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, Galterud, and Sander.

The municipality is the 206th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Sør-Odal Municipality is the 132nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 8,150. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 3.4% over the previous 10-year period.

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 (which is fairly rare in Norway).

Historically, the municipality was part of the old Hedmark county. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became a part of the newly-formed Innlandet county (after Hedmark and Oppland counties were merged).

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 (). 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. 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.

Coat of arms The coat of arms was granted on 10 January 1992. The official blazon is "Gules, three keys Or in pall" (). 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.

Churches The Church of Norway has three parishes () within Sør-Odal Municipality. It is part of the Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar. Churches in Sør-OdalParish ()Church nameLocation of the churchYear builtOppstadOppstad ChurchOppstad (north of Skarnes)1725StrømStrøm ChurchStrøm (southeast of Skarnes)1857UllernUllern ChurchUllern (southwest of Skarnes)1868

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 Eidskog Municipality to the south, by Kongsvinger Municipality to the east, by Nord-Odal Municipality and Grue Municipality to the north, and by Nes Municipality (in Akershus county) to the west. The terrain is dominated by rolling hills, lakes, and pine forests. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Granberget, not far from the border with Kongsvinger Municipality.

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. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Romerike og Glåmdal District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council The municipal council of Sør-Odal Municipality 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 mayor () of Sør-Odal 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:

1838–1839: Ole Olsen Dysterud 1840–1841: Rev. Brockmann 1842–1845: Ole Olsen Dysterud 1846–1849: John Bredesen 1850–1851: Ole Hansen Hernæs 1852–1855: B. Bredesen 1856–1861: H.C. Andersen 1862–1863: T. Schøyen 1864–1865: A. Moss 1866–1869: Hans Olsen Brustad 1870–1873: Sjønne Sjønnesen 1874–1875: A. Sæter 1876–1885: Hans Olsen Brustad 1886–1887: Nils Hagen 1888–1891: Karl Olsen Glomsaas 1892–1895: Hans Olsen Brustad 1896–1898: Anton Moss 1899–1904: Th. O. Herud 1904–1910: Gunnar Haug 1910–1916: A. Strøm 1917–1919: Ole Aas 1919–1925: Anund Bergen 1925–1928: Johan Jachwitz (Ap) 1928–1929: Emil Gundersen (Ap) 1929–1931: Marius Engebretsen (Ap) 1931–1941: Trond Livden (Ap) 1941–1941: Olav Thorshaug (NS) 1941–1945: Lars Gjersøyen (NS) 1945–1945: Petter Hernes (Ap) 1946–1958: Karl Bergen (Ap) 1958–1975: Arne Broen 1975–2007: Henning Ragnar Myrvang (Ap) 2007–2011: Knut Hvithammer (Ap) 2011–2015: Anne-Mette Øvrum (H) 2015–present: Knut Hvithammer (Ap)

Economy + Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Sør-Odal by country of origin in 2017 AncestryNumber 101 49 46 45 37 37 34 22 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

Hans Glad Bloch (1791 in Sør-Odal – 1865), a Norwegian military officer and government official Peder Sather (1810 in Odal – 1886), an American banker and philanthropist; eponym of the Sather Tower & Sather Gate at UC Berkeley Magnhild Haalke (1885–1984), a novelist and teacher for 30 years in Sør-Odal Kåre Tveter (1922 in Sør-Odal – 2012), a painter and illustrator Ole A. Stang Jr. (1923 in Sør-Odal – 1998), a businessman who owned and ran Maarud AS Øystein Sunde (born 1947), a folk singer, guitarist, and songwriter who was brought up in Skarnes Martin Linnes (born 1991 in Sander), a footballer with over 240 club caps and 27 for Norway Kent Håvard Eriksen (born 1991 in Skarnes), a footballer with over 250 club caps Magnus Gullerud (born 1991 in Skarnes), a handball player for Kolstad Håndball and the Norwegian national team. Henrik Christian Rørholt (1883–1954), a Norwegian military officer and politician for the Agrarian Party

Sister cities Sør-Odal has sister city agreements with the following places: Viitasaari, Länsi-Suomi, Finland

Media gallery

References

External links Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway