiskunta.

Jyväskylän maalaiskunta had three population centres: Vaajakoski, Tikkakoski and Palokka. Jyväskylä Airport in Tikkakoski used to be one of the busiest in Finland. On September 1, 2008 Jyväskylän maalaiskunta had 36,389 inhabitants. Jyväskylän maalaiskunta was after Nurmijärvi the second biggest municipality without the name kaupunki (city, town) of Finland. It was the last municipality with the name maalaiskunta. The total area is 534.34 km², out of which 85.05 km² is water. The population density was 63.3 inhabitants per km². The municipality was founded in 1868.

Business life in Jyväskylän maalaiskunta is diversified. In addition to its conventional agriculture and forestry output, the municipality is home to companies such as Komas Oy, a system supplier of mechanical subassemblies, and Tikka Group, a manufacturer of studs for car winter tires (the situation as of 2006). Historically, Vaajakoski hosted a wide range of conventional industries up until the 1980s when structural changes in Finland's economy resulted in a shutdown of many long-standing factories and mills also in Jyväskylä's rural sibling. However, still actively operating in Vaajakoski's industrial area is the Panda chocolate and sweets factory, whose products are marketed the world over.

The geographically lowest of the six locks on the Keitele-Päijänne canal is located in Vaajakoski. The European routes E63 and E75 run through Jyväskylän maalaiskunta east and north of Jyväskylä, respectively. Likewise, the east- and westbound railway lines that leave Jyväskylä have been laid on the rural municipality's soil.

The last municipality mayor of Jyväskylän maalaiskunta was Arto Lepistö.

Distances

• Helsinki 270 km
• Kuopio 140 km
• Lahti 170 km
• Tampere 150 km

Villages

Prior to its consolidation into Jyväskylä in 2009, Jyväskylän maalaiskunta contained of the following villages:

• Haapaniemi, Humalamäki, Ilmoniemi, Jylhänperä, Kaunisharju, Puuppola, Kuohu, Leppälahti, Metsoniemi, Nyrölä, Oravasaari, Palokka, Perälä, Tikkakoski, Tikka-Mannila, Jyskä, Vaajakoski, Vesanka and Väinölä

External links

Media related to Jyväskylän maalaiskunta at Wikimedia Commons

• Jyväskylän maalaiskunta – Official Site (in Finnish)