Åsnes Municipality
Åsnes is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Solør. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Flisa, which is also the largest village in the municipality with nearly 1,800 people. Other villages in the municipality include Gjesåsen, Hof, Sønsterud, and Kjellmyra.
The municipality is the 108th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Åsnes Municipality is the 141st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 7,247. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 2.7% over the previous 10-year period.
General information
When municipal government was established in Norway on 1 January 1838, the Åsnes area was part of Hof Municipality. In 1849, Hof Municipality was divided into two: Hof Municipality in the south and Aasnes og Vaaler Municipality in the north. A short time later, in 1854, Aasnes og Vaaler Municipality was divided into two: Våler Municipality in the north and Åsnes Municipality in the south.During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1963, Hof Municipality was merged into Åsnes Municipality. On 1 January 1969, the Rotberget farm area in the Finnskogen part of the municipality was transferred to the neighboring Grue Municipality.
In the 2010s, there were discussions of further municipal mergers but the neighboring municipalities of Grue and Våler both rejected merging with Åsnes Municipality.
Historically, the municipality was part of Hedmark county. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became a part of the newly-formed Innlandet county.
Name
The municipality is named after the old Åsnes farm since the first Åsnes Church was built there. The first element is which means "mountain ridge". The last element is which means "headland". The headland that it is referring to is made by the river Glomma near the Åsnes farm which is located beneath a hill. On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Aasnes with the digraph "Aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Åsnes, using the letter Å instead.Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 9 December 2001. The official blazon is "Or, three pike hooks sable in bend sinister points in base dexter". This means the arms have a field 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 charge is three hooks for log driving that are pointing downwards diagonally. This was chosen to represent the importance of logging and forestry to the municipality throughout history. There are three poles to symbolize the three important rivers of the municipality: Glomma, Flisa, and Kynna. The arms were designed by Arvid Steen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.Churches
The Church of Norway has six parishes within Åsnes Municipality. It is part of the Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti in the Diocese of Hamar.| Parish | Church name | Location of the church | Year built |
| Arneberg | Arneberg Church | Jammerdalen | 1878 |
| Gjesåsen | Gjesåsen Church | Gjesåsen | 1863 |
| Hof | Hof Church | Hof | 1861 |
| Hof Finnskog | Hof Finnskog Church | Dulpetorpet | 1953 |
| Åsnes | Åsnes Church | Flisa | 1744 |
| Åsnes Finnskog | Åsnes Finnskog Church | Vermundsjøen | 1861 |
Geography
The municipality is located in the southern part of Innlandet county in the traditional region of Solør. Åsnes Municipality is bordered to the north by Våler Municipality, to the south by Grue Municipality, to the west by Nord-Odal Municipality and Stange Municipality, and to the east it borders Torsby Municipality in Värmland County, Sweden.Finnskogen or the forest of the Finns is a belt about wide which runs continuously northwards along the border between Norway and Sweden through six Norwegian municipalities, including Åsnes.
Åsnes has several lakes and rivers throughout the forested municipality which sits in the southern Glåmdal valley. It includes the lakes Gjesåssjøen, Hukusjøen, and Vermunden. The rivers Flisa, Rotna, and Glomma all flow through the municipality. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Elgklintsrøysa, located on the border with Sweden.
Government
Åsnes Municipality is responsible for primary education, 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. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Hedmarken og Østerdal District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.Municipal council
The municipal council of Åsnes Municipality is made up of 23 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 mayor of Åsnes Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position :- 1857–1861: Kjel Glorvigen
- 1865–1873: Hans Henrik Schultze
- 1873–1874: M. Gundersen
- 1875–1881: M. Lie
- 1882–1883: J.B. Krohg
- 1883–1893: Ole Bjørneby
- 1893–1902: Adolf Bjørneby
- 1902–1904: Gunnar Lofsgaard
- 1905–1910: Arne Sparby
- 1910–1914: August Embretsen
- 1915–1919: Syver Hauge
- 1919–1922: Per Aasness
- 1922–1925: Botolf Haug
- 1925–1928: Arne Adolf Løfsgaard
- 1929–1931: Botolf Haug
- 1931–1932: Syver Hauge
- 1940–1941: Kr. Arneberg
- 1941–1945: Gudbjørn Fleischer
- 1945–1963: Jon Gudbjørn Dybendal
- 1963–1975: Torstein Haugen
- 1975–1979: Torbjørn Konttorp
- 1979–1981: Johan Dybendal
- 1982–1983: Torbjørn Konttorp
- 1983–1991: Hans-Didrik Bakke
- 1991–1999: Knut Guttorm Rustad
- 1999–2003: Hans-Didrik Bakke
- 2003–2007: Frank Willy Bjørneseth
- 2007–2011: Lars Petter Heggelund
- 2011–2019: Ørjan Bue
- 2019–2023: Kari Heggelund
- 2023–present: Einar Toverud
Notable people
- Hans Jacob Grøgaard, a parish priest, writer, and representative at the Norwegian Constituent Assembly
- Johannes Bergh, a barrister and the Attorney General of Norway from 1893-1904
- Jacob Sparre Schneider, a zoologist and entomologist
- Adolf Gundersen, an American physician who founded Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin
- Per Aasness, a military officer, politician, and Mayor of Asnes from 1919-1922
- Ole Bjerke, a sport shooter who competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics
- Arne Løfsgaard, a farmer, politician, and Mayor of Åsnes from 1925-1928
- Birger Lie, a sport shooter who competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics
- Jon Gudbjørn Dybendal, a politician and Mayor of Åsnes from 1945-1963
- Rolf Jacobsen, an author and modernist writer who twice lived in Åsnes
- Kai Grjotheim, a chemist and academic who solved problems within thermodynamics of salt smelters
- Gunnar Gundersen, a politician who also competed in the swimming at the 1976 Summer Olympics
- Tom Stræte Lagergren, a DJ and record producer who goes by the stage name Matoma
- Emilie Enger Mehl, a politician for the Centre Party who served as minister of justice since 2021 and Member of parliament since 2017.