Koulukatu street 13, Raahe Theater
The Salvation Army building was impressive, and still is. During the war years, there were good gooseberry bushes growing in its yard. And the majors didn't have weapons, but they chased away berry thieves with brooms.
The mysterious courtyard, protected by a high fence, already intrigued the residents of Raahe when the street was called Menzerinkatu street. The property was owned by merchant John Frieman and later by his heirs. The garden was allowed to run wild. The Friemans themselves lived on the corner of Menzerinkatu street (now Koulukatu street) and Kirkkokatu street in a house that we remember as the location of Pizzeria Alto Mare.
The Art Nouveau-style building, constructed by the Salvation Army, was completed in 1913. For decades, the large hall echoed with singing and speeches.
The fireplace that crackled
“The Salvation Army building was impressive and still is. During the war years (1939–1944), there were some damn good gooseberry bushes growing in its yard. And the majors didn’t even have weapons; they just beat the boys with brooms if they found them hiding in the bushes. Humane people.
School was also held there during the war years. The Keskuskoulu school served as a military hospital, and the students were transferred with their books to the Salvation Army's emergency shelters. It was an exciting time for the students. The teacher sat on the stage in the place of the prayer leader, and the boys felt like banging on the drum behind him.
And sometimes they did.
The boys came up with other little pranks as well. Heimo Korpela was a real fountain of ideas. His cleverness was evident when, after being ordered to leave the classroom immediately following a prank, he opened the large window next to him and jumped out into the yard to eat gooseberries.
Others learned from Heimo's example. When the entire back row was ordered to leave immediately, the students took the bench that had served as their seat and carried it outside. With innocent expressions on their faces, they returned to ask where they should now sit.
Winter made the cozy hall cold. The only source of heat was two stoves, one on the stage next to the drum and the other in the corner behind the desks. The one that could be carried outside. The old Högfors iron stove glowed red as it burned logs, otherwise the students would have frozen their fingers off. Those sitting further away were still cold. The bottoms of those sitting in the back row were in danger of burning.
It happened one day during Finnish class. Someone was reading the Maamme book as usual. But Eero had his own games to play. He had half a dozen Parabellum cartridges in his hand. He bounced them around thoughtfully. Suddenly, he opened the fireplace door and threw the cartridges into the crackling wood. As calm as the heroes in the book we were studying, he closed the door and immersed himself in the day's text.
The overall picture of the homeland was just becoming vaguely clear to some of the class, and the desperately monotonous reading exercise was coming to an end, when there was a loud bang. The stove flew into the corner. Fire, flint, and ash rained down like in Sodom and Gomorrah. The most sensitive girls started crying. The lecturer sitting at the altar fell off his chair. The boys looked slightly stunned and surprised. And that rascal Eero managed to pull off a similar expression. He hurriedly and carefully repaired the stove, closed the door, and extinguished the embers that had flown out.
To the lecturer's finally audible cries, Eero replied in a soothing tone that those were just the branches crackling in the fireplace.” (Text excerpt from Pentti Pirhonen: Pikkukaupungin kaduilta ja kujilta [From the Streets and Alleys of a Small Town], Kirjayhtymä 1971)
From the Salvation Army to the theater
After the actual activities ended, the Salvation Army's flea market began in the meeting hall. The flea market closed in the fall of 1993, and the building was left empty. The Salvation Army's property was transferred to the ownership of the Pekkateatteri (theater) Support Association on April 1, 2003.
The theater was originally called Raahen Näyttämö, then Raahen teatterikerho and Pekkateatteri, and now Raahen Teatteri.
At least Pentti Aho, Antti Suuronen, Riitta Mänty, Veikko Ouramaa, Matti Pajula, Sari Jaatinen, Hannu Pelkonen, Vesa Lammi, Liisa Toivonen, Johanna Mastola, and Toni Kettukangas have directed at Pekkateatteri.
More information
Pentti Pirhonen: Pikkukaupungin kaduilta ja kujilta (From the streets and alleys of a small town), Kirjayhtymä v. 1971
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