Portraits of Halmstad Residents

1934 was a turbulent year for Wallbergs. The company’s leader, Olof Wallberg, died in unclear circumstances, and his sister Ingrid Wallberg (1890–1965) took over responsibility for the company.

Ingrid had the company in her blood. She was the great-great-granddaughter of its founder, Isak Reinhold Wallberg.

But in her youth, she had chosen to turn her back on the family business in favour of training for a career as an architect.

In Halmstad, she was most active in the 1950s, when the terraced houses on Gymnasiegatan, Idrottsvägen and Olympiavägen were built to her designs.

She was described as a strong-willed, dominant and highly capable business leader. She was certainly not lacking in clarity, either. The heading above comes from a quotation attributed to Ingrid, which in full reads: “A good worker is hard to find, but a master craftsman can simply be advertised for.” It should also be noted that she must have had an enormous capacity for work. For 30 years, she managed this large company while continuing to work as an architect.

At the age of 35, in 1786, Christina Charlotta Richardy, usually known as Mamsell Richardy, was declared legally independent. This meant that, albeit with certain restrictions, she could manage her own property and finances.

She was an enterprising woman. She first tried her hand at smoking salmon, but before long she settled on working as a textile entrepreneur. Much of the production took place in homes across southern Halland, where local farmers were accustomed to processing wool into vadmal cloth. She was also granted permission to establish a cloth factory on her farm, Tolarp in Snöstorp.

The army was a major customer, particularly as she supplied felt gaiters and leather boots.

Her abilities were also recognised beyond Halmstad. In 1800, she became the first woman to be elected a member of the Royal Patriotic Society, founded in 1766 to promote Swedish agriculture and industry.

The man with the revolver was managing director Martin Martens, who in 1898 was behind the founding of Johansfors Brewery/Hallands Brewery. The business moved almost immediately to Halmstad, into the former premises of Appeltofftska Brewery on what is now Hospitalsgatan. The business soon changed its name to Hallands Vinfabrik.

In 1915, Martens bought Lilla Haga, which was situated at the southernmost end of Slottsjorden. He planted currant bushes there to provide raw materials for wine production. Wine may also have been produced on the site.

Martens was a well-known figure in Halmstad, not least for his litigious nature and his recurring conflicts with his workers. Added to this were his involvement in fights and on several occasions illegal sales of beer.

Let us return to the headline. It tells us something about Martens, but also about how far the journalism of the time was from that of today. It could be described as more colourful, but also as displaying a leniency that would hardly be expressed in such terms today.

“This is how I did it,” said Mr M., pointing the barrel of the six-shot revolver towards our [the reporter’s] pounding heart.
After providing further details about the worker’s behaviour, Martens said:
“But Johansson was furious and kept coming at me. So I put a shot straight in his face.”
Johansson had apparently been hit in the head, but only suffered minor injuries. The weapon was a Scheintod revolver, a type of German self-defence weapon designed to temporarily incapacitate rather than cause lasting injury.

After moving to Halmstad, he built the property at Storgatan 6, which provided space both for his home and his medical practice. The building remained until 1953, when it was completely destroyed by a devastating fire.

Over the years, the property was known by several names, including the Toll Property, Augustinska huset and Hotel Gillet.

One of Johan Westberg’s most important achievements was introducing a general smallpox vaccination programme throughout the county, an effort for which he was awarded the Gold Vaccination Medal. He was also an early advocate of sea bathing, which at the time was a new and growing phenomenon.

In 1891, Storgatan 6 became the home of Dr Ernst Augustinsson and his wife, Maria Leijonancker.

Ernst opened his medical practice here, which he ran until his death in 1925.

His medical career extended far beyond his own practice. He served as a hospital physician and regimental physician, was company doctor at Oskarström Works, and worked as a physician at the Nissabo health resort and the State West Coast Sanatorium.

Maria Leijonancker was the daughter of the Governor of Halland and came from a family with strong ties to public life. Together, she and Ernst gave the house a strong Christian character. Ernst was a churchwarden and a member of the parish council, while Maria’s deep religious faith also left its mark on the home.

It is with pride that Gustav Håkansson looks out over the square in Halmstad. He has every reason to be pleased. Håkansson’s confectionery has grown into one of the town’s largest and most popular cafés. Five dining rooms, a large shop, a bakery and storage rooms – all of this fits into the large property on Kyrkogatan. In the courtyard there is also the wash house, with its large copper boiler where all the laundry is boiled. In summer, guests can sit outside at the café’s terrace overlooking the square.

But the road to get there has been a long one. And it has taken him all the way across the Atlantic.

Gustav was born in Skåne. His father was an estate manager, and from an early age Gustav helped with farming and livestock. But agriculture did not appeal to him. He wanted to become a confectioner.

At the age of eighteen, he left his home region and headed for Stockholm. There he began his training in the confectionery trade – a profession that required both skilled hands and an eye for beauty.

The following year, he travelled to America. In Chicago, he found work as head assistant at a confectionery. He learned a great deal and was also introduced to a completely different world of confectionery from the one he knew in Sweden. Eventually, he took the plunge and started a business of his own. The confectionery also included a candy factory. After seven years, he had managed to build up the capital he needed. He sold the business in Chicago and returned to Sweden.

At last, Gustav and Anna could get married and make their shared dream come true. They opened a confectionery in Lund.

But Gustav and Anna had bigger plans. They were looking for a town where they believed their business could grow. Their eyes turned to Halmstad – a town on the rise, where there was still a need for a really large confectionery. In 1886, Håkansson’s confectionery opened its doors in Halmstad for the first time. The first premises were diagonally across the square. The confectionery quickly became popular, and the business continued to grow.

