In the area between ‘Sentrum’ and the site where the railway station stood until it was demolished in the 1960s (where the waterworks are located today), there are several interesting buildings dating from the early 20th century.
Eidsfos Hall
The timber-framed building known as Eidsfos Hall, or ‘Hallen’, was completed the following year. Hallen was built by the workers at the mill, but was funded by the mill owner’s wife, Thrine Schwartz, née Anker. She made a private donation of 2,000 kroner for this purpose, but the money came with some rather strict conditions. The building was to be used for the education and cultural enrichment of the workers, whilst political agitation was strictly forbidden. A working class with a burgeoning political consciousness therefore soon needed a new community hall, and Varden (the Beacon) in Orevika was completed in 1931.
The Power Station
The workshops and the owners’ two houses, Bekken and Hovedgården, had electricity supplied since as far back as 1895 (and Hallen from 1909). The electricity was generated in the old mill by the river, which had been converted into a generator house. Møller Lars, who was in charge of the small power station – which required constant supervision – would flash the lights three times at eleven o’clock to signal that the electricity would soon be switched off for the day. It is said that, when there was a dance at Hallen, the musicians would play the evening’s final dance when this happened. If there was a dinner party at Hovedgården, where the Schwartz family lived, or at Bekken, the villa of the Thon family – who owned Eidsfos Verk A/S jointly with the Schwartz family – the flashing lights signalled that it was now time to go to bed or light candles.
When the Dynamo House in the old mill burnt down in 1914, work began immediately on building a new power station at Eikern with a tunnel connection to Bergsvannet. The power station was completed in 1915, and by the 1920s, the workers’ housing was also connected to the electricity supply. At the same time, communal laundries were set up both on Gata and in Bråtagata. This was no doubt a welcome development for the housewives, who until then had had to wash clothes outdoors, summer and winter alike. In winter, they had to chop a hole in the ice to reach the water, which left many of the women with lasting injuries.
The Bathhouse
The communal bathhouse – the small brick building next to the power station – was built in 1908 as a communal bathhouse for workers’ families. It represented a major improvement in hygiene standards.
The Hatchery
The small red building situated between the Bathhouse and Eidsfos Hall is a trout hatchery that remained in operation until around 1975. In the autumn, trout ready to spawn were collected from the streams at Eidsfoss, where they were struck to extract the eggs and milt. At the hatchery, these were mixed and the smolts hatched in large tanks. In the spring, the fry were transported to what is known as Fiskedammane, by Gastholtbekken in Vassbotn. These ponds are still intact. There, the trout grew until, towards the end of autumn, they were released to grow larger in various waters in the area. The hatchery was originally situated on the Hurta smallholding and was moved to its current location in 1933, when it was donated by Eidsfos Verk to the Eidsfoss Fishing and Hunting Association.
All these initiatives in the early 20th century contributed to a significant improvement in living conditions for the residents of Eidsfoss, and can be seen as an expression of the social-liberalist idea of the time that improving the conditions of the working class could counteract the rise of socialism.
Photo: Kyrre Hansen
The illustration at the top of the page shows what the area around Eidsfos Hall may have looked like in 1914, when the new power station was under construction.
Illustration by Marianne Karlsen
