Uppdaterad 2011-05-31 Behjälplig med innehåll till sidan Renée Levin Foton Tommy Hassinen Webbmaster Tommy Hassinen Copyright © 2010 - 2011 gullringen.eu

Some historical facts about Gullringen  and the surrounding area. This district, belonging to the parish called Södra Vi, is an old culture area which can be assumed to have developed from ancient times, what with numerous findings of stone axes in the region. A stone coffin and several burial mounds give us reason to believe that the area has been inhabited for a very long time. Gullringen village, however, is young and was officially named in 1902 when the railway between Kalmar and Linköping was built and a stop was placed there. Then, more than 100 years ago, there were in the estate of Ålhult only forests and a small cottage called “Saxen” (The Scissors). People wanted to name the railway station after the cottage, but it turned out there was already a railway station by that name in the country. The name Gullringen was then brought up, probably after a legend about a bride who had lost her ring. There are many stories of how the name Gullringen came about.  The railway led to a true upsurge for the region and already in 1903 Gullringen had its first country shop, Hilda Johansson’s shop. In just a few years a whole new community had developed boasting a steam sawmill, shops, a post office, a restaurant and flats. The area around the railway station became the village centre. At Brännebro, which was closer to Ålhult, there were already a few shops, a blacksmith, a dairy, a mill and a school. In 1907 Hilda Johansson had a competitor in David Wohlfart, who built a three-storey house right by the station. He moved his business here, which he had inherited from his father Leander Johansson, who in his turn started his business down by Brännebro mill in 1879. The business still exists and is one of Sweden’s oldest family corporations. In 1917 the village received electric lighting and in 1920 the mill was extended into box manufacturing. In 1933 Gullringen’s GoIF was started, today playing in the 3rd division of Eastern Götaland soccer league. In 1930 the steam mill was incorporated by Gullringen’s wood fabrication and later was turned into Gullringshus Ltd, one of Sweden’s major small-house builders. At the beginning of the 1990s Gullringshus Ltd ceased their activities including 550 employees and some uncertain years followed. In 2002 Flexator, a company within Skanska, resumed the business. Today Skanska Byggsystem is running the business, manufacturing houses. In the 1960s the current village centre was created with blocks of flats, an inn, a new building containing a post office, a bank and a new shop. In the 1970s new indoor public swimming pools, an illuminated jogging track, a golf course and a soccer pitch were built. One of the reasons the village moved in this direction might be Brännebro, the old centre where the school has been situated since 1879, and where lively activities have prevailed even since the days of General Pechlin in Ålhult. Brännebro by Kungsvägen is the oldest meeting point in the area. Sometime during the 1940s, in a weekly magazine’s competition for the most beautiful place- name in Sweden, Gullringen was awarded first prize.