According to legend, the town of Jonava came into being a long, long time ago, on the left bank of the Neris River... Having waded across a ford, in middle of a pine one would find a pub, in which John and his wife lived. The pub lured passing traders and craftsmen, who would say to each other: „Let‘s stop in to see John and his wife“. Yes, accosrding to legend, the name of Jonava comes from the names of the owners of that pub.
From the 15th to the 17th centuries, estates and manors were established in the more beautiful corners of nature. A multitude of them were owned by Lithuania‘s nobility: the Kosakovskis, Radvila, and Medekša families. The history of the town of Jonava is closely connected with the Skaruliai manor. An old road of the Teutonic Knights passed by Skaruliai. A segment of that road remains to the present day.
From the 15th century, the Skaruliai manor belonged to the Skarulskis family. During the first half of 18th century, it passed to Domininkas Kosakovskis (1711-1743), the steward of the Lowlanders. He was the first to build a house in Jonava.
After the death of his wife, Marijona Zabielaitė- Kosakovksienė, their eldest son, bishop Juozapas Kazimieras Kosakovskis, looked after Jonava. At his request, a brick church was built in 1793 according to the design of architect Laurynas Stuoka- Gucevičius.
Members of Kosakovskis family were buried in the catacombs of the Jonava church. Among them were bishop Juozapas Kazimieras Kosakovskis and general Juozapas Antanas Kosakovskis, who had been an aide-de-camp to the emperor Napoleon. In 1812, Napoleon‘s soldiers had marched through Jonava and crossed the Neris River at the Skaruliai village.
The uprisings of 1831 and 1863 did not bypass Jonava.
Kletas Koreva and Edmundas Kučevskis, leaders of the 1863 uprising, had arrived with their troops in Užusaliai, where they distributed to the peasants the land of local squire, Jonas Akas, without paying compensation to him. After the uprising was suppressed, a large number of families in Užusaliai were exiled, due to their support for the rebels, to Pskov, Smolensk, and other districts, and families loyal to the tsar of Russia were brought in to take their place. In 1866, an Orthodox church in the name of Alexander Nevsky was built for the newly – arrived families. That curch has survived (and remains in operation) to this day.
In 1835, the Warsaw-Saint Petersburg road was extended through Jonava, and the Jonava and Turžėnai post houses for horse – delivered mail and several smaller intermediate stations were built.
During the interwar period, Jonava was famous for its cabinetmakers, cobblers, tailors, and wheelwrights. Production of matchsticks was begun in the city. In 1922, the factory was enlarged and named „Uran“. 5 sawmills, 5 steam - driven mills, a brick works, a chocolate factory, and several banks were in Jonava.
The very first days of the Second World War in Lithuania were fateful for Jonava: the city burned to the ground. On 26 June 1941, Soviet soldiers shot three priests in Skaruliai: Zigmantas Stankevičius, Boleslovas Vėgėlė, and Pranciškus Vitkevičius.
Later that year, the exile of Jonava residents to Siberia began. From 1941 to 1955, more than 1,300 people were exiled from Jonava.
During the postwar years, the partisan movement was actine in the Jonava area. Detachments including „Žilvytis“, „Slyva“, „Pelėda“, „Dobilas“, „Tigras“, „Baravykas“, and others operated in the area.
During the Soviet period, Jonava became the district centre, and became famous for its chemical and furniture industries.
Upon the restoration of Lithuania‘s independence in 1990, much work was done to make the district attractive to businesspeople, tourists, and visitors. Jonava residents have enjoyed the bicycle path that has been constructed, and city streets ant squares have been renovated.
There are favourable conditions for expanding countryside tourism, because the Jonava district is rich in forestland (amounting to 38.9 percent of district`s territory), four rivers flow through the district (Neris, Šventoji, Lankesa, and Širvinta), and there are many lakes and ponds.
Educational and cultural activity is conducted by the Regional Museum (in which there are three branches: the Tourism Information Centre, the Folk Art and Craft Centre, and the Samulevičius homestead), the municipal public library (which has 15 branches), the Culture Centre (which has 14 branches), and the popular Physical Training and Sports Centre.
The Jonava District Municipality, along with the rest of the coutry, is preparing to celebrate the millennial commemoration of the first mention of Lithuania in written sources. Lithuania and Jonava are made known in the annual international festival “Three in a Little Circle“, the art forum „Homo ludens“, the amateur theatre festival „Aidas“, and elsewhere. The main squares of the city are being renovated, the Jonava art shool has been renovated, and the Regional Museum (a former horse post station) is being actively repaired and reconstructed. It is planned to build a monument in Santarvė Square (in English, „Concord Square“) to one of the pioneers of Lithuanian writing, Abraomas Kulvietis, who came from the Jonava area. Other famous people from the area have also been remembered: the translator of Homer‘s poems „Iliad“ and „Odyssey“, Jeronimas Ralys (in commemoration of the 130th anniversary of his birth, a book has been published); the playwright Petras Vaičiūnas; and the poet and translator Aleksys Churginas. In the town of Žeimiai, a monument has been built in memory of the builder of the Žeimiai church, the architect Vaclovas Michnevičius. The sculptor responsible for the monument, Prof. Konstantinas Bogdanas, is from the local area.
The district municipality cooperates with the cities of Dechin (Czech Respublic), Kędzierzyn- Kozle (Poland), Pucioasa (Romania), Riihimaki (Finland), Jogeva (Estonia), and Polock (Belarus).
A general plan for the territory of the Jonava district municipality has been prepared, and priorities for action through 2015 have been prepared. Because the Jonava district is located in a strategically important area (almost in the exact centre of the country,
There ere excellent opportunities to develop water tourism on the Neris River, with areas for construction of campgrounds, motels, and water recreation facilities.
At the present time, there are 51,752 residents in the Jonava district (in the city- 34,387; in the countryside- 17,365).
