Kategori: Historical monument

In 1871, glass production started up again with lamp glasses for paraffin lamps, a lamp workshop and glassware such as drinking glasses, carafes, jugs and "pocket larks" were made with pressed glass technology that made prices affordable. The production of electric lamps increased and Norgesglasset with screw caps was introduced after an idea from the American glass industry. This revolutionized the canning and storage of food by housewives.

Glass production was transferred to Hadeland Glassverk and pewter objects were made at the works.

The workers at Verket had relatively good working conditions and no one was poor. Until 1917, the workers were given free housing and fuel, a good standard of housing according to the standards of the time with one or two rooms and a kitchen. They also had their own school, their own gymnastics room, library and reading room.

In 1910, the works got yet another new glass hut. This year, Høvik Glassverk was Bærum's second largest company with between 200 and 300 employees. The employees and their families, about 800 people, mostly lived inside the factory area. Skilled workers came from Sweden, Germany and Austria, or from the works at Hadeland and Biri.

Høvik verk was a fairly closed community until development in the Høvik area began in full in the 1950s and 1960s. It was a self-sufficient community with a camaraderie and unity that was very special. Within the plant, there was a big difference between workers, officials and management. This was reflected on the beach, where the working-class and white-collar children had to stick to their respective parts. At Svartodden, the white-collar children were alone with their beach and their bathhouse.

The immigrants who came to the Høvik area were sceptical about the working environment. The workers drank a lot of beer, often in the middle of the morning, and the boys at the works sailed on ice floes in the spring and bathed naked in the sea. Children from Øvre Høvik and other neighborhoods were not allowed to cycle down to the "ramp at Høvik Verk". Gradually, however, both children and adults experienced that there was a peaceful and good environment at Verket, with little fighting and quarrelling, as there was more of in other industrial communities in Bærum.

During World War II (1940–1945), the entire factory area was seized by the Germans, and all lamp production stopped. The Germans used the factory premises for their central workshop for car engines. Since then, filing cabinets, primuses and cooking appliances were produced. In 1972, the factory and the surrounding area were sold to Det Norske Veritas (DNV), lamp production was moved to Halden and called Høvik Lys, while steel production was transferred to Hensmoen near Hønefoss.

Kilde: https://barumhistorie.no / Knut Erik Skarning

So why was the airport placed here? Yes, because as early as 1927, the island of Gressholmen had served as Oslo's main seaplane airport, but it was impractical to transport everyone out by boat and eventually there was a conflict with boat traffic.Various alternatives were considered and they landed at Fornebu, because there it was possible to combine an airport for land and seaplanes. There was a lot of unemployment in the 1930s, and permission was therefore granted for development in 1935. Initially, 3 runways were built, but only the north-south runway became important for traffic flow and the others were closed down after the war.

The airport was occupied by the Germans during World War II, and civil air traffic was suspended between 1940 and 1946. West of the airport, at Oksenøya farm, the Germans set up a prison camp. One of the prisoners' tasks in the winter was to keep the runways clear of snow, and by marching they trampled the snow so that the planes could use the runways.

The main users of the airport were Braathens SAFE (South American and Far East Air Transport) and SAS. The first long-haul flights were only carried out during the day because the planes' range and top speed were so low compared to today that the routes had to be divided into several sections, so that the crew could rest between each flight. The first Braathens SAFE flights between Oslo and Hong Kong for example were set up with stops in Amsterdam, Marseille, Cairo, Basra, Karachi, Calcutta and Bangkok in that order. At the time, the route was the world's longest continuous flight route. The airline that flew the longest at Fornebu was Dutch KLM; the company participated in the opening on 1 June 1939 and, with the exception of the war years, they flew continuously until the airport was closed.

In the post-war period, there were several step-by-step expansions of both terminals and runways, and Fornebu was the workplace for over 5,000 people in the early 90s. As a passenger, it is easy to overlook that an airport is more than planes and airlines. These services were also necessary to keep the airport running: air traffic controllers, weather service, fire and rescue service, customs, freight, mail, fuel suppliers, police, security and various types of service personnel. From a modest beginning with a few departures per today, the number of travelers reached 10 million in 1997 before the move to Gardermoen.

As a central area with proximity to Oslo, it also helped to build up the local environment with a rich working life and large influx of people. Today, the area is being developed into "Fornebyen", a city, trade and residential area. Today, seaplanes are allowed to operate in Lilløykilen through Kilen Sjøflyklubb.