Editing Kauniainen (section)

==History==
Around 10,000 years ago, after the [[Last Glacial Period|Ice Age]], only a few islets were visible in the [[Yoldia Sea]], heights that today form the highest peaks of the area that is today known as Kauniainen. As the land slowly rose Kauniainen became a part of the inner archipelago around 4,000 years ago and there is evidence of human activity in the area in form of pieces of ceramics from this time period. However, the first permanent settlements in the area were established in the 19th century. Today Kauniainen is situated several kilometres from the sea.<ref name="JaH">Jaana af Hällström (2006): ''Grankulla 1906–2006 Kauniainen – Den sista i sitt slag''. Gummerus, Jyväskylä {{ISBN|951-96894-9-4}}</ref>

In the beginning of the 20th century Kauniainen only consisted of a few crofters' holdings at the outskirts of larger farms in Espoo. The name of the place, Grankulla, was known as the more dialectal ''Gränkull''. The main road between [[Helsinki]] and [[Turku]] had passed through the northern parts of Kauniainen for centuries, but the new railway between the same cities that opened in 1903 was crucial for the development of the area.<ref name="JaH" />

The history of modern Kauniainen began in 1906 when a company, [[AB Grankulla]], bought the land and sold it to people who wanted to have a villa outside the unhealthy city life in Helsinki. Several other similar communities were established at the same time around Helsinki: [[Kulosaari]], [[Haaga]], [[Leppävaara]] and [[Puistola]]. The share holders, among them the "father" of the municipality [[Janne Thurman]], could be satisfied with their investment; they got the invested money back in one year. The era of the villas had, however, begun a few years earlier, when Elia Heikel and Emil Lindstedt bought the area around lake [[Gallträsk]] and built the first villas. No properties sold were smaller than 3,000 square metres.<ref name="JaH" />
[[Image:Kauniainen - Gallträsk.jpg|thumb|left|Lake Gallträsk]]

Because the municipality of Espoo, to which the area of Kauniainen belonged, did not show much interest in the new community, the company was responsible for developing it; roads were built, a school founded, electricity arranged and the company lobbied for a [[railway station]] (opened in 1908) and a [[police office]]. In 1915 Kauniainen received a limited autonomy from Espoo and the role of the company declined.<ref name="JaH" />

The first exact population figure is from 1917 when the community had 1,647 inhabitants. In 1920 Kauniainen became a market town and gained complete municipal sovereignty.<ref name="hs">[https://www.hs.fi/paakirjoitukset/art-2000004593168.html 550-vuotias Espoo on kasvanut aikuiseksi] – ''[[Helsingin Sanomat]]'' (in Finnish)</ref> Kauniainen also differed from its rural surroundings in Espoo with a town plan, road network, villas and electricity. It was decided to keep Kauniainen a green, idyllic, rural community and industrial buildings were banned. Most of the villas were built in neoclassical style or in the late 1920s functionalism. The work with a new town plan was started in the late 1920s, but the proposal was disputed; the inhabitants (and property owners) thought the roads were too wide. The architect also died in the middle of the process, which led to that a compromise could be reached as late as in 1937. The population grew only by 10% from 1917 to 1939, while the population right outside the market town's borders grew significantly.<ref name="JaH" />

Kauniainen has been officially bilingual since 1936 and the Finnish name ''Kauniainen'' was made official beside the Swedish name Grankulla in 1949 by the market town's council. Already in the 1930s the name Kauniainen was used by the railways and the post service. The era of the villas ended with the Second World War and was replaced by reconstruction and economically challenging times.<ref name="JaH" />

[[Image:Kauniainen - town centre.jpg|thumb|left|Kauniainen's commercial centre, where the old building from the 1960s to the right will be demolished]]
The independence of Kauniainen as a municipality was threatened by the municipal obligations and the small number of inhabitants. In the 1950s the market town tried to incorporate a few surrounding areas from Espoo, but the application was rejected in 1953. Instead the area of [[Kasavuori]], which the market town had bought, was incorporated in 1957. [[Otto-Iivari Meurman]] was given the task of making a new town plan. He suggested that the villa milieu would be kept, but that the number of inhabitants would be significantly raised, from 2,500 to 10,000, and that the unmodern villas would be replaced by new ones. Also apartment buildings should be built. A new commercial centre was planned next to the railway station with [[Vällingby]] in Stockholm as a model. The plans for Kasavuori were approved in 1959 and for the rest of the market town in 1961 and 1963. The commercial centre was inaugurated in 1966. The town plan has later been criticised because the unique villa environment was disrupted and many of the beautiful villas were demolished. A [[skiing centre]] was planned in Kasavuori of the same type as [[Holmenkollen ski arena|Holmenkollen]] in [[Oslo]], but the plans were never realised. Today this area is protected.<ref name="JaH" />

The number of inhabitants grew rapidly; in 1967 by as much as 25%. In 1972 Kauniainen gained the status of a city (fi. ''kaupunki'') and the year after Finnish became the majority language of the inhabitants and Swedish the minority. The town had at the time 6,400 inhabitants. The commercial centre has been considered ugly and outdated for more than 20 years<ref name=JaH /> and a new development plan for the town centre was approved in May 2006. The project begun in December 2006 when the first building was demolished.

The population surpassed 10,000 inhabitants in 2020. At the end of 2020 there were 10,177 people living in the town.<ref>{{cite web | title = Väestörakenteen ennakkotiedot muuttujina Kuukausi, Alue, Sukupuoli, Ikä ja Tiedot | url = http://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/fi/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vamuu/statfin_vamuu_pxt_11lj.px/table/tableViewLayout1/ | work = Tilastokeskuksen PxWeb-tietokannat (Population database of the Statistics Finland | language = fi | access-date = 2 February 2021 | archive-date = 14 December 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201214201953/http://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/fi/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vamuu/statfin_vamuu_pxt_11lj.px/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>