Surte Explained

Official Name:Surte
Pushpin Map:Sweden Västra Götaland#Sweden
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Sweden
Subdivision Type3:Municipality
Subdivision Name3:Ale Municipality
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Västra Götaland County
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Name1:Västergötland
and Bohuslän
Area Footnotes:[1]
Area Total Km2:3.61
Population As Of:31 December 2010
Population Footnotes:(including Bohus)
Population Total:5,798
Population Density Km2:1604
Timezone:CET
Utc Offset:+1
Timezone Dst:CEST
Utc Offset Dst:+2
Coordinates:57.8167°N 13°W

Surte (in Swedish pronounced as /ˈsɵ̂ʈːɛ/)[2] is a locality situated in Ale Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 5,798 inhabitants in 2010. Surte Church is located in the town.

It is located some 15 kilometers north of Gothenburg. Surte became well known for its glass works that started production in 1862 and became one of the major mechanized glass works in Sweden. It was bought by in 1960 and shut down in 1978.

In Surte, there was a large landslide in 1950, which killed one person and destroyed 30 houses. More houses had to be removed, causing 450 people to lose their home. It also blocked the river which had frequent ship traffic.

Surte was the hometown of Alexander Samuelson. Although he was not the designer, he was the man named on the 1915 design patent for the legendary contour Coca-Cola bottle.[3]

The international Grand Master of chess Gideon Ståhlberg, one of the world's strongest players in the 1940s, was born and is buried in Surte.

Surte is home to the bandy club Surte BK. They built one of the first indoor bandy arenas in Sweden (and subsequently in the world), which was the first in Götaland.[4]

The village Bohus, located 2½ km (1½ mile) north of Surte centre, has grown together with Surte and, in official statistics, is handled as one village.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km2 2005 och 2010 . 14 December 2011 . . Swedish . https://web.archive.org/web/20120127055525/http://www.scb.se/Statistik/MI/MI0810/2010A01/Tatorternami0810tab1_4.xls . 27 January 2012 . live . 10 January 2012 .
  2. Book: Svenska ortnamn med uttalsuppgifter. Jöran Sahlgren. Gösta Bergman. sv. 1979. 23.
  3. Alexander Samuelson, "Design for a Bottle or Similar Object," U. S. Patent D48160, Nov. 1915.
  4. Web site: Ale Arena - ENGLISH . 2009-12-02 . 2009-10-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091028034434/http://www.alearena.eu/english.html . dead .