Fredensgade was a new road at the beginning of the last century and mostly located in Landsognet.
Treasure shelter in Fredensgade
6. in October 1910, a couple of lines in the Skive Folkeblad newspaper in a report of the city council meeting announced that something was happening at the southern border of the market town.
“A small street by the pharmacy garden, most of which lies outside the city limits, was allowed to call itself Fredensgade. The residents were given the right to use electric light.”
In 1907, the house that is now Fredensgade 5 was built on Skive Markjorder cadastre no. 176. In 1908, the large villa diagonally opposite was built on Fredensgade no. 4, Skive Markjorder matr. no. 170.
The angular house Fredensgade 1 (where a gable painting was made in 2022) on the corner towards Tværgade was built in 1909. In 1910, Fredensgade 7 was built on, and in 1911 Consul Aagaard built Villa Ibis, designed by the city’s leading architect Erik V. Lind on cadastral no. 213 b.
Later, Stillingsvej led up to Fredensgade from the east from Stillings meadow, and Villa Ibis became a corner property. Then there was a lull in construction for a while.
But the city council had observed the activities at the city limits. On November 8, 1911, the city council looked at a 7-8 acre plot of land on Fredensgade owned by Dir. Kjærgård, Struer, Consul Dige and Gas Master Brøndum, Skive. The city council had gotten the land at a price of DKK 2500 per barrel of land.
Skive Folkeblad announced: “The reason why the City Council wants to buy the land is that they want to prevent the formation of a tax shelter at Fredensgade, which, like the area they want to buy, belongs to Skive Landsogn”. They acted quickly, got ministerial approval and completed the purchase in a week.
The tax rate in Skive was 14%, whereas it was 5% in the village, so it was a real tax shelter.
Unhealthy housing and housing shortage in the market town
In 1909, a typhoid epidemic put the spotlight on hygiene conditions in Skive. An investigation concluded, among other things, that “given the current state of sanitation in Skive, it is not surprising that the epidemic has become so widespread”. There was talk of dumps in the yards, leaking septic tanks and open sewers. Several houses had their own wells and it turned out that the water from the private waterworks was of poor quality, contaminated by seepage from latrines. Furthermore, many people lived in unhealthy housing, for example, many in damp basement apartments. In 1911, the municipal waterworks with water from Jegstrup could start, and municipal waste disposal was introduced.
As a result of the typhoid epidemic, the town received a health ordinance in 1915, and the health commission wanted to discard up to 50 basement apartments in the town. But there was a housing shortage and progress had to be slow. New construction of rental apartments had stalled during the World War. This gave rise to heated city council debates between the Social Democrats and the right-wingers. The pressure from the homeless became so great that the city council had to give in, and it was decided to introduce a rent board and to introduce support schemes for private individuals who wanted to build or furnish new rental housing. They also applied to the state for subsidies for the construction of homeless shelters, which were built in the following years.
Construction with subsidies in Fredensgade
In March 1917, a law was passed on state loans for building associations that would build “cheap and healthy housing for indigent persons of the working class and economically equal”, according to which properties could be built that served as housing for at least one more family than the owner.
In Skive, the conditions were that in addition to the owner, the houses that were built had to have an “apartment of at least two good rooms in addition to a kitchen, for rent to those who already reside in the market town”
A government loan of 90% of the construction value could be obtained if a municipal recommendation was obtained and if the municipality covered all or part of the costs of gas, water, electricity, roads and pavement. A 10-year exemption from house tax, water and waste disposal charges was also granted. However, a toilet was considered a luxury and could not be subsidized.
By the end of 1917, several people had already expressed a desire to build according to the new rules, and the municipality decided to start planning earthworks and sewage works behind Sønderbyen, at what was called the Fredensgade extension. In the summer of 1918, they were ready, and this was the start of construction of a number of two-family houses around the city. Now construction in Fredensgade was underway again.
In 1918, the municipality sold some of the purchased land and two-family houses were built in the form of semi-detached houses on Fredensgade nos. 8-10 and 12-14, cadastres Skive Markjorde 228 d, e and 213 e and f. Furthermore, on Fredensgade 20 cadastre 287 h.
In 1998, Fredensgade consisted of:
1 property with 5 apartments
1 property with 4 apartments
1 property with 3 apartments
7 properties with 2 apartments
3 commercial properties
14 detached houses
Several properties with 2 apartments have since become single-family homes.
Sabroe’s orphanage from 1920, Skive Friskole from 1984
In 1913, Social Democratic journalist and MP Peter Sabroe died in a train accident near Bramming. He had been an ardent advocate for the children living in miserable conditions in orphanages. In his memory, the Sabro Foundation collected money for an orphanage. In 1917, Skive City Council decided to lay the foundation for Sabro’s orphanage for 25 children, and the municipality was to provide an operating guarantee. The orphanage came to be located on the plot Fredensgade 11, matr. 287.
P. Sabroes Børnehjem in Skive was inaugurated on August 29, 1920 and operated until 1984, when the orphanage moved to Sabroegården in Glattrup. The 3-year-old Skive Friskole moved into the property at Fredensgade 11.
In 1989, they took over the property at Fredensgade 15 and set up classrooms on both floors. In 2013, the school bought the Fredensgade 17 property for demolition. In 1989, the school built an extension along Stillingsvej and in 2005 a new wing for classrooms. In 2021, a sports hall was built on the southern part of the school grounds.
Fredensgade 21
In 1921, master bricklayer A C Nielsen built a typical square two-storey functionalist villa with yellow stone, red brick bands and round windows in the north gable and above the entrance. The villa was designed by Hans Toft-Hansen.
Incorporation into Skive Municipality
1. in April 1925, the area around Fredensgade, Sønderbyens enclaves and Gl. Skivehus was incorporated into Skive municipality, along with the rest of the “city-like” part of Skive Landsogn, i.e. the area from Holstebrovej and in a semicircle around the northern part of Skive city.
Sources:
- Skive Folkeblad 1909 – 1925 available on mediastream
- Skive Municipality’s web storage regarding the properties on Fredensgade
- Skive kommunes historie fra 1980 – 1940 vol. 2, Skive Museums forlag 2002. P. 265-266, p. 342, p. 355-356