Sør-Odal Explained

Sør-Odal
Former Name:Søndre Odalen herred
Idnumber:3415
County:Innlandet
District:Odalen
Capital:Skarnes
Established:1 Jan 1838
Preceded:none
Demonym:Sør-ødøling
Language:Bokmål
Flag:Flag of Sør-Odal.gif
Webpage:www.sor-odal.kommune.no
Mayor:Knut Hvithammer
Mayor Party:Ap
Mayor As Of:2016
Area Rank:207
Area Total Km2:516.74
Area Land Km2:479.04
Area Water Km2:37.70
Area Water Percent:7.3
Population As Of:2023
Population Rank:132
Population Total:8069
Population Density Km2:16.8
Population Increase:3.4
Coordinates:60.2367°N 11.7456°W
Utm Zone:32V
Utm Northing:6680935
Utm Easting:0652017
Geo Cat:adm2nd

Sør-Odal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Odalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skarnes. Other villages in Sør-Odal include Disenå and Sander.

The 517km2 municipality is the 207th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sør-Odal is the 132nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 8,069. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 3.4% over the previous 10-year period.[1] [2]

General information

The parish of Søndre Odalen was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The borders of the municipality have not changed since that time.[3]

Name

The municipality was originally named Søndre Odalen (later Sør-Odal), after the valley in which it is located. The first element in the name is the word or, both of which mean "southern". The last element of the name is the old district name Odalen (Norse, Old: Ódalr). The first part of this is which is an alternate form of the word which means "river" or "creek" (here it's referring to the Glåma river). The last part of this is which means "valley" or "dale". The prefix "Søndre" was added when the old Odalen parish was divided in 1819 into Nordre Odalen in the north and Søndre Odalen in the south.[4] On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Sør-Odal, using an alternate word for "south" and removing the definite form ending -en.[5]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 10 January 1992. The official blazon is "Gules, three keys Or in pall" (Norwegian: I rødt tre gull nøkler stilt i trepass). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is three keys aligned in pall. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The keys symbolize justice, knowledge, and positive ideals. The design was chosen to represent the three parishes of Oppstad, Strøm, and Ullern and the three local bodies of water: Glomma, Oppstadåa, and Storsjøen. The arms were designed by Harald Hallstensen, a graphical designer. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[6] [7] [8] [9]

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes (Norwegian: sokn) within the municipality of Sør-Odal. It is part of the Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

Churches in Sør-Odal!Parish (Norwegian: sokn)!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
OppstadOppstad ChurchOppstad1725
StrømStrøm ChurchStrøm1857
UllernUllern ChurchUllern1868

Geography

The municipality is a rural area in the Odalen valley that is located along the river Glåma and around the southern side of the lake Storsjøen. It is bordered by the municipalities of Eidskog in the south, by Kongsvinger in the east, and by Nord-Odal and Grue in the north. The terrain is dominated by rolling hills, lakes, and pine forests.

Government

Sør-Odal Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.[10] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Romerike og Glåmdal District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council Norwegian: (Kommunestyre) of Sør-Odal is made up of 27 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayors (Norwegian: ordfører) of Sør-Odal (incomplete list):

Economy

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Sør-Odal by country of origin in 2017[12]
AncestryNumber
Poland101
Sweden49
Thailand46
Eritrea45
Lithuania37
Germany37
Romania34
Denmark22
The economy is based on a mix of manufacturing, farming, and services. Skarnes has a train connection to Oslo via the Kongsvingerbanen railway line.

Notable people

Sister cities

Sør-Odal has sister city agreements with the following places:[13]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Statistisk sentralbyrå . Statistics Norway . Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M) . Norwegian.
  2. Web site: Statistisk sentralbyrå . Statistics Norway . 09280: Area of land and fresh water (km²) (M) . Norwegian.
  3. Web site: Jukvam . Dag . 1999 . Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen . . no . 9788253746845.
  4. Book: Rygh, Oluf . Oluf Rygh

    . Norske gaardnavne: Hedmarkens amt . 1900 . W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri . 3 . Kristiania, Norge . 175 and 194 . no . Oluf Rygh.

  5. 1917 . Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1917. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m . . no . Kristiania, Norge . Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri . 1057–1065.
  6. Web site: Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen . 2023-04-25 . Heraldry of the World.
  7. Web site: Sor-Odal, Hedmark (Norway) . 2023-04-25 . Flags of the World.
  8. Web site: 1992-01-10 . Godkjenning av våpen og flagg . 2023-04-25 . Lovdata.no . Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet . no.
  9. Web site: Kommunevåpen for Sør-Odal kommmune . 2008-12-29 . Sør-Odal kommmune . no.
  10. Encyclopedia: kommunestyre . . . 2022-09-20 . Hansen . Tore . Norwegian . Vabo . Signy Irene . 2022-10-14.
  11. News: 1975-12-31 . Arne Broen satte ny rekord som ordfører i Sør-Odal . . 5 . no.
  12. Web site: Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150702101705/https://www.ssb.no/statistikkbanken/selectvarval/Define.asp?subjectcode=&ProductId=&MainTable=FolkInnvkatLand&nvl=&PLanguage=1&nyTmpVar=true&CMSSubjectArea=befolkning&KortNavnWeb=innvbef&StatVariant=&checked=true . 2 July 2015 . 29 June 2015 . ssb.no.
  13. Web site: Sør-Odal - en kommune med mangfold i kulturtilbudet . 2008-12-29 . Sør-Odal kommune . no.