Stokken is a former municipality in the old

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, ) was a county (''fylke'') in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The municipality existed from 1919 until 1962 when it was merged into the newly created

Moland Moland is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1962 until 1992 when it was merged into the present-day municipality of Arendal which is located in what is now Agder county. The administrati ...

municipality. Today, the area is a part of the present-day municipality of

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

county. 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 ...

of the municipality was the village of

Eydehavn Eydehavn or Eydehamn is a village in the municipality of Arendal in Agder county, Norway. The village is located about northeast of the centre of the town of Arendal, about northeast of the village of Saltrød, about south of the village of ...

. The

Stokken Church Stokken Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Arendal Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Saltrød. It is one of the churches for the Moland parish which is part of the Arendal prosti (deanery) i ...

was the main church for the small municipality located just outside the town of Arendal.

History

Stokken was historically a part of the municipality of Østre Moland since the establishment of that 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). The municipality of Stokken was established on 1 July 1919 when the old municipality of Østre Moland was divided into two separate municipalities: Stokken (population: 1,683) and Austre Moland (population: 1,289). 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 1962, the municipalities of Stokken (population: 2,783), Austre Moland (population: 1,607),

Flosta Flosta is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Aust-Agder Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1902 until its dissolution in 1962. It is currently part of the municipality of Ar ...

(population: 1,205), as well as the

Strengereid Strengereid is a village in the municipality of Arendal in Agder county, Norway. It is located along the Norwegian County Road 410, about northeast of the village of Eydehavn and just west of the island of Flostaøya. The village of Sagene lies ...

area of

Tvedestrand is List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative center is the Tvedestrand (town), t ...

(population: 375) were merged to create the new municipality of

. Then on 1 January 1992, the municipality of Moland (including the area of Stokken) was merged into the neighboring municipality of

Name

The municipality (originally 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 ...

) is named Stokken, after the old name for the local school district. The name is the definite form of the word which means "log" or "tree trunk".

Government

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.

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 Stokken: *1919–1921: Guttorm Fløistad *1921-1921: Andres Haugmoen *1922–1928:

Nils Hjelmtveit Nils Hjelmtveit (21 July 1892–30 October 1985) was a Norwegian educator and politician for the Labour Party. He was mayor of Stokken, MP from 1925 to 1930, Minister of Education and Church Affairs from 1935 to 1945 and County Governor ...

*1928–1931: Hans J. Bakke *1931–1937:

*1937–1941: Syver Kristiansen *1942-1945: Lauritz Harry Jensen ( NS) *1945–1961: Johannes Kinserdal

Municipal council

The

of Stokken was made up of 19 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political

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 ...

References

External links

* {{use dmy dates, date=December 2020 Arendal Former municipalities of Norway 1919 establishments in Norway 1962 disestablishments in Norway