Kärkölä () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Its seat is in Järvelä, which is located along the Riihimäki–Lahti railway. Neighbour municipalities: Hausjärvi, Hollola, Hämeenlinna, Mäntsälä and Orimattila. The distance between Kärkölä and Lahti is . The municipality is unilingually Finnish. History Kärkölä once belonged to the Hollola parish, and in 1711 it became the Hollola chapel parish. The first church was completed in 1754 and the second in 1889. Officially, the municipality of Kärkölä was founded in 1867. In the late 19th century, the eccentric engineer named Carl Constantin Collin, who ruled over large areas of both Hollola and Kärkölä, built large parks and building groups in the Huovila area. Villages Hevonoja, Hongisto, Hähkäniemi, Iso-Sattiala, Järvelä, Karvala, Kärkölä (Kirkonkylä), Lappila, Maavehmaa, Marttila, Nummenkulma, Uusikylä, Vähä-Sattiala Notable people Carl Niclas von Hellens (1745–1820), botanist Erik Gabriel Melartin (1780–1847), the Archbishop of Turku Helvi Sipilä (1915–2009), diplomat, lawyer and politician Emil Väre (1885–1974), wrestler and Olympics gold medalist See also Finnish national road 54 Järvelä railway station References External links Municipality of Kärkölä – Official website Populated places established in 1865