farmstead in Karvasmäki has been preserved as a museum to present rural life in Espoo during this period when industrial development was still minute in Finland. The rural community in Espoo began to change in the latter half of the 19th century. Some brickyards had already been built in the 18th century on the grounds of Espoonkartano manor, located in the western part of the present-day city, but it was not until the economic reforms of Emperor Alexander II that the Industrial Revolution started to gain momentum in Finland. As the Russo-Finnish trade legislation liberalized, new brickyards were established in Espoonlahti and Kauklahti, as the shores of Espoo Bay provided high-quality clay for their use. The bricks were mostly carried with steamboats to the neighbouring Helsinki, the growing capital city of the grand duchy. The most prominent industrial facility in 19th century Espoo was the steam-powered Bastvik Sawmill, founded in 1876. In addition to the growing lumber and brick industries, a joiners' workshop was established on the island of Staffan in 1886. Staffan Island became a home for a highly skilled and renowned community of joiners, colloquially known as the "University of Espoo" or the "University of Soukka". World War I World War I had an effect on the Russian Empire and the Grand Duchy of Finland when the German Empire declared war on Russia on 1 August 1914. Russia immediately started preparing for war against Germany. At the start of the war, the main forces of the Russian Baltic Fleet had been concentrated at Sveaborg in front of Helsinki. The Russian military feared that Germany would use southern Finland to attack Petrograd, so Russia started building a fortification chain of over 20 kilometres surrounding Helsinki to protect it. Construction of the fortification started in 1915 and took almost three years. Construction of the fortification chain required a huge amount of workforce. The construction was led by the engineering administration of Saint Petersburg, but in practice, the actual work was led by the engineering military staff in Sveaborg. The local engineering office was located in Leppävaara in Espoo. Although the Russian military tried to keep the construction of the fortification chain secret from the enemy, there are German intelligence reports with descriptions of the Russian fortification chain. Because of the lack of available workforce, the Russians turned to expropriation allowed by Russian military law. The manor houses in Espoo were