The market square of Lahti – more than 100 years of legal market trading

After the completion of the railway in 1875, Lahti began to hold market days on the first Wednesday of every month. Despite opposition from the mother parish of Hollola, that’s what was done, and without any official permission. In 1878, Lahti got an officially planned market square, once the remains of the fire in June 1877 had been cleared.

From 1897, on the initiative of the Association of Craftsmen, officially sanctioned Lahti market days were held every Wednesday. Gradually, permission was extended to cover other weekdays. But from then on, only the market day on the first Wednesday of every month was called ‘the Market’. This was the most significant trading day of the month.

An independent market square

Lahti was granted its town charter in 1905, and, in the beginning, market days were held three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but soon they began to be held on every working day.

Market stall plots were leased to regular traders on a six-monthly basis. Trade was so brisk that, during the 1910’s through to the 1930’s, 200-250 plots were leased. On the first Wednesday of every month in particular, the square was full of traders. During the 1920’s, September’s ’Pestuumarkkinat" (job market) attracted people from all over southern Finland.

Distribution of market stall plots

Stall plots were distributed between the more important groups of traders as follows: textiles 50–70 plots, coffee sellers 30-60 plots, fruit and vegetable sellers 30-40 plots, bakers 20-30 plots.

        

There were a little more than ten plots available for butchers. On sale were also leather, baskets, wooden products, glass, porcelain, sheet metal and hardware, cheese and fish. The importance of the market trading can be seen from the fact that, in 1924, Lahti traders attempted to have the sale of meat banned from the square on hygienic grounds. The real reason was probably the irritating competition. It was also possible to buy logs from the square for heating purposes. Lahti conducted signficant trade in horses, but trade in pigs and birds was also extensive.

The Second World War brought tough times for market trading as supplies became difficult to acquire. Furthermore, a new law on trading in foodstuffs which came into effect in 1942 took such things meat and bread from market squares. After the war, market trading picked up again, partly thanks to the black market. At the beginning of 1950, there were 70-80 market traders, but during the 1960’s there were about 20 fewer. In the 1970’s, a little over a hundred regular stall plots were leased, and added to that were 300-400 places reserved for country folk and people who only displayed their wares on single occasions.

Nowadays

The Lahti market square has been and still is an important place for meeting and events in the lives of Lahti folk. In addition to being the site of the traditional market days, the square has also been a sports arena and is the centre of the city’s local bus traffic. The square has played host to the opening of the Salpausselkä Skiing Championships and the ‘Lasten Finlandia Games’ for the daycare children of Lahti, not to mention many other events. In recent years, the square has seen renovation work and archaeological excavations, which have provided an insight into the early years of the village and the Fire of Lahti in 1877.

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