Furnes (municipality)

Furnes is a former municipality in the old Hedmark county, Norway. The 201 km2 municipality existed from 1891 until its dissolution in 1964 when it became part of Ringsaker Municipality. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Furnes where the Furnes Church is located.

History
The municipality of Furnes was established in 1891 when the old municipality of Vang was divided into two: Furnes in the west (population: 3,790) and Vang in the east (population: 5,703). In 1947, a part of Furnes (population: 821) near the town of Hamar was transferred from Furnes to the neighboring Hamar Municipality. 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 Furnes (population: 7,288) was merged with the municipality of Nes (population: 4,184), the municipality of Ringsaker (population: 16,490), and the Hamarsberget and Vikersødegården areas of the municipality of Vang (population: 34) to create the new, larger Ringsaker Municipality.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old village of Furnes (Furnes) since the first Furnes Church was built there. The first element of the name has an unknown meaning, but it may have come from a local river such as Fura. Another possibility is that it comes from the word which means "pine tree" or "fir tree". The last element is which means "headland".

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 Furnes was made up of 23 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Mayors
The mayors of Furnes:


 * 1890-1894: Lars Jesnæs (H)
 * 1895-1896: Ole Rømer Aagaard Sandberg (H)
 * 1897-1901: Erik Maurud (H)
 * 1902-1907: Andreas H. Jestnæs (H)
 * 1908-1910: Erik Jevanord
 * 1911-1919: Børre Vik (H)
 * 1920-1925: Per L. Alhaug
 * 1926-1937: Karl Gålås (Bp)
 * 1938-1940: Knud Lundby (H)
 * 1941-1944: Karl Bakken (NS)
 * 1945-1945: Knud Lundby (H)
 * 1946-1958: Ole Haget (Ap)
 * 1959-1963: Peder Esbjørnsen (Ap)