Torpa (or historically ''Torpen'') is a former municipality in the old

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 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 1914 until its dissolution in 1962. The area is now part of Nordre Land Municipality. 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 at Åmot where the

Åmot Church Åmot Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Åmot Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the village of Rena. It is the church for the Åmot parish which is part of the Sør-Østerdal prosti (deanery) in t ...

is located. Torpa currently constitutes the northern part of the

Nordre Land Nordre Land is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Land. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dokka. Other villages in the municipality include Vest-Torpa, Nord-T ...

, bordering the municipalities of

Etnedal Etnedal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bruflat. The municipality is the 216th largest by area out of the 356 ...

and

Nord-Aurdal Nord-Aurdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town Fagernes ...

in the west,

Gausdal Gausdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Segelstad bru. Other villages in Gausdal include Follebu, Forse ...

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

, and

Gjøvik Gjøvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Gjøvik (town), town of Gjøvik. Some of the villages in Gjøvik include Biri, Norway, Biri, Bybrua, ...

in the east.

History

The municipality of ''Torpen'' was established on 1 January 1914 when the large Nordre Land Municipality was divided into two: ''Torpen'' (population: 2,219) and Nordre Land (population: 2,570). In 1918, the spelling of the name was changed from ''Torpen'' to ''Torpa''. 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 municipality of Torpa (population: 2,620) was merged with the neighboring municipality of

(population: 3,870) and the Tranlia and Store Røen areas (population: 196) of the neighboring Fluberg Municipality creating a new, larger Nordre Land Municipality.

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, ''Torpen'' () since it is the old name for the area. The name is identical with the word which means "hamlet" or "village". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Torpen''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Torpa'', removing the definite form ending ''-en''.

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 Torpa was made up of 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 Torpa: * 1914-1922: Nils Eng * 1923-1925: Christian C. Jøranli * 1926-1928: Amund Stadsvoll * 1929-1931: Kristian Stadsvoll * 1932-1934: Birger Snilsberg * 1935-1937: Arve Frøisland ( NS) * 1938-1940: Birger Snilsberg * 1941-1945: Kristian Erstad ( NS) * 1945-1946: Birger Snilsberg * 1946-1951: Amund Ødegård ( Ap) * 1952-1959: Arne Sandbakken ( Ap) * 1960-1961: Nils Herman Sundby ( Ap)

References