Vardal

Vardal is a former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The 263-square-kilometre (102 sq mi) municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now divided between Gjøvik Municipality and Vestre Toten Municipality in the traditional district of Vestoppland. The administrative centre was the village of Vardal.^[3]

Vardal Municipality Vardal herred
Former municipality
Old farmhouse in Vardal
Oppland within Norway
Vardal within Oppland
Coordinates: 60°48′58″N 10°31′28″E
Country	Norway
County	Oppland
District	Vestoppland
Established	1 Jan 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Disestablished	1 Jan 1964
• Succeeded by	Vestre Toten and Gjøvik municipalities
Administrative centre	Vardal
Area  (upon dissolution)
• Total	263 km2 (102 sq mi)
Population  (1964)
• Total	9,679
• Density	37/km2 (95/sq mi)
Demonyms	Vardøl Vardøling[1]
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0527[2]
Data from Statistics Norway

History

Map of the Vardal area before 1964

View of Vardal Church

The prestegjeld of Vardal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). According to the 1835 census the parish had a population of 2,921 shortly before it became a municipality.^[4] On 1 January 1861 the town of Gjøvik (population: 626) was separated from Vardal to constitute a separate municipality, leaving Vardal with a population of 4,114. On 1 January 1896, a small area of Østre Toten Municipality (population: 49) was transferred into Vardal. On 1 January 1900, an unpopulated area of Søndre Land Municipality was transferred to Vardal.^[5]

During the 20th century, the town of Gjøvik was growing and twice the town annexed parts of Vardal. On 1 July 1921, an area with 723 residents was taken from Vardal and added to Gjøvik. Then again on 1 July 1955, another area (population: 1,372) was transferred from Vardal to Gjøvik. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Vardal Municipality was dissolved and its lands and people were transferred to neighboring municipalities:^[5]

• the Sørligrenda area (population: 87) was merged with Vestre Toten Municipality (population: 9,113), Eina Municipality (population: 1,591), and a small part of Gran Municipality (population: 12) to form a new Vestre Toten Municipality.
• the rest of Vardal (population: 9,612) was merged with the town of Gjøvik (population: 8,251), Snertingdal Municipality (population: 2,471), and Biri Municipality (population: 3,274) to form a new Gjøvik Municipality.

Name

The municipality is named after the Vardal valley (Old Norse: Vardalr) since the valley was located in the municipality. The first element is probably from the old name for a local river. the river name comes from the word ver which means "quiet" or "calm". The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale".^[6][3]

Government

While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[7]

Municipal council

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Vardal was made up of 29 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Vardal herredsstyre 1960–1963 ^[8]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet)	17
	Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti)	3
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti)	1
	Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister)	7
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	1
Total number of members:		29

Vardal herredsstyre 1956–1959 ^[9]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet)	18
	Conservative Party (Høyre)	2
	Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti)	3
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti)	1
	Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet)	3
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	2
Total number of members:		29

Vardal herredsstyre 1952–1955 ^[10]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet)	12
	Conservative Party (Høyre)	1
	Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti)	2
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti)	1
	Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet)	2
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	2
Total number of members:		20

Vardal herredsstyre 1948–1951 ^[11]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet)	11
	Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti)	3
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti)	1
	Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet)	2
	Joint list of the Liberal Party (Venstre) and the Radical People's Party (Radikale Folkepartiet)	3
Total number of members:		20

Vardal herredsstyre 1945–1947 ^[12]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet)	11
	Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti)	3
	Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet)	2
	Joint list of the Liberal Party (Venstre) and the Radical People's Party (Radikale Folkepartiet)	4
Total number of members:		20

Vardal herredsstyre 1938–1941* ^[13]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet)	16
	Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet)	4
Total number of members:		20
Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945.

Mayors

The mayors of Vardal:^[14]

• 1837-1839: Hans Skikkelstad
• 1840-1845: Hans Peter Borchgrevink
• 1845-1847: Henrik Christian Borchgrevink
• 1848-1849: Christian Braastad
• 1850-1865: Johan Braastad
• 1866-1869: Peder Mustad
• 1870-1881: Anders Jørgensen Veum
• 1882-1889: Nicolai Forseth
• 1890-1891: Peter Braastad
• 1892-1895: Andreas Kastad
• 1896-1898: Lars J. Aalstad
• 1899-1901: Andreas Kastad
• 1902-1910: Halvor Fosmark (AD)
• 1910-1922: Arne Fosnes (AD)
• 1922-1925: Kristian Nyjordet (Bp)
• 1926-1928: Ludvig Skjerven (RF)
• 1929-1937: Knut A. Jenseth (Ap)
• 1938-1940: Johannes Odnessveen (Ap)
• 1941-1943: Knut A. Jenseth (NS)
• 1943-1945: Kristian Fjeld (NS)
• 1945-1945: Johannes Odnessveen (Ap)
• 1946-1959: Andreas Nordland (Ap)
• 1959-1959: Harald Børresen (Ap)
• 1960-1963: Alf R. Iversen (Ap)

See also

• List of former municipalities of Norway

References

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
2. Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (26 January 2023). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
3. Mæhlum, Lars, ed. (8 February 2022). "Vardal". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
4. Registreringssentral for historiske data. "Hjemmehørende folkemengde Oppland 1801-1960" (in Norwegian). University of Tromsø.
5. Jukvam, Dag (1999). Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. ISBN 9788253746845.
6. Rygh, Oluf (1900). Norske gaardnavne: Kristians amt (in Norwegian) (4 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 28.
7. Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (20 September 2022). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
8. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1959" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norge: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1960.
9. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1955" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norge: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1957.
10. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1951" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1952.
11. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1947" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1948.
12. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1945" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1947.
13. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1937" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1938.
14. Lauvdal, Torgeir (1930). Vardal bygdebok (in Norwegian). Vol. 3. Gjøvik. pp. 232–242.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)