A lakeside town with an industrial pulse

Smedjebacken sits at the northern end of Lake Barken, where the working heritage of Bergslagen meets a busy inland harbour and a compact town centre. The setting is water-oriented without being merely a summer resort: steelmaking remains part of the town’s present as well as its history. Statistics Sweden counted 5,190 residents in the statistically defined built-up locality, or tätort, of Smedjebacken on 31 December 2023 (code 2061TC103). That is a figure for the contiguous locality, not for the whole municipality or the many settlements around the lake. For a visitor, the harbour, Kyrkogatan and the industrial landscape explain why this small town has long looked outward along both roads and waterways.

From a crossroads to a channel for iron

The municipality’s account of Kyrkogatan describes a small mining community beside a church built in the fifteenth century. Roads from the Mälaren region toward Stora Tuna, Falun and Säter met the road from Västerdalarna near a marketplace called Smidies-backen. Trade grew, and the street gradually linked the meeting place, the church village and the harbour. This is documented local history; it does not establish a single founding year for the modern town. A forge is recorded at the present Ovako industrial site in 1631, and the company says that its Smedjebacken steelworks and medium rolling mill continue the site’s industrial story. The Strömsholms canal was completed in 1795, making a water route toward Mälaren available to Bergslagen’s iron and goods traffic. By the mid-nineteenth century a roll mill stood beside Kolbäcksån, while rail and harbor buildings joined shops and homes along Kyrkogatan. Those layers are still legible in the town’s street pattern.

Harbour buildings, art and everyday services

Today the harbour is both a boat stop and an open-air record of transport. The preserved Wessman-Barken railway engine shed holds a locomotive built in 1914 by Orenstein & Koppel; it worked at the former roll mill from 1933 to 1953. Since 2016 the shed has also served as exhibition space. Nearby, the old freight storehouse, iron sheds and a display of historic boat engines recall the transfer of cargo between land and water. In summer, steamboats run on Barken and a harbour restaurant opens. The harbor office lists visitor information, fuel, canoe hire and bicycles, so it can be a practical starting point as well as a place to linger. Up Kyrkogatan, MEKEN brings contemporary art into an industrial setting, while the cultural route threads past older houses and meeting places. Guided railway-history visits are coordinated through Werner Aspenströmbiblioteket; ask the library about access rather than assuming the engine shed is always open.

Cycle the Barken shore, checking as you go

Norra Barken runt is the clearest way to turn the town’s lake setting into a day out. The municipal route description gives the loop as 36 kilometres, starting from either Smedjebacken or Söderbärke harbour. Visit Dalarna grades it blue for a route with some steeper changes in level and estimates two to four hours, before stops. The circuit passes or approaches Norrbärke’s heritage farm, the mining villages of Stimmerbo and Torrbo, Söderbärke and Flatenbergs hytta; sections follow the Strömsholms canal cycle route. These are points in the wider municipality, not neighbourhoods inside the town boundary. The canal itself runs about 110 kilometres through 14 lakes and 26 locks between Barken and Mälaren. Check the current route map, surfaces, lock and boat conditions, and each attraction’s hours before setting out; museum, exhibition, food and harbor services vary by season.

Useful visitor links