In 1868, apothecary G. A. Serlachius bought a small area of land near the Mänttä rapids and began to build next to the old mills already on the premises. The place Serlachius had chosen was magnificent for establishing a groundwood mill. There was water galore in the rapids and, additionally, it was steep and easily dammed. An isthmus, which cut through the rapids, was 150 metres wide and the falls were approximately six metres. Eight grinding machines were ordered from the Tampereen pellava- ja rautateollisuus Oy’s engineering workshop. A hydroelectric power station with eight 40 horse-power turbines was built to keep the machines moving. The turbines were designed by a Swedish company called Karlstad Mekaniska Verkstad. Later, paperboard machines were bought for upgrading the wood pulp. Work began in the mill in April 1869. Ground pulp was produced with a simple method: the pulp from the grinding machines was gathered into boxes, which had a sieve cloth in the bottom, and from these women spread the pulp by hand onto wooden sheets the size of a sheet of paper. The sheets were stacked one on top of the other and put into a press which squeezed out the excess water. Approximately 300 kg of pulp was produced in 24 hours and it was exported primarily to Russia. G. A. Serlachius managed the groundwood mill himself and worked there daily as supervisor. The groundwood mill was destroyed in a fire that raged through the factory in 1890. At this time it was already able to produce enough wood pulp for the needs of the neighbouring paper factory.

Before Serlachius was able to build drying rooms for drying the pulp sheets, they were dried outside in a simple drying shed. They were hung on a line to dry like clean clothes.

The shed belonged to Serlachius’ groundwood mill buildings.

Since drying outside was extremely slow, Serlachius built two drying rooms for drying the pulp and paperboard sheets. Working in the rooms was hard because the ovens heated the houses to very high temperatures.

When Serlachius built a paper factory to connect with the grinding mill in 1880, the need for the drying rooms dwindled. Now, the wet pulp was taken directly to the hollanders in the paper factory. Later, one of the drying rooms was torn down and the other was made into a workshop for woodworking.

Many of Finland’s industrial centres for wood processing began as iron works. Mänttä almost received its own iron works when Master of Law A. G. A. Palmfelt planned to establish one in the 1850s. During the years 1852 and 1854 he had bought 50-year shares in the mills located on the west shore of the rapids. Palmfelt received the right to establish a smelting plant and mill in 1856. A map drawn in the 1850s comprises a plan for buildings which were to be built on the premises of the iron works.

Knowledge about the manufacturing of iron in Mänttä is based on recollections of the local people who claim that there was a huge pile of lake ore, i.e. “iron soil”, for a long time on the west shore of the rapids as a memento of Palmfelt’s enterprise. At least one building rose on the shore of the rapids as a result of the plan: a small workshop building where the local people bought hardware.

Knowledge about the existence and location of the workshop has been obtained from old documents and maps. The shape of the workshop in the scale model is typical of the time, but fictitious.

Exactly when the stable was built is not known. It may have been finished before G. A. Serlachius ever arrived in the town.

The stable was torn down in the 1880s when living-quarters, called Koskitalo, were built for the mill manager.

A shed built in connection with the groundwood mill; but may have, however, possibly been built in connection with the workshop.

Knowledge about the existence and location of the shed has been obtained from old documents and maps. The shape of the shed in the scale model is typical of the time, but fictitious.

The building was made into an office for the groundwood mill soon after the mill was finished. As soon as 1871, G. A. Serlachius set up a shop in same house where workers could buy food and other necessities with tickets given to them as pay instead of money. The shop was closed down in 1892 after which it was used as an office alone.

A sauna for the employees of the factory was built in the beginning of the 1870s. It was located on the shore of the so-called dry rapids where logs were released into the river from Keurusselkä to Kuorevesi. At the time, it was customary for women and men to go to the sauna together.

The building was finished around 1869. At first, G. A. Serlachius had planned to make the building into a combined bakery and sauna, but parts of it were used immediately for educational purposes when the mill workers requested that Serlachius arrange schooling for their children. The workers voluntarily built the building together.

The building housed the factory school, Mänttä’s first primary school, a reading room, and a library. The bakery operated for a little while on the other end of the building until it was made into a second classroom. The sauna became the teacher’s living-quarters.

The multipurpose building later developed into a kind of local “centre for cultural activities”. Church services, Sunday school for children, parish catechetical meetings, various celebrations, and meetings were held in the building. Various associations used the building, choirs and music bands practised there, and sometimes it was used for dances too. In addition, vaccinations were administered and votes were cast in the building.

G. A. Serlachius had the first living-quarters for workers built on his land in the beginning of the 1870s.

Knowledge about the existence and location of the houses has been obtained from old documents and maps. The shape of the buildings in the scale model is typical of the time, but fictitious.

The Koskela estate was originally built as a crofter’s cottage for the Kiesilä estate. Koskela owned the land west of the isthmus in the Mänttä rapids. As time went by, Koskela rented out its land for the needs of an ever-industrializing Mänttä. In addition to farming, the proprietors kept inns. Juho Antti Antinpoika was the proprietor when G. A. Serlachius arrived in Mänttä. Juho Juhonpoika inherited the house when Juho Antinpoika died in 1869.

