sentences:  Kilingi-Nõmme was then the centre of the surrounding Saarde Parish.After the establishment of sawmill, flour mill and spinning factory, Kilingi-Nõmme gained the borough rights in 1919 and eventually the town rights on 1 May 1938.In 1896, a Pärnu–Mõisaküla–Rūjiena–Valga narrow gauge railway () was built, the station in Kilingi-Nõmme was opened in 1917, before that the nearest station was "Woltveti" southeast in Tihemetsa.