Vossestrand is a former municipality in the old

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

county in

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 1868 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the northern part of the present-day municipality of

Voss Voss () is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages inclu ...

. The municipality was centered on the nearby villages of

Vinje Vinje is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Vest-Telemark which is part of Øvre Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Åmot. Other villages in the muni ...

and Oppheim, where the two churches for the municipality are located: Vinje Church and

Oppheim Church Oppheim Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Voss Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Oppheim, located on the northern shore of the lake Oppheimsvatnet. It is the church for the Oppheim pari ...

. The large lake

Oppheimsvatnet Oppheimsvatnet is a lake in the municipality of Voss in Vestland county, Norway. The lake lies in the northern part of the municipality, about east of the village of Vinje. The European route E16 highway runs along the northern side of the ...

sat in the central part of the 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 at Vasstrondi, on the south side of the lake

History

The municipality of Vossestrand was created on 1 January 1868 when the old (large) municipality of

was divided. The northern part became Vossestrand and the southern part remained as Voss. Initially, Vossestrand had a population of 2,009. On 21 August 1869, an unpopulated area of

was administratively transferred to the municipality of Vossestrand. 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 entire municipality was merged with the neighboring municipalities of

Evanger Evanger is a former municipality in the Voss district of the old Hordaland county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1885 until 1964 when it was dissolved and its lands split between two municipalities. The municipality included the ea ...

and Voss, forming the present-day

Voss Municipality Voss () is a municipality and a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages include Bolstadøyri, Borstrondi, Evanger, Kvitheim, Mjølfjell, ...

. There were 1,573 residents at the time of the merger.

Name

The municipality is named after an old name for the area, ''Strand'' (). The name ''Vossestrand'' was created in the 1860s when the municipality was established. The first element is named after the traditional district of ''Voss'' (). That name is likely derived from the word which means "water" (likely the old district name was originally used as the name for the lake

Vangsvatnet Vangsvatnet is a lake in the municipality of Voss in Vestland county, Norway. The lake lies in the central part of the municipality, on the southwestern shore of the municipal centre of Vossevangen. The Vosso River flows through both Vangsvat ...

. The last element is derived which means "beach" or "shore". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Vossestranden''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Vossestrand'', removing the definite form ending ''-en''.

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 Vossestrand: * 1868–1871: Christian Johannes Hammer * 1871–1880: Torstein Hellesnes * 1881–1910: Olav Brekke ( MV) * 1911–1918: Eirik T. Hellesnes ( V) * 1919–1925: Torstein Skjervheim ( Bp) * 1926–1934: Sjur Bygd ( Bp) * 1935–1941: Odd Hole Høen ( Bp) * 1942–1945: Lars Rygg * 1945–1947: Odd Hole Høen ( Bp) * 1948–1959: Lars A. Hauge ( Bp) * 1960–1963: Per Årmot ( Sp)

Municipal council

The

of Vossestrand was made up of 17 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:

References