Hafslo Municipality

Hafslo is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1963. The area is now part of Luster Municipality in the traditional district of Sogn in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Hafslo. Other villages in the municipality included Kinsedalen, Ornes, and Kroken (on the south side of the fjord and the villages of Solvorn, Joranger, and Veitastrond on the north side of the Lustrafjorden.
Prior to its dissolution in 1963, the municipality was the 164th largest by area out of the 705 municipalities in Norway. Hafslo Municipality was the 383rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about. The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 10.7% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The parish of Hafslo was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1963, Hafslo Municipality was merged with the neighboring Luster Municipality and Jostedal Municipality to form a new, larger Luster Municipality.

Name

The municipality is named after the old Hafslo farm since the first Hafslo Church was built there. The first element is the old male name, the name is identical with the word which means "male goat". The last element is which means "clearing" or "meadow", probably due to the excellent farming areas nearby.

Churches

The Church of Norway had four parishes within Hafslo Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Hafslo prestegjeld and the Indre Sogn prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

Parish	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Fet	Fet Church	Fet	1894
Hafslo	Hafslo Church	Hafslo	1878
Hafslo	Veitastrond Chapel	Veitastrond	1928
Joranger	Joranger Church	Joranger	1660
Solvorn	Solvorn Church	Solvorn	1883
Solvorn	Urnes Stave Church	Ornes	1130

Geography

The municipality surrounded the lakes Hafslovatnet and Veitastrondvatnet. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Høgste Breakulen on the Jostedalsbreen glacier and on the border with Stryn Municipality.
Innvik Municipality and Stryn Municipality were located to the north, Luster Municipality was to the east, Årdal Municipality was to the southeast, Sogndal Municipality was to the south, Balestrand Municipality was to the west, and Jølster Municipality was to the northwest.

Government

While it existed, Hafslo 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 Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Hafslo Municipality was made up of 21 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 Hafslo Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people held this position:

1838–1839: Ola Trondsen Lid
1840–1859: Einar Joranger
1860–1860: Samuel M. Bugge
1861–1861: C. Aars
1862–1862: Ola I. Fet
1863–1877: Samuel M. Bugge
1878–1881: Einar Joranger
1882–1885: Samuel M. Bugge
1886–1895: Ola I. Hillestad
1896–1898: Anders J. Tørvi
1899–1904: Erik Nitter Walaker
1905–1907: Samuel O. Moe
1908–1910: Erik Nitter Walaker
1911–1919: Ola I. Joranger
1920–1922: Wilken Nitter Walaker
1923–1928: Ivar O. Hillestad
1929–1931: Torstein Molland
1932–1937: J.W. Fraas
1938–1942: Torstein Molland
1942–1944: Amund Bremer
1945–1945: Torstein Molland
1946–1947: Ola Sjøtun
1948–1961: Einar Kjos
1961–1963: Hans H. Sjøtun
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