Kulturstigen 16

During the politically and socially troubled 1930's with newly founded unions and young socialist parties, ideas for own meeting houses spread. The idea of the community center also reached our village.

The Forestry and Floatation trade union was founded in the village in 1926. A lecture hall was needed. The village's theater amateurs needed a venue as well as the cinema and dance audience who also required suitable premises.

 

Gustav Löfmark and Gustav Brännström, partly from their own forest, which was cut down in the village, built the privately owned club house of the village - popularly known as the community center. It opened at Christmas 1945. Gustav Löfmark and his wife Hilda took over and ran the daily business - meetings, cinema, dance, theater, etc. The new owners were Vantaa and Leif Karlsson. Only after they moved out of the village in 1980, a community center association board was founded on the initiative of Henning Stenberg. The sale of shares (25 SEK each) took place, and the association still exists today. In the late 1980's, the community center was expanded and now includes a modern commercial kitchen and a dining room.

 

…and the story of our village library

 

In 1926 the Forestry and Floatation trade union was formed in the district. It was of great importance for the awareness and the "strength" of the members when negotiating situations. The union encouraged its members to read books - an important way of learning - and began collecting donations from members for book purchases. Initially, 15 ore/month were paid, later 25 ore/month. The books were carefully read and became the cornerstone of ABF’s traveling library, from which the Slagnäs library emerged.

 

The main result of the training of workers in the region was that the unfair tendering processes for forest- and roadworks was finally abandoned. Previously, those who were asking for the lowest wage for a job did receive it, and bribery was quite common. The result was, among other things, that after a road- or forestwork was finished and inspected, the worker often owed money to his customer – a forest company or a tradehouse. The improvement in this matter was not fast, but at least it had started.

 

The library was located at Manfred Sundström’s place in the 1930's and 40's, and at Viola Burman’s house between 1951 and 1969; at both locations, it was open every day of the week, which led to a large number of books beeing borrowed out.

The library then was in the post office from 1969-1995. From 1995 until today, it is located in the community center and is now open once a month.