Grue, Norway

Grue is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Solør. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kirkenær. Other villages in the municipality include Bergesida, Grinder, Namnå, Risberget, Rotberget, Skasenden, and Svullrya.

The 837 km2 municipality is the 136th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Grue is the 189th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 4,572. The municipality's population density is 5.9 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 8.5% over the previous 10-year period.

Economy: One private company (a lamp factory) has 51 employees; as of June 2024, there is less than a year until the production gets moved to an EU country.

General information
The parish of Grue was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1867, the southern district of Grue (population: 3,946) was separated to become the new municipality of Brandval. This left Grue municipality with 6,464 residents. In 1941, a small area of Grue (population: 68) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Brandval. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1969, the Rotberget farm area (population: 23) was transferred from Åsnes Municipality to Grue. On 1 January 1974, an unpopulated part of the Lystad area was transferred from Grue to the neighboring municipality of Kongsvinger.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Grue farm (Grǫf or Grǫfa) since the first Grue Church was built there. The name is identical with the word grǫf or grǫfa which means "depression" or "hollow".

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 30 October 1992. The official blazon is "Per bend sinister rayonny of wolf-teeth argent and vert" (Venstre skrådelt av sølv og grønt ved buet ulvetannsnitt). This means the arms have are divided with a diagonal line that is rayonny, meaning it looks like curved wolf teeth rather than a straight line. The field (background) below the line has a tincture of Vert (green). Above the line, the field has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The flame-like line represents the clearance of farms in the woods by the use of fire and is also a remembrance of the gruesome church fire of 1822. The colors symbolize the forests and the Glomma river. The arms were designed by Harald Hallstensen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches
The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Grue. It is part of the Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

Geography
Grue is situated around the Glomma river and the geography is dominated largely by forests and some agricultural areas around Glomma. Grue is located in the southeast part of Innlandet county. It is bordered on the south by the municipality of Kongsvinger, on the north by the municipality of Åsnes, and on the west by Nord-Odal. To the east, it borders Sweden.

Grue was the early center for the Finnish migration which today populates the Finnskogen, a belt about 32 km wide and running continuously along the frontier in the districts of Brandval, Grue, Hof, Åsnes, and Våler. Their first population center in Norway was located around the lake of Røgden.

The rivers Løvhaugsåa and Rotna both run through the area. The lakes Hukusjøen, Skasen, Gardsjøen.

Government
Grue Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Romerike og Glåmdal District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Grue is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Grue since 1838 when the municipality was established:


 * 1838-1845: Ole Arntzen Lützow
 * 1846-1847: Jørgen Cappelen Omsted
 * 1848-1857: Nicolai Astrup
 * 1858-1859: Gunder Gundersen
 * 1860-1863: Jacob Rolsdorph Andersen
 * 1864-1879: Ole Bredesen Opset
 * 1880-1883: Arne A. Omsted
 * 1883-1887: Ole Bredesen Opset
 * 1888-1898: Arne A. Omsted
 * 1899-1907: Amund Bredesen Opset
 * 1908-1913: Wilhelm Omsted
 * 1914-1919: Amund Bredesen Opset
 * 1920-1925: Magnus Vangerud
 * 1926-1928: Sigurd Woll
 * 1929-1931: Ole H. Sæther
 * 1932-1933: Arve Myrvang
 * 1933-1934: Arne Tveter
 * 1935-1935: Ole Kamphaug
 * 1936-1940: Eivind Grimstad
 * 1940-1945: Vacant due to WWII
 * 1945-1945: Martin Møllerud
 * 1946-1955: Magnus Vangerud
 * 1956-1963: Reidar Mellem
 * 1964-1964: Martin Råberget
 * 1964-1978: Thor Henriksen
 * 1979-1985: Torbjøn Øveråsen
 * 1985-1999: Ragnar Nyman
 * 1999-2007: Niels Ferdinand Rolsdorph
 * 2007-2011: Herdis Bragelien
 * 2011-2015: Niels Ferdinand Rolsdorph
 * 2015-2019: Wenche Huser Sund
 * 2019–present: Rune Grenberg (Ap)

Notable people

 * Andreas Aagaard Kiønig (1771–1856), a lawyer and representative at the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly
 * Andreas Arntzen (1777–1837), a politician, police chief, Supreme Court judge, & timber merchant
 * Mor Sæther (1793–1851), a Norwegian "klok kone" ("cunning woman"), i.e. a herbalist
 * Ole Peter Riis Høegh (1806–1852), a trained civilian architect and Bergen's first town surveyor
 * Wilhelm Maribo Schøyen (1844–1918), Norway's first government entomologist
 * Olav Strøm (1866-1963), a pioneer trade unionist
 * Kristian Prestrud (1881–1927), a naval officer and member of Amundsen's South Pole expedition
 * Hagbart Haakonsen (1895-1984), a cross-country skier who competed at the 1928 Winter Olympics
 * Åsta Holth (1904–1999), a novelist, poet and short story writer
 * Kåre Jonsborg (1912–1977), a painter and textile artist
 * Sinikka Langeland (born 1961), a traditional folk singer and kantele player
 * Tom Harald Hagen (born 1978), a football UEFA referee