Karkkila is a town and a municipality of Finland. Neighbour municipalities are Lohja, Loppi, Tammela and Vihti.

History

Originally, Karkkila was a village in the municipality of Pyhäjärvi. In the 14th century, the Pyhäjärvi area belonged to the border area of the parishes of Janakkala and Lohja. In 1507, the Pyhäjärvi area became part of the Vihti parish, which was separated from the Lohja parish. Pyhäjärvi became the chapel congregation of the Vihti parish in 1654. The place was originally known as Pahajärvi. The name became established as Pyhäjärvi in the late 17th or 18th century. It was decided to form Pyhäjärvi as an independent parish by a decision of the Imperial Senate in 1861, but the separation did not happened until 1869. Based on the municipal decree of 1865, Pyhäjärvi began its activities as a municipality in 1868.

The borough of Karkkila was formed from the center of Pyhäjärvi by separating it from Pyhäjärvi in 1932. The borough area consisted mainly of the villages of Nyhkälä and Karkkila. The growth and industrialization of Karkkila has been affected by the now closed narrow-gauge Hyvinkää–Karkkila railway. Later, the municipality of Pyhäjärvi was merged with the Karkkila borough in 1969. Until now, the municipality and the borough had belonged to the Pyhäjärvi parish, whose name was changed to the Karkkila parish in connection with the municipal association. Officially, the Karkkila borough became a town in 1977.

Sports

Karkkila Athletes is a general club whose men’s basketball team currently plays in the third highest league level in Division 1B.

Food culture

Karkkilan pitäjäruoiksi was named in the 1980s potato mämmi and potato sausage.

Nature

The landscape in Karkkila is quite varied and the terrain is uneven throughout. Nevertheless, the city area can be divided into three fairly distinct parts. The northwestern corner is connected to the Tammela plateau , but even more clearly the western part of the city resembles its neighbor, the former municipality of Pusula . Near the border of the current city of Lohja is an extensive moraine-covered Mäkimaa area, where due to the fracture lines of the bedrock, the direction of the hills is clearly northwest to southeast. Here is also the highest terrain in Uusimaa, Loukkumäki, which extends 174 meters above sea level . 

In the central part of Karkkila, the hills are steeper, but the average altitude of the terrain decreases as you move towards the southern boundary of the city. In the eastern and northeastern part of the city, the area extends to the Second Salpausselä, where the direction of the sand and gravel ridges is from southwest to northeast, ie in contrast to the western part of Karkkila. In its northern part, Karkkila is rich in lakes, although the lakes are mostly quite small. The largest lakes are Pyhäjärvi on the west side of the city center, Vaskijärvi on the northeast and Onkimaanjärvi on the northwest corner on the border of Tammela and Lope. In the southern part of the city, on the other hand, there are no lakes at all. Most of Karkkila belongs to the Vanjoki or Karjaanjoki watershed starting from Pyhäjärvi. At its beginning, the Koskinen River initially flows in a narrow but downstream valley towards Vanjärvi on the Vihti side. In the village of Siikala there is a boulder called the “Lord’s Table”, which was pacified as a natural monument in 1962. 

Fishing 

Karkkila has numerous lakes, rivers and ponds where you can fish. The most famous is Pyhäjärvi, which is located right in the center of Karkkila. Vanjoki is also Karkkila’s fishing waters.