Upplands Väsby
Upplands Väsby () is a locality and the seat of Upplands Väsby Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 149,463 inhabitants in 2020. History. The municipality has a long history with clear traces of settlements from the pre-Christian times in several places. The first traces of human culture have been found during excavations of Hammarby ridge, about 400 meters south of the current Glädjen junction, where the excavation of the burial ground Ekebo found a bronze axe from around 600 to 700 BC. Upplands Väsby has a low topography and the people lived by fishing, seal and waterfowl hunting. Several  finds of foreign coins testify to the extensive trade with foreign countries. They include Arabic coins found at Great Wäsby castle grounds. At Runsa and Skavsta's prehistoric fortifications, known as hill forts. Traces of aboriginal burial grounds are found in many places in the form of mounds, stone circles, standing stones or minor bumps. The graves are sometimes the shape of a ship, as at Runsa, one of Sweden's most famous stone circles. It is 56 meters from the bow and stern and were made in 400-500 AD. Other cemeteries in the form of large burial mounds  exist near Löwenströmska Hospital and Runby, called Zamores hill after the timpanist Antonin Zamore, a North African who came to Sweden in the late 1700s and who lived on the Runby Lower farm, now called the homestead. The largest cemetery is the Great Wäsby Castle ättebacke with around 200 burial mounds. In the early 1900s, Upplands Väsby was a small station community. The railway between Stockholm and Uppsala, built 1863–1866; station house in Väsby was completed in 1865. Around the station, a society grew. Anton Tamm had bought up all the land that the present society is built on. 1903  established Tamm, who at the time was CEO of Optimus, the first major industry, Väsby Werkstäder. The company manufactured brass and copper, including the Optimus products. Väsby Werkstäder was bought in 1917 by Finspongs Metallverk AB. Over the years, the company changed its name many times, but was popularly constantly being called Messingen. They were later Swedish Metal Works and Granges-Weda with die casting and plastic manufacturing. Upplands Väsby today. The municipality now has the character of a modern suburban town, situated between Stockholm and Uppsala. The distance to the city centre of Stockholm is twenty-five kilometers and  to the centre of Uppsala forty-five km. Travel to Stockholm Central Station takes 27 minutes (10 stations) with commuter train. Travel time to Arlanda Airport is seven minutes by local train, which also connects Upplands Väsby with Uppsala. From Upplands Väsby many renowned music artists; Europe, Therion, H.E.A.T. and Candlemass have lived there, as well as John Norum and Yngwie Malmsteen. Even the actors Shima Niavarani and Shebly Niavarani has lived and attended school in Upplands Väsby. Some famous writers who lived in Upplands Väsby are Carl Jonas Love Almquist, P. C. Jersild, and Alexander Ahndoril. Settlement. Parts of  the industry that was in the area near the railway station can now be seen south of the neighborhood Messingen where Optimus established himself in 1908. Optimus factory in Upplands Väsby was closed in 1983 when production was moved to Småland (the company still exists today under the name Optimus International AB. Now manufactures mainly camping). In the former industrial premises is now run new activities, including Upplands Väsby art gallery. Today, the original buildings demolished to make way for new housing and a new school, Väsby new gymnasium, which was completed before the start of school in August 2011 . If you follow the road east from Central Station can be reached after a few hundred meters including Culture Vega, Väsby School and after another short stretch Väsby Centre including shopping mall, medical center and municipal offices. Väsby. Väsby centrum was opened in 1972. Several extensions and renovations have been made over the years and in recent years, major changes implemented. The shopping mall contains a variety of stores with a wide selection of apparel, electronics, cosmetics, health foods, books, flowers, jewelry and grocery stores and restaurants.  center facility owned by Väsbyhem who in 2001 sold the plant to  Doughty Hanson & Co European Real Estate . From December 2004 the plant was operated center of the Franco-Dutch property company Unibail-Rodamco, until June 2011, when it was sold to the British family firm Grosvenor in a business where other plants were included. Schools. There are more than 3,000 students spread over fourteen elementary schools and one secondary school . Half of primary schools are communal.