Plaque at Hatanpää coach house honours agronomist Filip Saalasti

City officials mounted the plaque in August on the 1890 coach house wall that now houses the Ruusutarha daycare, Aamulehti reports.

Filip Saalasti (1866–1918) served as Tampere’s city agronomist and was an early advocate of urban self-sufficiency. He founded Finland’s first allotment garden association and moved to Tampere in 1915 with his family to manage the city’s newly acquired 1,267-hectare Hatanpää estate. He served in parliament from 1910 to 1917 and chaired the Agrarian League in 1917–1918.

Jouni Koskela, vice-chair of the Rural Education Association’s Tampere study and culture association, said Saalasti "encouraged city residents to be self-sufficient. Even a small plot can be cultivated, and that legacy remains in Tampere."

Saalasti fell ill during the 1918 civil war and died of pneumonia on 5 April 1918 at the Red Cross hospital at Hatanpää. He is buried in Liminka’s Rantakylä cemetery. The plaque was commissioned by the city and made by Tampere sculptor Matti Kalkamo.