Södra Park

Södra Park was constructed in 1863. The stream that runs through the park once formed a natural boundary between the town and Gränna parish.

Anyone wishing to enter the town to sell goods was required to pay a toll, introduced in Gränna as far back as 1681. The fee was paid at the southern tollgate and, together with the fences, the tollgates enclosed the entire town.

While the old tollgates are long gone, the current entrance archway retains their original shape. The yellow, wooden building just north of the park used to be a tollhouse. In 1864, Amalia Erikson set up her sweet-making business here – and it was in this building that the production of polkagrisar began.

The monument

In the centre of Södra Park stands a monument commemorating the Templars of Honor and Temperance. The monument was unveiled in 1938 to mark the order’s establishment in Sweden and the Nordic countries in 1887 by Emil O. Johansson, a resident of Gränna. It was crafted by P. V. Peterson’s stonemasonry in Gränna, based on a design by architect Folke Bergh. The sphere is made of granite. A casket was placed in the plinth during its construction, containing, among other things, a register of members from 1935.

The site bears traces of both the city’s history of toll charges and Amalia Erikson’s early business.