Raufoss is the

administrative centre An administrative center 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 administrative language (such as Belgium, L ...

Vestre Toten Municipality Vestre Toten is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Toten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Raufoss. Other villages in the municipality include Bøverbru, Eina, ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The n ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The village is located about south of the larger town of Gjøvik. The village area is located along the municipal border with the neighboring

Gjøvik Municipality is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Toten. The administrative centre of the municipality is town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Bybrua, and Hunndalen. T ...

and the actual urban area of Raufoss does cross the border slightly, including a small part of Gjøvik as well (as defined by

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every ye ...

). The village has a population (2021) of 7,839 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

of . Of these numbers, of the village and 7,565 people live in the Vestre Toten part of the village and of the village and 274 people live in the part of Raufoss that is in Gjøvik.

Etymology

The village is named after a waterfall in the river

Hunnselva Hunnselva is a river in Innlandet and Viken counties in Norway. The long river is located mostly in Innlandet county, but the headwaters are actually just over the border in Viken county. The river generally flows north and it runs through the l ...

. The first element is ''raud'' which means "red", and the last element is ''foss'' which means "waterfall". The color red indicates traces of iron in the river bed.

Economic and cultural activities

The largest employer is what was earlier

Raufoss Ammunisjonsfabrikker Raufoss Ammunisjonsfabrikker was a Norwegian company based at Raufoss, established in 1896 as ''Rødfoss Patronfabrik''. Initially the company manufactured ammunition, and later also other products, such as aluminium parts to the automotive industry ...

, now split into several sub companies. These include

Nammo Nammo, short for Nordic Ammunition Company, is a Norwegian/Finnish aerospace and defence group specialized in production of ammunition, rocket engines and space applications. The company has subsidiaries in Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switze ...

Hydro Aluminium Hydro from Ancient Greek word ὕδωρ (húdōr), meaning ''water''. Hydro may also refer to: Energy technologies * Water-derived power or energy: ** Hydropower, derived from water ** Hydroelectricity, in electrical form * "Hydro", AC mains ...

and

Raufoss Technology Raufoss is the administrative centre of Vestre Toten Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located about south of the larger Gjøvik (town), town of Gjøvik. The village area is located along the municipal border with the nei ...

. Raufoss is also the second to last stop on the Gjøvikbanen railway line. The station also has a local bus service. The community has an active sports community pivoting around the sports club

Raufoss I.L. Raufoss IL is a sports club from Raufoss, Norway. The club was formed in 1918. The football section played in the Norwegian top flight between 1937–1948, between 1957–1960, in 1964 and between 1973–1974. The club currently plays in 1. div ...

where the football team has been the most prominent part of the club. Raufoss Fotball currently plays in

Norwegian 1st Division The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

. In addition to sports, Raufoss have an active music community which has fostered such musicians as

Ronni Le Tekrø Ronni Le Tekrø (born Rolf Ågrim Tekrø, 5 October 1963) is a Norwegian guitarist best known for playing with the Norwegian hard rock band TNT and as a solo guitarist cooperating with guitarists Terje Rypdal and Mads Eriksen as "N3". LeTek ...

of rock band TNT (band).

References

Vestre Toten Gjøvik Villages in Innlandet {{Innlandet-geo-stub