Proprietor Per Odgaard (June 22, 1851 – January 19, 1910) Tastumgård and Ny Skivehus was an enterprising entrepreneur. He eagerly participated in the development of the city and was active in the cultural trends of the time.
Per Odgaard’s background and upbringing
Peder (commonly called Per) Odgaard Andersen (Andersen was dropped in 1905) was born on the farm “Odgård” in Hvidbjerg on Thyholm.
In Odgaard’s home came prominent personalities such as the lay preacher P. Larsen Skræppenborg, who lived on the farm during his stays in the area, the free schoolman Kristen Kold and “Denmark’s wandering apostle of temperance”, Ole Nygaard. Through them, Odgaard became acquainted with Grundtvigianism, the folk high school movement and the temperance movement, which would influence him throughout his life.
At folk high school
In 1867 – at the age of 16 – Per Odgaard attended Oddense Folk High School in Midtsalling. The school was aimed at young men who had recently left primary school, and the subjects were geared towards the boys’ future work as farmers. In addition to Danish and history, great emphasis was placed on subjects that could be used in everyday life as a farmer.
An enterprising time at Tastumgård
After completing his military service as a corporal, Odgaard bought the farm “Tastumgård” in Kobberup parish, Fjends Herred, in 1874, and the following year he built a dairy at the farm. Odgaard’s dairy quickly developed into a communal dairy, where some of the farmers in the area began to keep more cows than before and sold the milk to Odgaard. In 1883, Odgaard chose to move Tastumgård east of Tastum town, where he built large and modern buildings. At one end of the farmhouse was a modern dairy powered by steam power. Odgaard realized that the steam engine could be used for more than just powering the dairy machinery. He started a brickworks at Tastumgård and used the steam engine to extract the clay malt when it wasn’t needed in the dairy.
Odgaard the culture man
Shortly after his arrival in Tastum, Odgaard began holding public meetings in the living rooms of Tastumgård, where he read and told stories to interested people. It wasn’t long before other speakers from the great popular movements of the time joined him: Grundtvigianism, the temperance movement and the Liberal movement. The meetings at Tastumgaard were attractive to many of the region’s young people, who had the opportunity to meet new ideas and trends of the time. Two of the young people who came to Tastum were Jeppe Jensen from Aakjær in Fly, who lived at Tastumgaard for periods and eagerly participated in meetings and discussions, and the young Marie Bregendahl. Word of the popular life at Tastumgård spread quickly and people came from far and wide to attend the meetings. Among them was the young dairy owner Esper Andersen, who in 1884 started his own communal dairy in Jebjerg in Salling.
Politics and entrepreneurship
Politically, Odgaard was a Liberal. He was a member of the Kobberup-Feldingbjerg-Gammelstrup parish council for several terms and was twice elected chairman of the parish council. In 1887, he was invited to stand as a parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Party in the Viborg constituency, but he declined the invitation. From 1901 to 1907 he was a member of Viborg County Council, elected by Venstre.
Per Odgaard had a knack for finding young, talented businessmen to work with. These were people who could run the businesses they started together, while Odgaard handled the finances.
During the period 1874-1901, when Odgaard lived at Tastumgård, he partnered with two of Fjends Herred’s great industrial entrepreneurs: Brick manufacturer Chr. Sørensen, Højslev St., and peat manufacturer Hans Nielsen, Sparkjær. Both collaborations were about industrial processing of naturally occurring raw materials in the local area.
Ny Skivehus and the many subdivisions
In the late summer of 1901, Odgaard bought the former manor Ny Skivehus in Skive vestre Landsogn. Ny Skivehus was a farm of 22 acres, corresponding to 213 acres of land, and the price was DKK 135,000.
It was only a few hundred meters from Skive’s city limits to the buildings at Ny Skivehus. The location close to the city provided ample opportunities to sell building plots, which was one of Odgaard’s intentions in buying the large farm. Odgaard began selling off Ny Skivehus’ land as early as 1902. By the fall of 1907, half of Ny Skivehus’ land had been sold off for smallholdings, housing and factories. In those five years, a total of 71 houses were built on Ny Skivehus’ land.
Odgaard creates a new district and many new businesses
Per Odgaard didn’t just want to sell building plots – he wanted to create a district with factories, shops and housing. From 1903 to 1907, Odgaard was involved in starting six factories: Skivehus Cement Foundry (1903), Skivehus Asphalt- og Tagpapfabrik (1905), Skivehus Elektricitetsværk (1905), A/S Jydsk Motor- og Maskinfabrik (1906), A/S Jydske elektriske Bomulds- og Linnedvæverier (1907) and A/S Skivehus Tobaksfabrik (1907) – all located in a new industrial district by Odgårdsvej and Godthåbsvej, a few meters from Ny Skivehus. Odgaard was (co-)owner/board member of all the companies, and he acted as bookkeeper etc. for several of them, while the technical management was handed over to – often young – craftsmen that Odgaard had made contact with. It was the combination of Odgaard’s money and his ability to find young people to take over the technical management of the factories that made the hectic entrepreneurial period (founder period) at Ny Skivehus possible.
Memorial and memorial stone
Per Odgaard died on January 19, 1910. In 1915, a memorial to Odgaard was erected at Skive Cemetery. The memorial stone was made by sculptor Elias Øllgaard, Aarhus. In 1925, after a collection, a memorial stone was erected for Odgaard on the road from Skive to Sjørup in Tastum. The inscription on the memorial stone was written by the author Marie Bregendahl.
Sources:
- Niels Mortensen: An industrial adventure in Skive. In: Skivebogen 1990, p. 70-109.
- Niels Mortensen: “A new, small town, such an independent town”. Proprietor Per Odgaard and the industrial district at Ny Skivehus. In: Viljen til Velfærd, Velstand og Vækst. 2018, p. 63-114.