In 1839 the ruler — Ferdinand, who as king of Hungary was Ferdinand V — granted Handlová the rights of a market town, including four annual fairs: in practice, four days a year when the valley filled with traders the village could tax. Nine years later the revolution of 1848 abolished serfdom across the kingdom, so the peasants of the basin became owners of the land they worked and were free to leave it. Both changes mattered more later than at the time: a place with fairs and free labour could become a town as soon as a reason appeared. The reason was still underground.V roku 1839 udelil panovník Ferdinand — ako uhorský kráľ Ferdinand V. — Handlovej mestské práva a štyri výročné jarmoky, čiže v praxi štyri dni v roku, keď bola dolina plná kupcov a obec z nich mohla vyberať poplatky. O deväť rokov neskôr zrušila revolúcia roku 1848 v celom Uhorsku poddanstvo: sedliaci v kotline sa stali vlastníkmi pôdy, ktorú obrábali, a mohli slobodne odísť. Obe zmeny znamenali viac neskôr než vtedy — miesto s jarmokmi a slobodnými rukami sa mohlo stať mestom, len čo sa objaví dôvod. Ten dôvod bol stále pod zemou.
