The monument was established in 1953 by the initiative and at the expense of Svante Påhlson, the owner of Rottneros Bruk Works and founder of Rottneros Park. The unveiling took place on June 22th 1953, with much grandeur. The county governor Acke Westling was present, as well as Finland's minister in Sweden and the American ambassador. The following gala dinner was held at the biggest hotel in Karlstad, as there was no place elegant enough in Sunne at the time.
The artist Jussi Mäntynen later confessed about the hardships of creating the eagle atop the monument. The commissioner Svante Påhlson would come regularly to inspect the progress of Mäntynen's work, but he was never satisfied. Upon the last inspection, when it was time to cast the eagle, Påhlson lost his temper and unwisely touched the soft clay. "I was seeing read, I was so angry," Jussi Mäntynen said. He finally became angry, so angry in fact that Påhlson seemed frightened. The two men stared at each other for a while, until they found the humour in the situation and burst out laughing instead. After the incident, Påhlson was allowed to finish his work in peace and his vision of the eagle was realised and still stands today.
On the pedestal the following text was cut: "Till hugfästande av sambandet med stamfränder Västanhavs och Östanhavs”, which roughly translates to "To commemorate the connection with our friends of western and easter seas." In other words, to commemorate the Finnish immigrants and the emigrants from Värmland that left for the USA.
In 1955, the monument was given to the Värmland Association for Cultural History, which in turn gave it to Sunne Municipality in 1991.
Tremansbacken 55 , 686 93 Sunne
Organizer
Sunne kommun / Kulturenheten
