Grip Municipality
Grip is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. With a land area of only and a population of between 100–200 people, Grip was one of the smallest municipalities in Norway during its existence from 1897 until it merged with Kristiansund Municipality in 1964. Grip Municipality included all the islands in the Grip archipelago. The administrative centre of the municipality was the one fishing village in the municipality, known as Gripholmen, where the historic Grip Stave Church is located.
Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 684th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Grip Municipality was the 689th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 115. The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 36.8% over the previous 10-year period.
General information
The formannskapsdistrikt law of 1837 required that every parish in Norway should be constituted as a municipality starting on 1 January 1838. It also required that parishes composed of a town with a rural district should be divided into two municipalities. In 1837, the town of Kristiansund and the rural districts of Frei and Grip were part of the same parish. The parish of Frei became the new Frei Municipality under the new law, but Grip had no men with the right to vote so it was not considered a municipality, rather it became part of Frei Municipality. Prior to 1884, the right to vote was in Norway was mostly limited to men with property. In a fishing village, such as Grip, where one merchant in the town owned all the houses, nobody had the right to vote, so Grip was not allowed to have a municipal government. Through constitutional changes in 1884, the right to vote was extended to all men who paid taxes. Since the fishermen in Grip paid income taxes, Grip finally had a voting population and would be eligible to become a separate municipality. Grip Municipality was officially separated from Frei Municipality in 1897 and it became a separate municipality with a population of 198.Grip Municipality bought the whole fishing village from the merchant Ludvig Williamsen in 1909. Prior to that time, basically the entire community had been the property of one merchant from Kristiansund. The price of was financed through a public loan to be paid back in 45 years. The municipality then began selling the houses to their inhabitants. A census in 1910 showed a population of 187.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the following areas were merged to form a new, larger Kristiansund Municipality:
- all of Grip Municipality
- the town of Kristiansund
- the Dale area of Bremsnes Municipality.
Name
Churches
The Church of Norway had one parish within Grip Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Kristiansund prestegjeld and the Ytre Nordmøre prosti in the Diocese of Nidaros.| Parish | Church name | Location of the church | Year built |
| Grip | Grip Stave Church | Gripholmen | 1470 |
Geography
The municipality included the whole Grip archipelago, located about northwest of the town of Kristiansund. The highest point in the municipality was the tall hill on the island of Gripholmen.Government
While it existed, Grip Municipality was 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 was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Frostating Court of Appeal.Municipal council
The municipal council of Grip Municipality was made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.Mayors
The mayor of Grip Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:- 1897–1910: Andreas Jørussen Grip
- 1911–1922: Peder Edvard Pedersen
- 1923–1925: Thomas Thoresen
- 1926–1928: Peder B. Brunvoll
- 1929–1931: Olaf Kristiansen
- 1932–1934: Peder Edvard Pedersen
- 1935–1937: Olaf Kristiansen
- 1938–1942: Isak Roksvåg
- 1943–1944: Johannes Thomassen
- 1945–1945: Olaf Kristiansen
- 1945–1945: Peder B. Brunvoll
- 1945–1945: Mikael Nerland
- 1946–1947: Kristian Pedersen
- 1948–1961: Mikael Nerland
- 1962–1964: Peder Pedersen, Jr.
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