Ödåkra

Ödåkra
Ödåkra
Coordinates: 56°06′N 12°44′E / 56.100°N 12.733°E / 56.100; 12.733Coordinates: 56°06′N 12°44′E / 56.100°N 12.733°E / 56.100; 12.733
Country	Sweden
Province	Skåne
County	Skåne County
Municipality	Helsingborg Municipality
Area[1]
• Total	3.05 km2 (1.18 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2010)[1]
• Total	4,920
• Density	1,615/km2 (4,180/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Ödåkra is a locality situated in Helsingborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 4,920 inhabitants in 2010.^[1] It is situated just north-east of Helsingborg and could be regarded a suburb of that city. Ödåkra is known for its distillery, which existed 1897–1976 and gave the name to Ödåkra Taffel Aqvavit.

The society is located about eight kilometres north of Helsingborg’s City Centre, and about five miles from Öresund. Immediately south of the town lies the shopping centre Väla centrum. Ödåkra is criss-crossed by the West Coast Line (train stop on the Skåne Commuter Rail between Ängelholm and Malmö) and lies adjacent to the motorways E6/E20 and E4. The proximity of Helsingborg has done the town quite popular and the large townhouse area Björka built together Väla centrum with Ödåkra in the 1980s and more housing is under planning.

Culture and associations

In the Ödåkra area, there were 15 active compounds in 2007. Ödåkra IF formed in March 24, 1927, has inter alia conducted bandy, football, athletics and cycling. The athletics business was closed down in the middle of the 1950s, and the bandy operation was closed down during the 1960s. Home matches are played at the sporting site Toftavallen. In 1975, the club started the so-called ’’italic’’kiddie football’’italic’’. Other compounds in the neighborhood is the Ödåkra Riding Society, the IS Ödåkra Tennis Club, Boulen mitt i byn, the PRO-Norrlycke Pensioners Association and the Flening-Ödåkra Scout Group. In addition to Toftavallen, which is mainly used for football, there is also a sports hall for tennis and a riding arena.

Schools and municipal services

Ödåkra has two F–9-schools through Gläntanskolan and Svenssgårdsskolan. In the area around Ödåkra there are also five municipal preschools and three private ones. Within the elderly care, the Tuvehagen nursing home provides services across the surrounding area. Within town, there is also an area library. In the same building lies the town's dental care clinic. For the District Nurse reception, Childcare Centre and Doctor’s Office, the residents have to turn to Berga (suburban district) in Helsingborg, Sweden.

History

When the town of Ödåkra was formed is uncertain. The toponymy suffix ending "-åkra" is derived from the late Iron Age and in 1583, the city name was written Øagre . The prefix refers either to the fields in the suffix are small and elevated, or that they were unproductive (deserted) for some time.^[2] The town was set in an elevation of the terrain and was largely surrounded by scuttle- and marsh land. The settlement was relatively unimpressive and consisted, until the 18th century, of only four farms. Instead, it was the place of Fleninge to the East that was the dominant, where even the local parish church was located. To the South of Ödåkra, the towns of Björka and Väla were located. When the enskift took place in Ödåkra in 1827-28, the number of farms in the town increased to eleven. At the 1862 municipal regulations, the town was incorporated into the city of Fleninge County municipality.

The great boom of Ödåkra came at the end of the 19th century. In 1885, the Skåne-Hallands järnväg (now the West Coast Line) was inaugurated through town, and in 1884, there was already a station building built-up in connection to this. The growth of the town took further momentum due to the 1898 year’s Helsingborgs Spritförädlings AB became linked to the railway. The mill was known locally as "Spritan" and was built on the initiative of wholesaler Joh(an) I. Nelsen from Helsingborg. At the start of the 20th century, there were around 30 similar factories in Sweden; each of these manufactured their own seasoned and unseasoned special brands. At the Ödåkra liquor processing plant, the production started with the spiced brandy Ödåkra Square Piano Aquavit 1899. In 1917, AB Vin- & Spritcentralen took over the factory. In time, a smaller community began to develop around the factory. For the most part, this consisted of a number of houses and small apartment buildings, constructed at the junction between the railroad and the old road, north of the mill and station area. Soon enough the sports arena Toftavallen was constructed in the South and in the 1940s a local dance hall named Blue Heaven was also constructed, near the Duvestubbe Forest in the West.

At the municipality reform of 1952, the Ödåkra County municipality was developed as the largest town, due to it becoming the new municipal seat. In context with that Ödåkra became the municipal seat, a centre area North-East of the station consisting of municipality houses, libraries, post- and bank offices, and drugstores was established. In the 1960s, a large proportion of houses were built to the East of the station community, and the city was now becoming more and more the character of a residential suburb of Helsingborg. In the 1970s, Väla centrum was constructed between Björka and Ödåkra. To the North of the shopping centre, during the 1980s, a large housing area was built - mainly consisting of townhouses -, called Björka, after the historic town in the South. The local spirits processing factory was closed down in 1976, when production was moved to Falkenberg. The premises have deteriorated a bit since then, but during the 21st century, several companies have used the buildings as warehouses. Among them, Ikea had a large mid layer for importing goods in the buildings.

References