Årstad (municipality)

Årstad is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county in Norway. The 21.37 km2 municipality existed from 1838 until 1915 when it was merged into the city of Bergen. The municipality of Årstad (historically spelled Aarstad) was a southern suburb of the city of Bergen, mostly located in the valley to the south of the bay Store Lungegårdsvannet and the Puddefjorden all the way south to the village of Nattland. The administrative centre of Årstad was the village of Kronstad. The mountain Ulriken lies to the east of Årstad and the mountain Løvstakken lies to the west. The municipality is named after the medieval farm Alrekstad, located on this site. The area of the old municipality somewhat corresponds to the present-day borough of Årstad in the city of Bergen.

History
The parish of Aarstad was established as a municipality 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). Originally, it sat south of both the city of Bergen and the Bergen Landdistrikt. Årstad and the city of Bergen worked closely together from the start since both made up one large urban area. In fact, most of Årstad had been part of the Bergen Police District since 1808.

On 1 July 1915, Årstad municipality (population: 7,463) was merged into the city of Bergen increasing the area of Bergen municipality from 13.9 to 34.9 km2. The merger happened after a long political process, following decades of close cooperation between the two municipalities. The merger also moved Årstad from Søndre Bergenhus county to Bergen county.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Aarstad royal estate (Álreksstaðir) since the first Årstad Church was built there. The first element is identical to the old male name Álrekr. The male name is a compound word that is derived from which means "all" and  which means "mighty". This is the same root as the nearby mountain Ulriken. The last element is the plural form of which means "town" or "abode". During its time as a municipality, it was always spelled Aarstad. On 21 December 1917 (after the municipality had been dissolved and merged into Bergen), a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Aarstad with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Årstad, using the letter å instead. Since then, when referring to the old municipality, the new spelling is used, but the letter "Å" was never used while the municipality existed.

Government
During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Mayors
The mayors (ordførar) of Årstad:


 * 1837–1850: C. Wiese
 * 1850–1856: Ole Nicolai Løberg
 * 1856–1860: Samuel B. Meyer
 * 1860–1862: A. Christie
 * 1862–1876: Hjalmar Løberg
 * 1876–1880: Anders Paulsen
 * 1880–1882: A. Christie
 * 1882–1887: Carl Berg
 * 1888–1896: J.C. Meyer
 * 1896–1899: Samuel B. Michelsen
 * 1899–1902: Statius Arentz
 * 1902–1906: Halvor Kloster
 * 1906–1915: Gerdt Meyer Bruun