Øvre Rendal

Øvre Rendal is a former municipality in the old Hedmark county, Norway. The 1829 km2 municipality existed from 1880 until its dissolution in 1965 when it was merged with the neighboring municipality of Ytre Rendal to form the new Rendalen Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Bergset where Øvre Rendal Church is located.

History
On 1 January 1838, the large municipality of Rendal was established. This municipality spanned 4201 km2 from the Østerdalen valley to the border with Sweden. During the 1870s, discussions began on dividing the large municipality. On 1 January 1880, the municipality of Rendal was split in two to create the municipalities of Øvre Rendal (population: 1,868) and Ytre Rendal (population: 1,661). The new municipality of Øvre Rendal had an area of 2521 km2. On 1 January 1911, the new municipality of Engerdal was established to the east of Øvre Rendal. This new municipality was created by taking 692 km2 of eastern Øvre Rendal, plus area from the neighboring municipalities of Ytre Rendal, Tolga, and Trysil. This portion of Øvre Rendal that became part of Engerdal had 381 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the new municipality of Rendalen was created by merging Øvre Rendal (population: 1,629) and Ytre Rendal (population: 1,913).

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Rendalen valley (Reindalr). In 1880, the large municipality of Rendal was divided to create two new municipalities. Both municipalities were named after the old municipality and to distinguish between the two, an additional word was added to the name. The word was added to this name and the word  was added to the other municipality. The word means "upper" (while ytre means "outer"). The first element of Rendal is which means "reindeer". The last element is which means "valley" or "dale". The river Rena runs through the valley and it is not known if the valley was named after the river or if the river was named after the valley. A nearby mountain Renafjellet also has a similar name. Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Øvre Rendalen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Øvre Rendal, removing the definite form ending -en.

Government
While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. 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.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Øvre Rendal was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Mayors
The mayors of Øvre Rendal:


 * 1880–1881: Erik Olsen Haugseth
 * 1882–1885: Erik Simensen Høye
 * 1886–1889: Erik Nilsen Haarset
 * 1890–1893: Erik Simensen Høye
 * 1894–1897: Ola Eriksen Undset
 * 1898–1904: David Kvile (V)
 * 1905–1910: Hans Bergseth
 * 1911–1913: David Kvile (V)
 * 1914–1919: Martin Hornseth (H)
 * 1920–1922: Torleif Bjøntegaard (H)
 * 1923–1928: Johannes Myrberg (Bp)
 * 1929–1931: M.O. Undseth (Ap)
 * 1932–1934: Jens Løken (Bp)
 * 1935–1940: Knut Vardenær Brøten (Ap)
 * 1941–1942: Sigurd Haga (NS)
 * 1943–1943: Lidvin Hornseth (NS)
 * 1943–1945: John Sørhuus (NS)
 * 1945–1947: Knut Vardenær Brøten (Ap)
 * 1948–1951: Petter Olaus Kristiansen (Ap)
 * 1952–1963: Knut Vardenær Brøten (Ap)
 * 1964–1964: Asmund Sletten (Ap)