In the beginning of the year 1890 Bosta Snickerifabrik was founded by Anders Söderlind Bosta in the village of Gnarp between Hudiksvall and Sundsvall in Norrland. He ran the buisness until 1918 when his son Sixten Söderlind took over. At the start the factory made furniture and some other small carpenting. The original factory still remains. In the beginning of year 1920 the new factory was built south of the old one and had after some enlargements a floor space of 500 swedish square meters. In 1924 they started manufacturing cabins, mostly for trucks. In the end of the '20:s and some part of '30:s they also manufactured complete buses. The factory also performed conversions and repairs of all kinds of vehicles in Norrland. In 1940 there was a paint hall built for spray-painting the cabins. After World War II approximelly 150 cabins per year were manufactured. They also manufactured frames for windows, doors, stairways and so on. There were att all times one or two carpenters on the second floor where they manufactured desks, chairs and so on. Coffins were another manufactured unit.

It is told that when one worker had a spare metal part he asked another worker what to do with the part. " Throw it trough the window " he answered, and the first one did! The hole in the glass was covered by a wooden plate signed ' fresh air intake '. The plate was mounted through all the years until closure.
It is also told that vagabonds fried their egg and pork on the hot furnace that supported the factory with heat.

The electricity supply for machinery and lightning were taken from the own powerplant in Gretbro. About 20 persons were employed through the years util the closure in 1953.

A big thanks to Gunnar Bydell who has written the story about Bosta Snickerifabrik. The story can be red at Nordanstig library.

Published 2001-12-01