Hyvinkaa (Hyvinge in Swedish): Finland

Hyvinkaa (Hyvinge in Swedish) is a small town in the province of Uusimaa, approximately 50 km north of the capital Helsinki. The town was chartered in 1960. Hyvinkaa belongs to the Province of Southern Finland. The population was 43,169 (in 2004).
Highways and rail connections make it one of the suburban commuter centers of Greater Helsinki. The city planning has had an emphasis on recreational facilities, acknowleding the fact that the modest city center cannot compete with the shops and boutiques of the capital.
History
Hyvinkaa village was gradually formed in latter half of the 19th century. The construction of railways through Finland in 1861 marked the starting point for the rapid growth. The air quality of Hyvinkaa was considered healthy due to dense pine forests, and in the 1880s a group of physicians from Helsinki opened a sanatorium for patients seeking rest and recuperation.
The industrialization brought a wool factory, the Donner family’s Hyvinge Yllespinneri, to Hyvinkaa in 1892. The factory ceased its operation in the 1990s, but the red-brick halls still remain.
Famous People from Hyvinkaa
Tauno Kirves, mayor of Hyvinkaa
Esa Saarinen, philosopher
Helene Schjerfbeck, painter