Tolga is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The

administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of the municipality is the village of Tolga. The municipality is bordered in the east by the municipality of Tynset, in the south by Rendalen, and in the east by Engerdal and Os, all in Innlandet county. The municipality is the 99th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Tolga is the 300th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,551. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 7.7% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The parish of ''Tolgen'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

law). On 1 January 1911, the new municipality of Engerdal was established. The southeastern portion of Tolga (population: 201) was separated from Tolga and merged with portions of neighboring Øvre Rendal, Ytre Rendal, and Trysil to create this new municipality. On 1 July 1926, the northern parish of Os (population: 1,936) was separated to become the new municipality of Os. This left Tolga with 1,917 residents. In 1927, a small part of Tolga (population: 18) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Os. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1966, the neighboring municipalities of Tolga (population: 1,944) and Os (population: 2,015) were merged to form the new municipality of

Tolga-Os Tolga-Os is a former municipality in the old Hedmark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1966 until 1976. It included all of the present-day municipalities of Tolga and Os. The administrative centre of the municipality was the villa ...

. This merger was not well received by the residents and soon after the merger, they began working towards separating once again. On 1 January 1976, the municipality of

was divided into the municipalities of Tolga (population: 1,865) and Os (population: 1,859), using their historic borders from before 1966.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old "Tolga" farm because the first

Tolga Church Tolga Church ( no, Tolga kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Tolga Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the village of Tolga. It is the church for the Tolga parish which is part of the Nord-Østerdal prosti ...

was built here (in 1688). The farm is named after the small Tolga river, and the river name is probably derived from the word ''toll'', which means '(young) pine (tree)'. Prior to 1918, the name used the older spelling of ''Tolgen''.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 14 July 1989. The arms show a gold bell on a red background. Tolga was home to the (a smelting hut) from 1666 to 1871. The bell represents the old bell in the town square at the center of the village of Tolga. The

smeltery Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...

was important because of the prevalence of mining in the area.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

has four parishes () within the municipality of Tolga. It is part of the Nord-Østerdal prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

) in the

Diocese of Hamar The Diocese of Hamar ( no, Hamar Bispedømme) is a diocese within the Church of Norway. The Diocese of Hamar includes all of the churches in Innlandet county plus the churches in Lunner in Viken county. Administratively, the diocese is divided ...

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Tolga, are responsible for

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wiktionary:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physical and menta ...

, senior citizen services, unemployment and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elects a mayor. The municipality falls under the

Østre Innlandet District Court Østre Innlandet District Court ( no, Østre Innlandet tingrett) is a district court located in Innlandet county, Norway. This court is based at three different courthouses which are located in Elverum, Hamar, and Tynset. The court serves the eas ...

and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Tolga is made up of 15 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayor

The mayors of Tolga (incomplete list): *2019–present: Bjørnar Tollan Jordet ( SV) *2011-2019: Ragnhild Aashaug ( Sp) *2007-2011: Erling Aas-Eng ( Sp) *1999-2007: Marit Gilleberg ( Ap) *1986-1999: Lars Buttingsrud ( Sp) *1985-1986: Jon Vingelen ( Sp) *1976-1985: Anders Johnsgård ( Sp)

Geography

Tolga lies in the northeastern part of Innlandet county. The river Glåma runs through the municipality. The mountains

Håmmålsfjellet Håmmålsfjellet (historically also called ''Hummelfjell'') is a mountain located on the border of the municipalities of Tolga, Norway, Tolga and Os, Innlandet, Os in Innlandet county, Norway. Its tallest peak is Gråhøgda, which has an elevatio ...

and Elgspiggen both lie on the municipal boundaries. The lake Langsjøen is located just south of the village of Øversjødalen in the southeastern part of the municipality.

Notable people

Kaleb Nytrøen Kaleb Nytrøen (23 October 1905 – 29 April 1994) was a Norwegian police officer. He was born in Tolga. He started his service in the police in 1930. From 1937 he was involved with the establishment of ''Overvåkningstjenesten'', a surveyan ...

(1905 in Tolga – 1994) a police officer, helped develop the Norwegian Police Security Service * Egil Storbekken (1911 in Tolga – 2002) a folk musician and composer *

Arnljot Eggen Arnljot Eggen (13 August 1923 – 4 February 2009) was a Norwegian journalist, teacher and poet who also wrote plays and children's books. Personal life Eggen was born at Tolga in Hedmark, Norway. He was the son of Eystein Eggen (1886–1973) an ...

(1923 in Tolga – 2009) a journalist and teacher; wrote poetry, plays and children's books * Olav Jordet (born 1939 in Tolga) a former Norwegian biathlete, bronze medallist at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

and team silver medallist in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

* Hans Fredrik Jacobsen (born 1954) a Norwegian musician and composer, based in Tolga * Tone Hulbækmo (born 1957 in Tolga) a Norwegian singer and musician * Olav Viksmo-Slettan (born 1965 in Tolga) a Norwegian radio and TV reporter for the NBC * Hans Hulbækmo (born 1989 in Tolga) a composer and musician on drums and percussion *

Alf Hulbækmo Alf Hulbækmo (born 17 March 1992) is a Norwegian award winning musician (piano, keyboards, harmonica, saxophone, and vocals) and composer, son of the traditional folk musicians Tone Hulbækmo and Hans Fredrik Jacobsen, and brother of drummer H ...

(born 1992 in Tolga) a composer, singer and musician on piano, keyboards, harmonica and saxophone

References

External links

* *
Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every yea ...

Weather forecast for Haugan in Tolga
{{use dmy dates, date=February 2022 Municipalities of Innlandet 1838 establishments in Norway 1966 disestablishments in Norway 1976 establishments in Norway