Tampere has always been a city of waters. Tammerkoski river gave birth to the city and Finnish industry.

In the 15th century, the power of the Tammerkoski rapids was used for running the mills of wealthy farmers, and by the 17th century a vivid marketplace had developed where roads and water routes converged. In 1779, when King Gustav III of Sweden ordered a town to be established for industry, trade and craftsmen, a poor village of two hundred people was located on the banks of the rapids. One hundred years later the village had become Tampere. Finland's first town to have large-scale industry. In 1783 Finland's first paper mill, using rags for raw materials started to work. The growth of the city was based on the privilege of free trade, granted by Gustav III and later confirmed by Alexander I, Tsar of Russia, when Finland had become an autonomous grand duchy of the Russian Empire. For the industry of Tampere, these privileges gave, for example, a license to export products to the vast markets of the Russian mother-land without having to pay customs duty.

In 1837 Finlayson's six-stored factory building was completed.

In 1820 James Finlayson, a Scottish engineer began small-scale industrial production. As late as 1836, only a few modest buildings were to be seen on the banks: a few dyers' work-houses with fulling water mills, a tanning mill and brick works. By the following year, a new while-plastered six-stored factory building for the Finlayson cotton mill rose on the banks of the rapids, becoming a landmark in the surrounding scenery. During the latter part of the 18th century, the familiar redbrick milieu of the Tammerkoski rapids began to take shape. In 1842 the first Finland's paper machine began production in J.C. Franckell&Son's paper factory. By the end of 19th century became the most industrialized city in Finland, there worked Tampere Linen and Iron Industry Ltd., wood pulp mill, waterpower plant producing electricity.

Industrial center of Tampere today.

In the beginning of 20th century, Tampere was Finland`s biggest industrial city. The foundation of the city's textile, engineering and wood-processing industries had been laid, and the growth of these industries continued until structural changes in Western industry took place. Starting in the 1970th , the old factory estates began to empty as their operations ceased, or the surviving factories transferred their operations to the outskirts of the city.

By the 21st century the old buildings have been taken into new use and many have opened their doors to visitors. Now you can walk straight through the factory gate without telling your errand to the guard. You can pop into museums and cafes, visit exhibitions and little shops, go to the cinema or theatre. Alternatively, you can pause a while amidst the old stone walls, take a glimpse at the courtyard or the heights of the brick tower and let history speak.