depicting Astrad and Götrad, the first known inhabitants of Ljungby. '' is one of the few historical buildings that wasn't destroyed in the 1953 fire. The former city center, that existed before the fire, was built in a similar style. . The first known inhabitant of the area that is today's Ljungby was Astrad, as can be read on the
runestone Replösastenen from the 11th century located a couple of kilometers from the city center. The runestone says: "
Götrad made this stone after Astrad, the foremost of kinsmen and yeomen (Swedish: odalmän) who in Finnveden formerly lived". In 1952 a statue by
John Lundqvist was erected near the main plaza depicting Astrad and Götrad. But there were other people living around Ljungby long before Astrad and Götrad as evident by the numerous
burial mounds in the area. One of the largest burial mounds lies close to the water tower and is named
Kungshögen. The largest burial is however
Höga rör that lies some kilometers south of Ljungby on the slope of the
Lagan river valley. In the 12th century the first stone church was built with the formation of the parish
Ljungby socken. Ljungby had for a long time been the crossroad where the two important north–south and east–west trade routes met. Because of this a hostelry was built adjacent to the
Laganstigen in the 14th century by royal decree. In 1828 Ljungby only consisted of five farms. It was in the beginning of the 19th century the need for a city in
Sunnerbo hundred was raised. Ljungby competed with the village
Berga, where
bishop Henrik had obtained permission to found a city. As Ljungby was considered to be located more central in the
hundred and had better road connections, the choice fell on the latter option. According to a royal letter from 15 October 1828, Ljungby was made a
friköping with regulations on 28 March 1829, according to three sources, and on 1 January 1830, according to another. Ljungby was founded mostly on property that was donated by
Märta Ljungberg, operator of Ljungby's hostelry. A town plan with perpendicular roads was used as base when the town's buildings was planned. The city plan would later be split with the arrival of the railroad. In 1878 the railroad between
Vislanda and
Bolmen, via Ljungby, was opened. The railroad would later be linked with
Karlshamn–Vislanda–Bolmens railroad (KVBJ) and
Halmstad–Bolmen Railroad (HBJ). In 1899 the north–south stretch
Skåne–
Smålands Railroad (SSJ) was opened. During the 20th century the town expanded with the help of the workshop and wood industry. The first population boom started at the end of the 1940s and culminated in the 1960s. Luckily this coincided with the increased need of work by the growing industry in the urban area with the need of work decreasing in the rural areas. The growth was also supported by the labor immigration that began in the post-war period.
The town centre fire of 1953 During the night between 4 and 5 July 1953 a fire started at
Gustaf Svenssons Bilverkstad (
English: Gustaf Svensson's
Garage) by the street
Eskilsgatan at
block Stjärnan. The garage was a wooden building with cans of petrol and oil on the floor. First on site was Ljungby fire department, no more than five minutes after the alarm, and could confirm that the fire had started at the garage. Once the fire had taken hold it continued to spread eastward towards the other wooden buildings in block
Stjärnan. The fire department had hoped that the street
Föreningsgatan would work as a
fire road, but the wind brought with it sparks and flames, and soon stood parts of block
Kometen also ablaze. Next to block
Kometen, by the street
Kungsgatan, lied Ljungby's Telegraph and Telephone Station, who tried to protect themself behind suspended soaked cloths. The nightstaff could not handle the increased traffic pressure the fire had brought with it and had to call in additional staff, who also had to evacuate archives and machines from the building. The Telegraph and Telephone Station survived the fire after the firefighters managed to extinguished it with
foam. Police from Växjö were also called in to support Ljungby's police force with directing traffic and to prevent people from entering the scene of fire. Most of the buildings where from the days when Ljungby was just a
market town, built before 1936. There were plans to build
huts on the square so that the affected businesses could continue their trade while rebuilding. But many business continued their trade at other temporary premises, which was noticed as only 15 out of the 96 unemployed reported to the
Employment Service the following days.
Administration Ljungby became a
friköping (or
chipping in English) on 15 October 1828, with the regulations decided on 28 March 1829. On 31 January 1879, Ljungby chipping's rules and regulations, building bylaws, and the fire charter was issued. On 10 February 1893 it was decided that the health care charter would also apply in the chipping. 1900 the concept
municipalsamhälle was introduced into Sweden's legislation and Ljungby chipping was transformed into
Ljungby köping municipalsamhälle. This was due to the fact that at least one of the town's charters was applied to the area and didn't belong to a
stadskommun (approx. town municipality) or
köpingskommun (approx. chipping municipality). On 3 July 1902 a special arrangement Charter was issued for
Ljungby köping municipalsamhälle. On 7 October 1921 the area of
Ljungby municipalsamhälle was increased from 0.98 km2 (0.37 mi2) to 3.50 km2 (1.35 mi2). Ljungby was, and is, the "church village" of
Ljungby parish and belonged to
Ljungby rural municipality after
1862 Swedish municipal reform. On 1 January 1936 Ljungby parish and rural municipality was reformed into
Ljungby stad. This was in accordance with a decision made on 20 September 1935 that gave Ljungby the title "
stad" (English:
town or
city). With 1971 Swedish municipal reforms
Ljungby stad and the
rural municipality was ascended into
Ljungby municipality with Ljungby being the
central locality. ==Transport==