The working days are long. Baking begins as early as five o’clock in the morning. The work then continues throughout the day, while the confectionery remains open until ten in the evening. Gustav and Anna have to take turns to keep the business running – while also finding time for family life with their five children.

Anton Angel came to Halmstad as a young man in the early 1850s to work in his uncle Johan Otto Angel’s ironmongery and household goods shop. When his uncle died in 1858, the only 19-year-old Anton took over responsibility for the business.

Business was good, and Anton Angel helped to found or finance several companies that became important to Halland, including Halmstads Nya Verkstads AB, Skandinaviska Jutespinneri & Väveri AB in Oskarström, Nissaströms AB, and the Skåne–Halland railway, which later became part of today’s West Coast Line.

In addition to his business activities, Anton Angel was a Member of Parliament from 1882 to 1884, a member of Halmstad City Council and German vice-consul.

When the foundry on the east side of the River Nissan, in which Anton Angel was a co-owner, was supplied with electricity in the 1880s, he arranged for an electrical cable to be laid from the factory across the river to Tivoliparken. Three electric arc lamps were installed there to provide lighting. This was the first public electric lighting in Halmstad.

In 1885, Anton Angel’s new home at Köpmansgatan 14 was completed. The house was designed by City Architect Knut Beckeman.

For many years after Anton Angel’s death, the house became one of the town’s best-known buildings. In 1927, Källaren Laxen opened there. The ground floor housed a simple people’s restaurant, while the second floor had a more upmarket restaurant and the top floor contained a function room.

The restaurant became known as an artists’ haunt, where members of the Halmstad Group would gather.

An Educated Family

Laura grew up in a family where education was highly valued. Her father, Carl Magnus Petri, was an assistant teacher at the Grammar School. At the time, girls did not have the same educational opportunities as boys. Laura could not attend the Grammar School where her father taught. Instead, she sat her school-leaving examination as a private candidate, which she did in 1898.

Laura was not content with finishing school. She wanted to continue learning and went on to study at Lund University. Eventually, she submitted her doctoral thesis.

The subject was Catherine Booth, the woman who founded the Salvation Army together with her husband, William Booth.

A New Halmstad

When Laura later returned to Halmstad, much had changed.

It was now the 1920s. Society looked very different from the way it had when she was an eight-year-old girl standing in front of the red poster outside baker Paulsson’s.

People’s view of the Salvation Army had also changed. More and more people had begun to appreciate the work the movement did for those facing hardship.

But Laura could also see that there was still great need. Poverty and social hardship had not disappeared simply because society had become more modern.

After a conversation with an unhappy woman in Norre Katt, Laura Petri decided to establish a home for the elderly, where older people could live a safe and comfortable life as their strength began to fade.

In 1948, she founded the Stiftelsen Hemmet Västersol and became its chairwoman.

Johan Philip Dillberg 1817 – 1872

Johan Philip Dillberg – or JP, as his friends call him – is one of the town’s leading figures. 1863 became chairman of the City Council in Halmstad.

A great deal now falls under the town’s responsibility: roads, water supply, schools, the fire service and poor relief. JP is pleased to see these developments. Halmstad is moving forward.

He himself has devoted most of his life to trade. He moved from Skåne to Halmstad at the age of 19, found work as an apprentice and worked his way up as a bookkeeper and shop assistant. Eventually, he obtained the right to run his own business and was able to set up a shop of his own.

1850 he helped to establish Hallands Ångbåtsbolag. It marked the beginning of a new era for Halmstad. Regular steamship services connected the town with Gothenburg, Copenhagen and, later, Lübeck.

But not everything went smoothly. The paddle steamer Kattegatt suffered a boiler failure. A few years later, the same vessel ran aground off Falkenberg and became a wreck. But these setbacks did not stop the development. New vessels were put into service, and now mail, goods and passengers travel daily between Halmstad, Denmark and Germany. The harbour has become an increasingly important part of the town’s life and future.

Hilda Baertling was born in 1832. Together with Georg, she had the house at Brogatan 12 built in 1870. There they opened Hotell Central, with a restaurant and tavern. It soon became a significant business in Halmstad, with many people coming and going and plenty to be taken care of every day.

When Georg died in 1879, everything changed. Hilda was left a widow, but she did not leave the business. Although she could not officially call herself a restaurateur, she took responsibility for the family business and made sure that everything continued to run smoothly.

Krogen i hörnet

The tavern in the corner basement offered a different kind of atmosphere from the more refined parts of the hotel. This was where the town’s workers gathered. Beer and snaps were part of the scene, and things could sometimes get lively.

Hotell Central had three restaurants.

Bodegan was the more upmarket restaurant, where merchants and businessmen went.

Biljarden was popular with craftsmen and workers, as well as farmers on market days.

Gökakrogen, located in the basement, was a dark and rough establishment where ordinary people in Halmstad could have a shot of spirits and something simple to eat. Gökakrogen closed in 1902.

Georg Baertling was a colourful character, and in 1899 he decided to stand in the parliamentary election. During the campaign, he invited people to a meeting at Gillestugan on Galgberget, which attracted 2,000 people.

On election day, he made sure that ballot papers and leaflets were handed out to the people of Halmstad. Despite this, he received only ten votes, and Anders Lorentz Apelstam became Halmstad’s parliamentary candidate.

Georg Baertling felt that the ten people who had voted for him deserved to be thanked. He therefore announced that everyone who had voted for him would be invited to dinner. That evening, more than 100 people turned up at Hotell Central.

Although politics was now a thing of the past, Georg continued to take an interest in various social issues. Alongside the hotel business, the family also leased some farmland. When Georg heard about the Farmers’ Demonstration in Stockholm in 1914, he therefore put on a traditional farmer’s outfit and travelled to the capital to take part in the demonstration.