The history of Strömstad

For a long time timber had been transported along the river and both sawn and un-sawn wood were important commodities. Many ships came sailing to buy wood. Once Bohuslän became Swedish through the Roskilde peace agreement in 1658, the government in Stockholm soon became interested in establishing a trading area in the north of Bohuslän, as well as making the new province more Swedish. The Swedish government had previously legalised against all trade from loading areas and maintained that trade should only be carried out from towns. Therefore the north of Bohuslän must get its own town. The new town should also be fortified and able to defend the newly acquired county. When a site for the new market town was to be chosen, Strömmen was selected, probably because of the good harbour and the possibilities of building forts in the hills to defend the town. Strömmen received its first municipal charter in 1667 and a town charter soon after.

Strömstad soon established itself as an important shipping town and during the great herring fishing period in the second half of the 18th century, trade flourished. Salted herring, dried fish and wood were important commodities and several large merchant vessels had their home berths in Strömstad. At this time, when herring was being fished like never before, the foundations were laid to what would later become Strömstad’s main identity, the spa town. Strömstad is one of the oldest spa towns in Sweden. People were ‘taking the waters’ at the spring Lejonkällan in1782. The spring’s mineral rich water was thought to cure ills like epilepsy, paralysis, rheumatism etc. Water cures were fashionable at this time and outdoor activities in combination with taking the waters were seen as very beneficial to health. A number of open-air baths and indoor baths were built in Strömstad in the following century. The old baths had features like shower-baths, mud-baths, tub-baths and seaweed baths, treatments that are still highly topical today and that are also on offer in our present baths, built in1909. After having been without an open-air bath for a few decades, Strömstad has again an open-air bath, opened in 2005.

Spa-life also brought summertime restaurants and places for cultural entertainment and socialising. The Town Hall, Skagerack, was built in record time in 1877 when Strömstad found itself without a hall due to the great fire which hit the town centre the previous year. Today it offers concerts, Christmas shows etc as well as refreshments. A stone’s throw from the Skagerrak, at Laholmsudden, there has been a restaurant since the mid-19th century. A hundred years later a hotel part was added. The building burnt down completely in the 1970s and the present Laholmen Hotel was opened in 1984.
  
Strömstad has for centuries been known for its trade, and this is also true today. Today’s large numbers of visitors in the summer combined with the trade across the border means that Strömstad all year around offers a range of shopping which is second to none.