Elva is a town in Elva Parish, Tartu County, Estonia.
Elva has two large lakes: Lake Verevi, with a sandy and well-developed beach area that is very popular in the summer, and Lake Arbi, with wet reed grown shores.
Elva's largest employer (and in all of southern Estonia) is GPV Estonia AS, subsidiary of GPV Group, providing electronics manufacturing services in industrial electronics. Elva has one school, Elva Gümnaasium, offering education from 1st grade to high school graduation.
A dominant element in Elva is the train station which today is a visitors' information center, and which used to be an important trade route in the past centuries.
Detailed information on hikes on foot or by bicycle can be obtained from the visitors' information center. The Elva River, with old water mill sites and rapid banks, is popular for canoeing. In winter skiers can participate in the Tartu Marathon, belonging to the Worldloppet series. Its 60 km track from Otepää to Elva can be cycled through on mountain bikes in summer.
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History of Elva
Elva was founded soon after the completion of Tartu-Valga train route, which was built from 1886 to 1889. Elva was first mentioned in an Estonian newspaper in 1889.
Elva is named after the Elva River, which was mentioned in books already in the 17th century.
In 1913 a two-grade school was opened.
On 1 May 1938 Elva became a town.
The town center was heavily damaged in the Second World War. In July 1941 Elva was liberated by the Forest Brothers. In August 1944 surroundings of Elva became a bloody battlefield between Hyazinth von Strachwitz's Panzer brigade and the Red Army.
From 1950 to 1962 Elva was District Central of Elva district. Elva's town rights were restored in 1965.
Elva had a company called Elvex, founded 1989 and called also as Elva autoklaasitehas. The factory specialized on production of car windshields, as spare parts windshields were not available in Soviet Union. In 1996 Saint-Gobain acquired all Elvex shares and created Saint-Gobain Estonia branch.
Neighborhoods of Elva
There are seven neighborhoods of Elva:
Arbimäe
Järve
Kesklinn
Kulbilohu
Mahlamäe
Moonuse
Peedu.
Notable people
Ivan Kondakov (1857–1931), Russian chemist and professor of pharmacology; lived in Elva 1911–1918 and 1921–1931
Leopold Hansen (1879–1964), actor and theatre director; lived in Elva
Hugo Raudsepp (1883–1952), playwright; lived in Elva
Jaan Kärner (1891–1958), poet and writer; lived in Elva 1921–1936
Johannes Silvet (1895–1979), lexicographer, died in Elva
Richard Janno (1900–1942), writer, journalist and teacher; lived in Elva 1936–1942
Magda Staudinger (1902-1997), biologist and botanist; was born in Elva
Peeter Sink (1902–1957), painter and poet; lived in Elva in the 1950s
Eduard Kutsar (1902–1970), painter; lived in Elva 1944–1970
Valter Heuer (1928–2006), chess player and chess historian; was born in Elva
Jüri Rätsep (1935–2018), lawyer, politician and judge, graduated in Elva
Heldur Jõgioja (1936 – 2010), musician, composer, writer, and journalist; born in Elva
Tiiu Märss (née Noppel) (born 1943), geologist and paleontologist, born in Elva
Toomas Järveoja (born 1961), politician, the mayor of Elva, 2011-2015
Sport
Tarmo Kikerpill (born 1977), basketball player; was born in Elva
Caspar Austa (born 1982), cyclist, born in Elva
Jürgen Kuresoo (born 1987), footballer, played 369 games and 2 for Estonia
Martin Järveoja (born 1987), rally co-driver, born in Elva 2019 WRC World Champion
Kauri Kõiv (born 1983), biathlete and competitor in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games
Kalle Kriit (born 1983), cyclist, nickname is Estonian Emperor.
Grete Gaim (born 1993), biathlete, competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Twin towns – sister cities
The former municipality of Elva (until 2017) was twinned with:
Kempele, Finland
Kristinehamn, Sweden
Salo, Finland
Zestaponi, Georgia
Sport
Football
FC Elva