Tolga-Os Municipality


Tolga-Os is a former municipality in the old Hedmark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1966 until its dissolution in 1976. The area is now part of Tolga Municipality and Os Municipality in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre was the village of Tolga. Other villages in the municipality included Dalsbygda, Hodalen, Narbuvoll, Os i Østerdalen, Tufsingdalen, Vingelen, and Øversjødalen.
Prior to its dissolution in 1976, the municipality was the 27th largest by area out of the 460 municipalities in Norway. Tolga-Os Municipality was the 254th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 3,757. The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 5% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

Historically, Tolga Municipality had always included the two parishes of Tolga and Os until 1926 when Os was separated to become the new Os Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1966, Tolga Municipality and Os Municipality were merged to form the new Tolga-Os Municipality. Soon after the merger, there was discontent in the new municipality. On 10 April 1975, the government allowed the merger to be dissolved, so on 1 January 1976 Tolga and Os became separate municipalities once again using the pre-1966 borders.

Name

The municipal name was created during the 1960s for the newly merged municipality that was made up of the old Tolga Municipality and Os Municipality. The name was simply a hyphenated combination of the two old names. The first name comes from the old Tolga farm since the first Tolga Church was built there. This name comes from the small river which flows through the area. The name of the river may come from the word since the first Os Church was built there in 1703. The name is identical with the word which means "mouth of a river".

Churches

The Church of Norway had one parish within Tolga-Os Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Tolga prestegjeld and the Nord-Østerdal prosti in the Diocese of Hamar.
Parish Church nameLocation of the churchYear built
OsOs ChurchOs i Østerdalen1862
OsDalsbygda ChapelDalsbygda1960
OsNarbuvoll ChapelNarbuvoll1862
OsTufsingdalen ChapelTufsingdalen1920
TolgaTolga ChurchTolga1840
TolgaHodalen ChurchHodalen1934
TolgaHoløydalen ChurchØversjødalen1908
VingelenVingelen ChurchVingelen1880

Geography

The municipality was located in the northeastern part of Hedmark county, along the border with Sør-Trøndelag county. Engerdal Municipality was to the southeast, Rendalen Municipality was to the southwest, Tynset Municipality was to the west, Midtre Gauldal Municipality was to the northwest, Holtålen Municipality was to the north, and Røros Municipality was to the east. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Elgspiggen, located on the southern border with Rendalen Municipality.

Government

While it existed, Tolga-Os 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 Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Tolga-Os was made up of 25 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 Tolga-Os was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people held this position:
  • 1966–1967: Olav Hummelvold
  • 1967–1971: Anders Johnsgård
  • 1971–1975: Lars Solbu