Perttula’s man found Ypäjä
The archaeological inventories of the early 2000s have found signs of stone-age dwellings on the banks of the Loimijoki riverbank. It was previously believed that settlement came to the Ypäjä region in the 5th century. According to tradition, Talonen was the first man to live in the area. However, it was not until the 12th century, when the Finno-Finnish and Häme game areas crossed the Ypäjä, that the settlement began to form.
Development in the early 19th century was slow. The Turku-Toijala railway line, opened only in 1876, made the bogie turn. Roads were built and improved, agriculture mechanized and livestock farming developed. Ypäjä’s first industrial plant was D.A. A steam saw set up by Collin in the late 1880s, allowing the people of the parish to cut the boards for their own use. In 1875 the first store of the parish was opened in the village of Manninen, founded by August Signell. Church village and Ypäjänkylä soon got their own shops.
The municipal decree of 1865 marked Ypäjä’s independence, as did many other municipalities. Earlier, there was a Perttula Chapel Church in the area where congregation meetings were held. Ypäjä became independent in 1876, when the boundaries of the municipality were also defined.
The population of the municipality grew strongly, especially in the late 1880s and early 20th century. The population of the municipality peaked around 1950, when the Karelian evacuees (mainly from the municipality of Moolaa) had increased it by an average of nearly 200 people per year in the second half of the 1940s. Since then, population trends have been depicted by a gently falling wave.
A law of 1931 ordered the Defense Shed’s Horse Shed and Riding School to be located on the lands of the state-owned Manor Village. Although the Horse Shed and Riding School moved to Niinisalo in 1955, the foundation for the name “Finnish Horse Keeper” had been created, which was officialized in 1982.