had been suggested, like Huså, the then-largest settlement in Jämtland, along with Krokom, Sunne and Ede outside of Brunflo. Frösön was also a candidate but the lot fell on Östersund, as it was deemed most favourable. The only things actually located in the area at the time were the main road and the bridge to Frösön. Östersund was upon its foundation freed from taxes for a period of 20 years and completely liberated from trade regulations and guild order. In other remote locations of the Nordic region, similar cities were founded, like Reykjavík in Iceland the very same year, Tromsø (1794) in Northern Norway and Tampere (1775) and Kuopio (1782) in the Finnish inland. Östersund is however the only city in present-day Sweden to have been founded in the 18th century. The city developed poorly and had to struggle in its infancy. The state tried to persuade the Jamtish traders on Frösön to migrate to the new city but they had no intentions of leaving such a rich parish with the fertile soils Frösön consisted of in favour of the swamp and marshes across the strait. During its first 50 years the city's population only grew by an average of eight people per year. The city became the county seat of the newly founded county consisting of the provinces Jämtland and Härjedalen in 1810, and a county council was established. Though, Östersund remained a de facto farming village with fewer than 400 inhabitants in 1820. An upswing occurred in the 1850s, as trade was liberalized and the logging industry developed. It took until the construction of the railroad in 1879 before Östersund became a real city and actually gained the status as Jämtland's centre, at Frösön's expense. Thanks to the "farmer chieftain" Nils Larson i Tullus, the railroad came to pass through the city itself instead of outside it, as planned. The railway from coast to coast across the then-union between Sweden and Norway was finished in 1882, connecting Östersund more closely to Trondheim and Sundsvall. Östersund then came to grow faster than any other Swedish city. After ten years it had passed 20 Swedish cities in population. The city attracted immigrants, a slight majority from the Jamtish countryside, though still with a high number of settlers from southern Sweden. While Östersund was in its most intense state of growth, popular movements emerged among the inhabitants. In Jämtland and Härjedalen