Korso is a district and major region in northeastern

Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa is the fourth most populated city in Finland ...

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 Bot ...

. The district has 7,402 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2014). Since 2007, the Korso major region has included the following nine districts:

Matari ''Matari'' (or reissued as ''White Wind, Black Rider'') is a book written by Luke Rhinehart, a pen name of George Cockcroft. ''Matari'' was published in the UK in 1975, and is currently out-of-print. It was published in the US under the name of ...

, Korso, Mikkola,

Metsola Metsola is a Finnish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ilari Metsola (born 1992), Finnish ice hockey player * Juha Metsola (born 1989), Finnish ice hockey player * Jukka-Pekka Metsola (born 1954), Finnish judoka * Roberta Metsol ...

, Leppäkorpi, Jokivarsi, Nikinmäki,

Vierumäki Vierumäki Ratapiha. Vierumäki is a village located in the Finnish municipality Heinola in the region Päijät-Häme, Finland. There are about 900–1,000 inhabitants. Neighbouring villages are Vuolenkoski in Iitti, Myllyoja in Heinola, Mäkel� ...

and Vallinoja. The Korso major region has a total 29,765 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2014).

Geography

Korso is located to the west of the main north–south track line of the Finnish railways. The nearest city is

Kerava Kerava (; sv, Kervo) is a town and municipality within the Uusimaa region of Finland. The municipalities of Vantaa, Sipoo and Tuusula are adjacent to Kerava, which is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The town has a population of () ...

, six kilometres to the north.

Neighbouring areas

According to the Vantaa neighbourhood division, Korso is bordered by the railway tracks to the east, by Vallinoja to the north and by Vierumäki to the northwest.

History and future

The name Korso was born when the crossing point of the borders of three villages - Ali-Kerava and

Hyrylä Hyrylä ( sv, Skavaböle, also ) is one of the three villages and the administrative centre of Tuusula, with a population of about 19,500 residents.http://www.tuusula.fi/teksti.tmpl?id=751;numero=101253120 Tuusula.fi information It is located a ...

Tuusula Tuusula (; sv, Tusby ) is a municipality of Finland. It belongs to the Helsinki sub-region of the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of () and is by far the third largest municipality in Finland after Nurmijärvi and Kirkkonummi ...

as well as Hanaböle in the old parish of Helsinki - was marked by a cross on the highest cliff of Korso (the word "cross" is ''kors'' in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and the word "border" is ''rå''; thus the name originally meant "cross border"). There is a memorial plaque about the history of Korso near the Ruusuvuori school.

19th century

At the end of the 19th century, an overtake point was needed on the main railway track line halfway between Tikkurila and Kerava. The Korso stop was built in 1889 in nearly uninhabited wilderness at the border of Tuusula and the Helsinki parish - Korso. The train started to stop at Korso twice a day, which provided a starting point for the development of the area. The current disused station building was built in 1938 according to

Thure Hellström Thure Adolf Hellström (30 May 1880 in Koivisto – 23 December 1946 in Helsinki) was a Finnish architect working on railroad stations for Rautatiehallitus (The Railroad Board) with Bruno Granholm. Hellström designed wooden railway station bui ...

's class V station plans for the

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; la, Wegelia, formerly sv, Östermyra) is a city located in South Ostrobothnia, Finland; east of Vaasa, north of Tampere, west of Jyväskylä and southwest of Oulu. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra b ...

Kristinestad Kristinestad (, Sweden ; fi, Kristiinankaupunki ; la, Christinea) is a town and a municipality in Finland. It is located in the western part of Finland on the shore of the Bothnian Sea. The population of Kristinestad is () and the municipality ...

- Kaskinen railway track line.

20th century

When

was separated from Tuusula as a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

in 1924, the area of the old Ali-Kerava village was included wholly in it. It also included the Korso railway station, whose neighbourhood formed a clearly separate residential point from the centre of the market town. The area grew quickly especially after the wars, and in the 1950s, Korso was the largest connected separate-home-based residential area in Finland. Factories, such as Sokeva owned by the Central Organisation for the Hard of Sight, were also founded in Korso. The Korso railway station was located very near to the point, called the old ''Korsrå'' boundary point, where the boundaries of

Helsingin maalaiskunta Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa is the fourth most populated city in Finland ...

, Tuusula and Kerava met each other. As this residential area grew, it flowed into both neighbouring municipalities. This caused administrative problems, and because of them Korso was wholly incorporated in Helsingin maalaiskunta in the beginning of the year 1954. At the same time, there was an option to make Korso into a separate municipality. Tuusula and Kerava supported this idea, but Helsingin maalaiskunta opposed it, because the new Korso would also have included

Rekola Rekola is bicycle sharing system in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It started in Prague in 2013 as a small project of Vít Ježek. As of 2020, it is operating in six Czech cities, Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia and in the Finnish city of V ...

, located in Helsingin maalaiskunta. Since the 1970s, some apartment buildings have also been built in the Korso district in Kulomäki, Mikkola and Vallinoja and around the Korso railway station. Still, Korso remains mainly a separate-home-based area.

21st century

In the current millennium, a multi-use house Lumo has been built in the district. The railway station and the parish centre have also been renewed. The student housing buildings built in the area serve as homes to many students in the Helsinki capital area. The building of the Maarukanmetsä residential area started in the early 2000s in the southeastern part of Mikkola and continues to be built to this day.

