Торсхёлла: История города и промышленное развитие.

Torshälla was during the Middle Ages the dominant trading town in Rekarne, the northwestern part of Södermanland County, which roughly corresponds to present day Eskilstuna Municipality. After neighbouring Eskilstuna was granted town rights in 1659, Torshälla lost in relative importance due to the rapid growth of industry and trade in Eskilstuna, the building of a canal bypassing the rapids in Torshälla, and the great fire which devastated Torshälla in 1798.

The development of Torshälla during the 19th and 20th centuries was greatly influenced by the foundation of an ironworks on the lands of Nyby manor house on the western outskirts of Torshälla. The Nyby Bruk ironworks was founded in 1829 by the silversmith and industrialist Adolf Zethelius. The mill village of Nyby Bruk grew up around the ironworks, forming a symbiotic relationship with the neighbouring town. Several small tool making and mechanical industries were established in Torshälla during the mid to late 19th century, using the available water power around the river; Johan Termaenius' mechanical works (1846), F O Nyström's tin vessel factory (1854), Ali Andersson's Torshälla saw blade factory (1881) and Holmens' foundry & mechanical works (1888). In 1895 the Northern Södermanland Railway was connected to Nyby Bruk, bypassing Torshälla town centre. Passenger traffic on the line was discontinued in 1933 after which the tracks were exclusively used for freight to Nyby. During the years between 1900 and 1940, Torshälla experienced dwindling population numbers with recession hitting the local manufacturing industry hard.

During the decades of economic growth leading up to the 1970s the Nyby Bruk steel mill attracted large numbers of workers from other parts of Sweden and from abroad. A significant part of the immigrant workforce was Finnish, which accounts for the high proportion of Sweden Finnish Torshälla inhabitants today. As part of the local government reform of 1971 Torshälla became part of neighbouring Eskilstuna Municipality with Eskilstuna as the municipal centre. Due to the close proximity of and loss of business to the larger neighbour Eskilstuna, Torshälla has in recent years gradually acquired the character of a picturesque commuter town, while still retaining a significant stainless steel industry. In a referendum concurrent with the elections of 2006, the inhabitants of Eskilstuna Municipality turned down a proposed split of the municipality into two parts, which would have made Torshälla an independent municipality. The result was a 67.5% majority for the status quo. However, Torshälla remains an own administrative division within the municipality, with certain local government duties delegated to the town administration.

The main industry and private employer in Torshälla is Outokumpu, producing cold rolled stainless steel products at Nyby Bruk.

Torshälla Nyby Idrottsällskap (TNIS) is the local soccer team, founded on February 12, 1914, when the existing local teams Torshälla Guif, Nyby Bruk IF and IF Östermalms merged and formed Torshälla Nyby Idrottsällskap; TNIS. Soon thereafter Torshälla AIK choose to join the club and March 7 of that year four cooperating sports clubs became TNIS. Initially the club had Guif's red shirts and black pants. Nowadays the team plays in green / black striped shirts with white pants and green socks.

Bergströmska gården (Bergström House) is a well preserved 18th century merchant loghouse which houses the local history museum. The surrounding blocks form the oldest surviving parts of the historic small town. Ebelingmuseet (Ebeling Museum) is an art museum with a permanent collection of the works of Swedish American artist and sculptor Allan Ebeling. Many of his works are exhibited in prominent public places in Torshälla, including Tors bockar in Torshällaån and Vattenbärerskan in Östra Torget. The 19th century mill village of Nyby bruk with Nyby Manor House and workers' houses. Torshälla Church has a well preserved 15th century painted ceiling made by the painter Albertus Pictor, featuring the earliest known depiction of eyeglasses in Sweden. Torshälla Town Hall at Rådhustorget, built in 1833. The tower clock was originally made for Strängnäs Cathedral and dates from the 16th century.

Torshälla is situated 4 mi (7 km) north of the municipal seat in Eskilstuna. European route E20 passes south of Torshälla, and the distance by E20 to Stockholm is 71 mi (114 km). Swedish national road 56 passes west of Torshälla, providing road connections to northern and southern Sweden. The old Northern Södermanland Railway connection to the present day main line of Svealandsbanan has since the 1930s only been used for goods traffic. The closest train station is in Eskilstuna, and there are frequent city bus connections to Eskilstuna available. Torshälla boat harbour is reachable by boat from Lake Mälaren through the river Torshällaån and is mostly used by leisure boats and tourist boats. The Eskilstunaån river, upstream of the now defunct locks in Torshälla Canal, is only partially navigable, due to the very low clearance under the several fixed bridges which have been built over the river since the 1960s.