Biri is a former municipality in the former

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The ...

county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of

Gjøvik Municipality Gjøvik () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Bybrua, and Hunndalen. The municipality is the 169th largest by a ...

in the traditional district of Vestoppland. The

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

was the village of Biri.

History

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Biri was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). On 1 January 1910, the municipality of Biri was divided in half. The western part (population: 2,028) became Snertingdal Municipality and the eastern part (population: 2,815) continued as Biri Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Biri (population: 3,274) was merged with the town of Gjøvik (population: 8,251), the municipality of

Snertingdal Snertingdal is a former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1910 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Gjøvik Municipality in the traditional district of Vestoppland. The administrati ...

(population: 2,471), and most of the municipality of

Vardal Vardal is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now divided between Gjøvik Municipality and Vestre Toten M ...

(population: (9,612) to create a new

with 23,608 residents.

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the old '' Biri'' farm () since the first Biri Church was built there. The name is presumably very old and its meaning is uncertain. One possibility is that the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

name is derived from the word which means "bear den".

Government

While it existed, this municipality was responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

was

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council

The

of Biri was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Mayors

The

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Biri: *1837-1843: Christian Semb *1844-1845: Nils Larsen Melby *1846-1847: Nils Johan Hagerup *1848-1849: Anders Lysgaard, Jr. *1850-1851: Nils Larsen Melby *1852-1855: Anders Lysgaard, Jr. *1856-1857: Johannes Alseth *1858-1859: Halvor Olsen *1860-1867: Iver Lier *1868-1871: Nils Berg *1872-1873: Johannes Alseth *1874-1875: Even Nøss *1876-1881: Mathias Larsen Bratberg *1882-1883: Anton Skulhus *1890-1893: Julius Bjørnstad *1894-1895: Anton Skulhus *1896-1904: Iver Fliflet *1905-1907: Ole E. Huskelhus *1908-1910: Kristian Oudenstad ( LL) *1911-1913: Julius Bjørnstad *1914-1931: Hagbart Wiklund ( AD) *1932-1934: Einar Sigstad *1935-1941: Henrik Eilert Brekke ( Ap) *1941-1941: Harald Bratberg ( NS) *1941-1945: Einar Sigstad ( NS) *1945-1951: Henrik Eilert Brekke ( Ap) *1952-1963: Nils Røstadstuen ( Ap)

References