G. A. Serlachius never succeeded in buying the Koskela estate and it remained an independent estate during his life-time. Its main building was torn down sometime at the end of the 1890s or right in the beginning of the 1900s.

Knowledge about the existence and location of the houses has been obtained from old documents and maps. The shape of the buildings in the scale model is typical of the time, but fictitious.

In 1817, the Pättiniemi estate had built a small mill in the falls; a few years later the Mänttä estate followed suit. The Koskela, Kiesilä, Uotila, Liettu, and Seppälä estates owned the east fork of the rapids and they all had built their own mills there. In the 1820s, the freeholders closed the outermost channels to add more current to the middle channel after which they moved all the mills to the middle channel. This eastern fork, which is the Mänttä rapids proper, belonged to the Mänttä, Pättiniemi, and Kivimäki estates.

During the 1850s, industrial businessmen from the outside bought out the mills and water shares of the Mänttä rapids one by one. They were aware of the financial opportunities that the rapids offered. The three mills on the west shore of the rapids provided premises for G.A. Serlachius’ groundwood mill and paperboard factory.

The Mänttä mill was the last to operate. It too, soon fell into the hands of G. A. Serlachius, but mill operations continued for a long time in the newer buildings built in the place of the Mänttä mill.

The first sawmills were founded in the waterway region of the Näsijärvi lake in the 1840s and 1850s. They were situated on the Parkkuukoski of Kuru and Mänttä rapids. The first owner of Mänttä’s double-framed sawmill was Gustaf Hobin, a customs collector from Helsinki. The Mäntän Saha-Yhtiö company was established in the year 1863 and it had sixteen shareholders. Gösta Sundman held the majority of shares.

The sawmill was renovated in 1874. G.A. Serlachius bought the new triple-framed mill for himself, including leasing shares, in the year 1889.

During the first years of operation, timber was taken from a wide region around the neighbouring municipalities. Transporting the lumber to market posed the largest problem: with the waterways being so good, the roads in North-Häme became neglected. Because transportation was so difficult, only the largest and best boards were offered for export, which also meant the seller could get a good price for them.

A place for drying and storing lumber.

The building was used as a miller’s cottage and shop before G. A. Serlachius arrived in Mänttä. It belonged to the Mäntän Saha-Yhtiö company.

The miller’s cottage soon became Serlachius’ home after he moved to Mänttä. The quarters seemed too modest for the head of a factory, but the yard was well kept and aroused admiration. The factory owner lived in the house for nearly twenty years before building his new home, the Mänttä castle. The mill cottage was joined to the castle as an outbuilding.

The rear building evidently belonged to the mill cottage next to it. It housed an ice cellar and a wood shed.

Built at the end of the 1850s, the “Pitkä pytinki” was used for housing workers. It was originally a part of Saha-Yhtiö company’s’ buildings on the shore of the rapids.

Once G. A. Serlachius owned the building, it was then used to house the “better” workers of the factory.

The mill’s “Pieni pytinki” was built at the end of the 1850s to house the sawmill workers. During its ownership by G. A. Serlachius, it housed factory workers.

The storehouse was built alongside the houses for the sawmill workers, “Pitkä pytinki” (Long Building) and “Pieni pytinki” (Small Building). After G. A. Serlachius became owner of the mill cottage, house manager A. J. Hoffren who had a shop there moved his shop to the other side of the road to this storehouse. The shop was in service for about 20 years.

The land on the isthmus of the Mänttä rapids originally belonged to the Mänttä estate. According to the recollections of the Mänttä family, it had always been in the family’s possession. At the time G. A. Serlachius arrived in Mänttä, Fredriika Karoliina Juhontytär, who inherited the estate from her father, and her husband, were lady and lord of the house. Fredriika Juhontytär’s husband, Matti Sipinpoika Hinkkala, was coined the name Matti Mänttä, according to the name of the house.

The Mänttä estate is the first of the larger land areas that G. A. Serlachius was able to purchase. The deed of sale was written in 1888. Serlachius was now able to spread a developed community out around his factory outside the crowded isthmus.

Knowledge about the existence and location of the main building of the Mänttä estate has been obtained from old documents and maps. Its shape in the scale model is typical of the time, but fictitious.

Pictures of the cottage in the yard have been preserved, however, and the scale model has been built according to them.

Knowledge about the existence and approximate location of the sauna has been obtained from old documents and maps. The history of the sauna is not known, but it seems to have been used by the sawmill workers.

The shape of the sauna in the scale model is typical of the time, but fictitious.

Knowledge about the existence and approximate location of this crofter’s cottage has been obtained from old maps. The history of the house is not known.

The shape of the cottage in the scale model is typical of the time, but fictitious.

Knowledge about the existence and approximate location of this crofter’s cottage has been obtained from old maps. A tanner named Hiden worked in Mänttä at this time; this is evidently his living-quarters.

The shape of the houses in the scale model is typical of the time, but fictitious.

According to some sources, “Vanha Rantala” was built in the 1870s and used as living-quarters for the workers of the industrial establishments of the isthmus.