Raahe teachers’ training seminary started its operations on August 22, 1896. The opening was announced on the city's notice board because Raahe didn’t have its own newspaper. However, there was news and an advertisement about the new seminary in the Oulu-based "Kaiku" newspaper.
The school initially rented its teaching premises from a house owned by Frans Lindberg. In the first year of operation, 36 students, known as the "firstborns - esikoiset," began their studies. One of them was 23-year-old Anna Enckell, who went on to have a distinguished career in both the education sector and the world of organizations. She served, among other positions, as the chairperson of the Finnish Women's Association.
Construction of the new seminary building began in the fall of 1897, and during the following academic year, the main seminary building, the principal's and caretaker's residences, and the sauna and laundry building were completed.
Prospective primary school teachers weren’t held in very high regard. Raahe, being a coastal town, was predominantly Swedish-speaking, and children from bourgeois families attended Swedish-speaking schools and continued their studies at the Raahe Bourgeois and Commerce School.
More information
Tuikkuja ja kynttilöitä – muistoja Raahen seminaarista vuosilta 1896-1971
Back to the front page of the Old Town Raahe Advent Calendar