The area was created around the sawmill in 1912, when the owner of the Korppila farm, Kaarle Hirvansalo, had a steam sawmill built on his land. A harbour, shipyard and machine shop also developed around the sawmill, which gave the entire bay an industrial character.
The sawmill was incorporated in 1925 under the name Kuhmoisten Saha Oy; it was powered by a steam engine until 1980. The old sawmill was destroyed by fire in 1947, and the current, board-built sawmill building was completed in 1949. Operations ended in the mid-1980s.
The key names on the ownership side in the 1920s were Frans Kivistö and Emil Peltonen. A local source says that the sawmill employed around 150 people at its peak and closed its doors in 1985. (The Finnish National Board of Antiquities describes the closure as being in the mid-1980s.)
The building stock that has survived includes, among others: Administrative and residential buildings from the 1920s–40s (e.g. a classicist residential and office building designed by architect John Malmberg), a post-war sawmill and a sawmill chimney. Some were demolished in the 1990s, some were put back into use. The entire complex has been classified as a nationally significant built cultural environment (RKY).
Sahanranta’s current restaurant and guesthouse property is an old brick building that was converted into accommodation in 2000; its premises still display artifacts from the sawmill. On the opposite bank, an old brick chimney and wood chip silos stand out.
In the 2000s, the Sahanranta waterfront area has transformed into a bustling guest marina with restaurants and services, and the municipality has guided the growth of the city center in the direction of Sahanranta through zoning.
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(Note on dates: local history dates the sawmill’s ”roots” back to the 1880s, while according to the National Board of Antiquities’ RKY record, the steam sawmill was built in 1912. These are not necessarily mutually exclusive (there may have been previous sawmill/industrial activity in the area), but the unequivocal year of establishment of the steam sawmill is 1912 based on the RKY data)
