Möysä is the 16th district of the city of

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

, in the region of

Päijät-Häme Päijät-Häme () is a region in Southern Finland south of the lake Päijänne. It borders the regions of Uusimaa, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Pirkanmaa, Central Finland, South Savo and Kymenlaakso. The biggest city in the region is Laht ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The population of the statistical district of Möysä was 6,712 in 2019.

Etymology

The (antiquated) word ''möysä'' means a

sauna A sauna (, ), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a ...

doubling as a shelter, constructed in a partly underground hole. It may be of

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

origin, but the area has also been favored by Tavastian hunter-gatherers. It is presumed that the shores of lake Joutjärvi had numerous ''möysäs'' for use by travellers during the village of Lahti's time as a significant place of commerce during the 1600s.

History

Möysä was traditionally part of the village of

Järvenpää Järvenpää (; sv, Träskända) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located on the Helsinki–Riihimäki railway track in Uusimaa region, some north of Helsinki. Neighbouring municipalities are Tuusula, Sipoo and Mäntsälä. People ...

, which is presumed to be the oldest permanently inhabited area in Lahti. It took until the 1800s for these residencies to spread from the eastern shore of Joutjärvi to the area that currently constitutes Möysä, towards the village of Lahti. The Louna manor was built in the mid-1800s by the road that is presently known as Harjulankatu. Towards the end of the century, estates were mostly founded by the roads leading to

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus n ...

and

Heinola Heinola () is a town and a municipality of inhabitants () located in the eastern part of the Päijänne Tavastia region, Finland, near the borders of the South Savonia region and the Kymenlaakso region. It is the third largest municipality in ...

, in addition to a community that sprung up on the turn of the millennium on the lands of Harjunaro, by the road now known as Seppälänkatu. Thanks to the steady growth of the area, a '' kansakoulu'' was founded in Möysä in 1906. As the Finnish army was split up and effectively absorbed by the Imperial Russian Army during the first period of Russification, the first Russian company to arrive in Lahti at the end of 1909 was temporarily housed in the Ionoff ''

valenki Valenki ( rus, ва́ленки, p=ˈvalʲɪnkʲɪ; sg valenok ( rus, ва́ленок, p=ˈvalʲɪnək)) are traditional Russian winter footwear, essentially felt boots: the name ''valenok'' literally means "made by felting". They are not wate ...

'' factory in Möysä. This later led to the foundation of the garrison in

Hennala Hennala is a district in the city of Lahti, Finland. It is known of the Stora Enso packaging factory and the former Hennala Garrison which also worked as a concentration camp after the 1918 Finnish Civil War. Together with the garrisons in Riihim� ...

. During the Battle of Lahti of the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

, the hilly surroundings of Möysä around the Joutjärvi saw battle as

Detachment Brandenstein Detachment Brandenstein was a unit commanded by German Baron Otto von Brandenstein. The 3,000 man unit which fought in the Finnish Civil War by landing at Loviisa April 7, 1918. Its assigned mission was to cut the Reds' railway connections by att ...

of the Whites advanced from the east towards the city, having cut off the

Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway The Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway is a long segment of the Helsinki–Saint Petersburg connection, which is divided between Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast in Russia and the province of Southern Finland in Finland. History It was co ...

in Villähde. Möysä was annexed to the city of Lahti from the parish of

Hollola Hollola () is a municipality of Finland, located in the western part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality is unilingually Finnish and has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density Pop ...

in 1933.

References

Districts of Lahti {{SouthernFinland-geo-stub