Future plans

* A Korso-Koivukylä sports park Elmo to be built between Kulomäki and Rekolanmäki. * More apartments, services and jobs are planned in the centre of Korso.Korson ytimeen tulee lisää asuntoja – tältä uusi keskusta voisi näyttää
/ref> Construction of new apartment buildings in underway in the center, including an 18-story apartment building. * Kehä IV, plans to widen the Kulomäentie road (regional road 152) to have 2+2 lanes.

Services

There is a post office near the Korso railway station to the east of the railway tracks, as well as Korso's social and health centre, which has a KELA service point. Also to the east of the railway tracks are a child care station and the Korso-Rekola psychiatric policlinic and a Christian parish of Korso. To the west of the railway tracks is the multi-use house Lumo, which has a common service point, a library, a sports hall as well the Lumon lukio school and the Lumo hall. Korso's dental care station and the Korson koulu school are also located to the west of the railway tracks.

Traffic connections

The

Finnish national road 45 The Finnish national road 45 ( fi, Kantatie 45; sv, Stamväg 45) is the 2nd class main route between the major cities of Helsinki and Hyvinkää in southern Finland. It runs from Käpylä in Helsinki to the Hyrylä in Tuusula as a motorway cal ...

, also known as the Tuusula highway, runs roughly five kilometres to the west of Korso, and the national road 4 ( E75), also known as the Lahti highway, runs to the east of Korso. Both have a connection to the regional road 152, also known as Kulomäentie, which runs very close to the south of the centre of Korso. As well as them, there are connections along the railway tracks to Tikkurila (to the south) and Kerava (to the north). The

Helsinki Airport Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region. ...

is located roughly 9 kilometres to the southwest.

Public transport

Korso belongs to the

Helsingin Seudun Liikenne The Helsinki Regional Transport Authority ( fi, Helsingin seudun liikenne, HSL; sv, Helsingforsregionens trafik, HRT) is the inter-municipal authority that maintains the public transportation network of the nine municipalities of Greater ...

(HSL) regional ticket zone, served by regional buses, communal trains and the

Helsinki Metro The Helsinki Metro ( fi, Helsingin metro, sv, Helsingfors metro) is a rapid transit system serving Greater Helsinki, Finland. It is the world's northernmost metro system. It was opened to the general public on 2 August 1982 after 27 years of ...

. A regional ticket allows journeys in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärv ...

Kauniainen Kauniainen (; sv, Grankulla) is a small town and a municipality of inhabitants () in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. It is surrounded and enclaved by the City of Espoo, in the Capital Region of Greater Helsinki. Kauniainen was fou ...

and Vantaa. A passenger travelling with a single ticket has the right to transfer inside the regional ticket zone for 80 minutes.

Communal trains

The K and N trains run from Korso railway station to

Helsinki central railway station Helsinki Central Station ( fi, Helsingin päärautatieasema, sv, Helsingfors centralstation) ( HEC) is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. The station is used by approximately 400,000 peo ...

and to

Kerava railway station Kerava railway station ( fi, Keravan rautatieasema, sv, Kervo järnvägsstation) is located in the town of Kerava, Finland. It is located approximately from Helsinki Central railway station. Six tracks run through the station, three of which hav ...

. During nighttime hours, the station is served by T trains to Helsinki and

Riihimäki Riihimäki (literally "Drying barn hill") is a town and municipality in the south of Finland, about north of Helsinki and southeast of Tampere. An important railway junction is located in Riihimäki, since railway tracks from Riihimäki lead to ...

Buses

There are several bus lines from Korso to Helsinki. It also has bus connections via the

Peijas hospital The Peijas Hospital is a hospital belonging to the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district (HUS), located in Asola, Vantaa. Since 2001 the hospital has been part of the functionality division of the Helsinki region university central hospital. The ...

Mellunmäki Mellunmäki ( sv, Mellungsbacka) (Slang: ''Meltsi'') has been a quarter of eastern Helsinki, Finland since 1946. Serious construction of the area began in 1950 and it was originally designed for 7000 inhabitants. There are over 8500 inhabitants i ...

, Tikkurila, Kerava, southern Päiväkumpu,

, Myyrmäki and the Helsinki Airport. The Korso express bus stop serves bus connections between

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 ...

and the Helsinki Airport, as well as long-distance express connections between

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Pe ...

and Helsinki.

Connecting parking

The Korso railway station parking hall and its environment have 390 parking spaces for cars. There are also roughly 155 parking spaces for bicycles.

Sports and recreation

Places for outdoor recreation

* Korso central park (Ankkalampi) * Korso outdoor swimming pool, Leppäkorpi * Metsolansuo hiking trail and ski trail

Places for sports

* Kalmuuri * Korso swimming pool * Korso sports hall

Sport clubs

* Korson Kaiku * Korson Kunto * Korson Palloseura * Korson Veto * Greasers FBC * HC Korso * Legal Eyeball * Orient United * Fc Legirus Inter

Scouting organisations

* Korson Honkaveljet * Kaarnapartio

Voluntary services

* Korson VPK

Organisations

* Korso-seura * Korso-Koivukylän Linkki * Korson Martat * Mannerheim child care association * Nuoret Kotkat * The Red Cross * Korso unemployed association

Events

* Country market in April and September * Korso Veto market in May * Korso Cup tournament in September * Korso Christmas hiking trail in the Ankkalampi park in December

Sources

Vantaa alueittain (2003)
pp. 185–187 and 212–215.
Vantaan väestö kaupunginosittain 1.1.2006

Valtakunnallisesti merkittävät rakennetut kulttuuriympäristöt RKY