History of the Roosevelt Cabin

_Elsa_

Angel tells the group that their first stop is going to be at the Roosevelt cottage. As they approach the cottage she starts to tell them about the history of this cabin.

‘The story begins in the aftermath of World War II. Rovaniemi suffered dearly during the war. In October 1944, Rovaniemi’s civil population was evacuated, but the city was burned almost to the ground by the retreating German army. Over 90% of the buildings were destroyed, and the city and its surrounding region were littered with landmines as the Germans fled.

The post-war reconstruction of Rovaniemi was a very slow and difficult task, as northern Finland lacked both construction materials and adequate nutrition for its population during the last half of the 1940s. Therefore, Rovaniemi and greater Lapland were among the first recipients in post-war Finland of aid provided by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), the predecessor to modern-day UNICEF.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of Franklin D. Roosevelt, president of the United States from 1933-1945, was widely known as the “soul” of the UNRRA. Mrs. Roosevelt, a world-renowned activist famous for her humanitarianism, decided to visit Rovaniemi in the summer of 1950, so she could monitor the progress of the post-war reconstruction first-hand. The First Lady also expressed her wish to cross the Arctic Circle while visiting the capital of Finnish Lapland.

The news of her pending visit to the Arctic Circle reached Rovaniemi only two weeks before her arrival. Uuno Hannula, the governor of Lapland, rose to the challenges of fulfilling Roosevelt’s wish, which were not slight, as nothing but wilderness existed at the time where the national road crossed the geophysical line of the Arctic Circle. With only a couple weeks until her visit, the heads of Rovaniemi met at the legendary Hotel Pohjanhovi and agreed to construct a cabin at the Arctic Circle for Roosevelt’s welcoming ceremony.

The mayor of Rovaniemi, Lauri Kaijalainen, helped Governor Hannula coordinate the construction by finding a suitable piece of land for a cabin bordering the northbound Highway 4. The land was donated by Eemeli Karinen. The land for the cabin was actually located just over 100 metres south of the exact geophysical location of the Arctic Circle, as the exact location of the line in 1950 was marshland and unsuitable for any kind of construction.

The Arctic Circle cabin had to be erected and finished in less than two weeks. With no time to waste, the cabin was designed overnight by local architect Ferdinand Salokangas, who then passed the baton to Jarl Sundquist’s experienced construction crew. The logs for the building were pulled straight out of the Ounasjoki river only eight days before the arrival of the honored guest. According to the instructions, the number of logs needed was “enough to build a house that can host a bus load of people.”

Under the leadership of master builder Yrjö Kamunen, skilled carpenters rushed to build the cabin, working long days and double shifts. During the final days of construction, people worked around the clock, miraculously finalizing the cabin in only a week, its doors installed just in time for the landing of Roosevelt’s airplane in Rovaniemi.

On Sunday, June 11th, 1950, the cabin received its distinguished visitor. On the sunny day of early summer, the people of Rovaniemi welcomed the First Lady with the local choir, Lapin Lauluveikot, and a warm atmosphere for this historic day. The smiling Mrs. Roosevelt was also honoured to send the first-ever postcard from Rovaniemi with the Arctic Circle stamp, which is said to have been addressed to her friend and then-President Harry S. Truman.’ (Source)

Let’s continue - Meet Santa’s reindeer

Start at the beginning – Tiffi and her friends go to see the Northern Lights