Pellosniemi

The urban area of Pellosniemi is located on the Karsikkoniemi cape, which originally belonged to the villages of Heikkilä, Liikala and Rahikkala. The cape was mainly settled between the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with the first farms being tenant farms, such as Ostolahti and Yökallio, which were established on lands of the Brahelinna estate. Other early farms include Kilpisalo, Pöntinen and Kyllönen, established in the 19th century.^[3]

In 1963, Aarne J. Aarnio [fi] founded the Pellos Oy company and established a particle board factory in the area, followed by a plywood factory in 1968.^[5] Much of the urban area was built between the 1960s and 1970s, including factory buildings, apartments and service buildings. The municipality of Ristiina constructed a harbor in 1969, and a branch of the Savo railway for freight transport, beginning in Mynttilä and terminating in Pellosniemi, was opened in 1979. All apartments in Pellosniemi were exclusively rented out to factory workers until the mid-1980s, when the municipality bought most of the buildings.^[3] Since 1996, the Pellos factories have been part of UPM Kymmene. The particle board factory was closed in 1994, but was replaced by a second plywood factory, followed by a third one in 2002.^[5]

The Pellos factories became the biggest employer in Ristiina soon after their establishment and have retained this status into the 21st century; in 2011, the factories had 670 employees in total.^[6] In October 2025, the city of Mikkeli leased out ten hectares of land in Pellosniemi for the construction of a data center.^[7]

As of 2022, Pellosniemi had no services of its own; the closest ones are found in central Ristiina.^[8] Former services have included a school, a daycare center and a store.^[9] The Pellosniemi school was established in 1970, being one of the last schools in the country to be established under the old kansakoulu system. The municipality of Ristiina adopted the modern peruskoulu system in 1974.^[10] The school was closed in 2015.^[11]