Evanger

Evanger is a former municipality in the Voss district of the old Hordaland county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1885 until 1964 when it was dissolved and its lands split between two municipalities. The 590 km2 municipality included the eastern part of the Eksingedalen valley, the area surrounding the lake Evangervatnet, and the Bergsdalen valley.

The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Evanger where Evanger Church is located. Evanger Church served the central part of the municipality. Nesheim Church and Eksingedal Church served the northern part of Evanger and Bergsdalen Church served the southern part of the municipality.

History
The municipality was established on 1 January 1885 when the western district of the large municipality of Voss (population: 2,045) was separated from Voss to become the new municipality of Evanger. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Evanger was dissolved. The Bergsdalen and Eksingedalen valleys (population: 251) were merged with parts of the municipalities of Bruvik and Modalen to create the new Vaksdal Municipality. The rest of Evanger, with 1,075 inhabitants, was merged into the neighboring Voss Municipality.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Evanger farm (Ævangir) since the first Evanger Church was built there. The first element comes from the word which means "to rest and eat" or "to rest and feed". The last element is the plural form of which means "field" or "meadow". The name probably means something like "a place where one lets horses graze while on a journey". Historically, the name was spelled Ævanger until the early 20th century.

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.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Heradsstyre) of Evanger 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 (ordførar) of Evanger:


 * 1885–1887: Gulleik Horvei
 * 1888–1897: Anders Kvilekvaal
 * 1898–1898: Johannes Horvei (V)
 * 1899–1913: Nils B. Mugaas (V)
 * 1914–1916: Johannes Horvei (V)
 * 1917–1928: Nils B. Mugaas (V)
 * 1929–1937: Olav B. Rongen (V)
 * 1938–1941: Gustav A. Hantveit (V)
 * 1942–1945: Lars B. Horvei (NS)
 * 1945–1946: Gustav A. Hantveit (V)
 * 1946–1947: Magne Hjørnevik (Bp)
 * 1948–1963: Ivar Bjørgo (Bp)

Notable people

 * Knute Nelson (1843–1923), a United States Senator
 * Bjørn Rongen (1906–1983), a novelist and children's book writer
 * Viking Mestad, a politician for the Norwegian Liberal Party