James Finlayson (industrialist)

In 1817, he moved to St. Petersburg to found a textile factory with the backing of Tsar Alexander I of Russia.

The next year, Finlayson received permission from the Senate of Finland to build a factory in Tampere using water power from the Tammerkoski rapids.

Finlayson worked in an advisory capacity for a couple of years before moving back to the United Kingdom, where he died in 1852 in Edinburgh.

In 1995 the old factories in the center of Tampere were closed down, and the old buildings converted to a commercial and entertainment district.

A weaving hall, completed in 1877 and at the time the largest in the Nordic countries, housed a total of 1,200 power looms.