The paper is about implications of decline 1980s – 1990s in a small Swedish community located in the rural industrial heartland Bergslagen, for the most part of the 20th century considered as a relatively prosperous and economically important region. Nevertheless, when the Steel crisis in the 1970s hit Sweden harder than most countries, consequently a decline began in the region, which fundamentally affected this mono-industrial community. Initially the crisis perceived as temporary and the companies avoided redundancies. However, by the early 1990s, over a thousand industrial workers in the community had lost their jobs due to the long-time effects of rural1 deindustrialization.Local political leaders then focused on different types of cultural and aesthetic initiatives with intentions to change public memory regarding industrial culture and working class mentality. Traditional values and mentalities as well as proven experiences and past patterns of action suddenly appeared obsolete in the local public sphere dominated by a postindustrial narrative.The aim of the paper is to contribute perspectives on localised processes of deindustrialization and postindustrialization and by extension indicate how to understand mechanisms and consequences of altered working-class heritage and culture.