Tidaholm () is a locality and the seat of Tidaholm Municipality in Västergötland Province within Västra Götaland County, Sweden. The city consists of 520 square kilometers, or a little more than 200 square miles. It is located on the Tidan River, the only river in Sweden that flows north. Two islands are included within the city limits: Vulcanön and Turbinhusön, the former was originally Tidaholm's industrial center and the latter historically housed the Turbine. As of 2021, there were 13,000 inhabitants. History Historically, the city was known as Agnetorp. Tidaholm was detached from Baltak parish as a merchant town (köping) in 1895. It was established as the city of Tidaholm in 1910, and it has servd as the seat of the much larger Tidaholm Municipality since 1974. In 1997, its county name changed as well, when Skaraborg County merged with the counties of Gothenburg, Bohus and Älvsborg to form Västra Götaland County. Up until the early 19th century, Tidaholm was primarily a farming community but, in 1799, an ironworks factory (Tidaholms bruk) was established on the site of the Holmagarden forge, which had roots dating back to the Middle Ages, and merged with several other business to manufacture furniture, wagons and agricultural implements. Nearly a century later, one of the bicycle-making Lindstrom brothers spent time in the United States, studying the early car industry. Once he returned to Sweden, the Tidaholmsbilen (the Tidaholm car) was the result, with most of the parts made at Tidaholms Bruk. Between 1903 and 1934, the factory produced about 1,000 cars, including trucks, buses, fire trucks and other heavy vehicles, known as "Tidaholmarna,"and seen as far afield as Oslo and St. Petersburg. In 1868, the Vulcan match factory (Tändsticksfabrik AB Vulcan), was founded on Vulcan Island one of Tidaholm's islands in the Tidan River. Although they started with a little over 100 workers, by the early 1900s, it had become the largest manufacturer of matches in the world, and was employing more than 1,000 workers. Nowadays, Vulcan Tidaholm is the only remaining match factory in Sweden, with roughly 200 employees. Although the Lithographic Art Workshop has taken over its former headquarters, it carries on Tidaholm's tradition of the lithographic arts that began with the design of intricate matchbox labels. Industrial gallery The Islands Vulcanön island Both Tidaholm Bruk as well as Vulcan Tidahom were headquartered on Vulcanön island and, nowadays, Tidaholm Museum is located here.