By the Vejle Ådal Group

The island town
The name of the town derives from the word ‘vadested’, which in English means ‘ford’ – the shallow area in a stream that can be crossed or forded. That was the name given to the first settlement on an islet amidst the estuary where the Vejle and Grejs rivers flow into the Vejle inlet. The town was first recorded in 1256 when mention was made of a large synod held in the town. The oldest royal borough privileges were granted to the town by King Valdemar III on 16 August 1327. But naturally, Vejle is far older. 

Archaeological excavations in the area south of the church square, Kirketorvet, have revealed settlements outlining the square dating back to around 1100 AD.

The southern side of the islet around Søndergade was the first area to be inhabited. Later the town expanded to the north. The islet was at the time encircled by waterways: two branches of the Grejs River, the Omløbsåen in the west and Mølleåen in the east, in addition to the Sønderåen to the south and Midtåen to the north.

The oldest existing building in Vejle is the Sct. Nicolai Church from the mid-13th century. It lies to the east of the current main shopping street in town, which runs along Søndergade, Rådhustorvet (the Town Hall Square), Torvegade and Nørregade.

Excavations in Klostergade seem to suggest that Vejle has had an even older church that graced the highest point in town on the exact same site where the Blackfriars later founded a Dominican monastery in 1310.

Royal castle and first watermills
The construction of the Vejle watermill near the current railway station included the 700-metre mill canal (Mølleåen) with embankments. The Midtåen canal was also constructed. Apart from providing power, the canals also doubled as moats to offer protection from foes. 
 
This undertaking was so costly that it was probably commissioned by the king. The street name Borgvold reveals the whereabouts of the king’s castle.

Up through the 15th century the town was extended beyond its old northern border. The townhouses along the current Nørregade were constructed. As a consequence, the canal Midtåen lost its significance as part of the city’s defence and over time it was reclaimed and narrowed in from a width of about 20 metres to only just 1-2 metres. The royal castle was also decommissioned during this period.

Town meetings were held at the church square, Kirketorvet, by Sct. Nicolai Church. Later the town court and town hall were erected here. Vejle’s first town hall was constructed around 1460 on the corner of the current Kirkegade and Grønnegade by the square.

In 1530 the Town Hall was consumed by flames. The Dominican monastery was handed over to the municipality the year after as part of the devolution of church property following the Reformation. The cloister was then converted into the town hall. Later two town halls were constructed in succession on the site of the old monastery.

The plague and razor-sharp competition 
During the 16th century and up into the 17th century, Vejle, like many other Danish royal boroughs, experienced prosperity. Vejle was an active player in the trading of bullocks, with ties to cattle merchants in places such as Flensburg and Lübeck.

In the mid-16th century, Vejle had fewer than 1,500 citizens. The plague in 1584 reduced the population by about one-third and by 1627 the town had still not reached its pre-plague population level. The many wars in the 17th century brought hardship to Vejle and in 1654 the town only narrowly avoided having to relinquish its status as royal borough in favour of Fredericia.

Competition from neighbouring royal boroughs was rigorous and Vejle suffered as a result. Around 1800 the town was still a small and negligible royal borough with a rural air to it. In 1801 around 40% of the townhouses had stables and barns. From the first census in 1769 to the census of 1801 the population grew from 967 to around 1,300 people.

Benign times for Danish agriculture brought prosperity to the town and agricultural produce was sourced from ever further afield. A turning point was when Vejle became the seat of the newly established County of Vejle in 1796. So when peasants came to town to attend to official matters it was only natural that they also brought more business to market.

Sea and rail trade links
A new harbour was inaugurated east of the town in 1827. This was an important step in the development of trade in Vejle.

In 1868, the town opened its first rail link when Vejle became a stop on the north-south Jutland trunk line.

With the establishment of the two private railway companies Vejle-Give in 1894 and Vejle-Vandel in 1897, outlying towns and villages became more accessible. A number of urban amenities were also established such as a gasworks, a waterworks and a telephone exchange.

From merchant town to industrial mill town
From 1850 to around 1900, industrialisation increased the population from 3,300 to around 14,600. Sustaining the transformation from a town of trade and crafts to a thriving mill town were industries within the iron and textile trade, most notably the textile mills Danske Bomuldsspinderier, Windfeld-Hansen and Vejle Dampvæveri. Later these industries gave way to modern-day foodstuffs companies such as Tulip and Dandy.

As the population increased the need for housing gave rise to a denser urban development where dwellings were constructed on vacant land and in courtyards and by adding extra storeys to existing buildings. In the 1890s, a new working class district emerged, called Vestbyen. And south of the village of Mølholm a residential area was developed for the town’s leading industrialists.

In the 1970s and 80s, new estates of single-family detached housing were established north and south of town. Naturally, economic growth in the period resulted in heavy downtown traffic. To alleviate congestion a number of new streets were established, and in the 1930s the Mølleåen canal was pipelined. And the 1980s saw the opening of the Vejle Bridge which dramatically spans the inlet.