Tyrnävä Leather Factory

Standing proudly by the river, the historic Tyrnävä Leather Factory, Nahkuri, together with its residential buildings and the nearby shoe factory, forms a notable reminder of Tyrnävä’s industrial past.

Founded in the early 1900s by tanner Kaakinen, the factory later belonged to the Tyrnävä Cooperative Bank (1916–1933) and then to master tanner Salmenhaara and his son until 1955. Local villagers brought their hides to be tanned here, and the neighboring shoe factory used the finished leather to produce traditional lapikas boots. The lower floor housed the “wet room” with soaking vats and greasing tables, while upstairs the leather was dried and polished.

Tanning relied mainly on willow bark collected by locals—several thousand kilos each summer. Only the final stage used imported quebracho extract to achieve the highest quality finish.

Architecturally, the two-story building combines brick and timber. Originally heated by stoves, it gained central steam heating in the 1920s, along with a concrete boiler room extension. The upper floor includes both a log-walled room and open attic spaces with timber trusses.

In the 1970s–1980s, the building served as the local school’s woodworking and metal classrooms, during which the original tanning vats were removed.

A small one-story dwelling once stood in the yard, later replaced in the 1920s with a two-story residence. After the wars, the earlier house was raised and joined to the newer one, forming an L-shaped home complex. The lower part remained inhabited into the 2010s, though the taller wing now shows signs of aging.