Heidal (municipality)

Heidal is a former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The 349 km2 municipality existed from 1908 until its dissolution in 1965. The former municipality is now part of the present-day Sel Municipality in Innlandet county. The administrative centre of the old municipality was the village of Bjølstad where the Heidal Church is located. The municipality encompassed the whole Heidal valley area.

History
The municipality of Heidal (originally spelled Hedalen) was established on 1 January 1908. On that date, the large Vågå Municipality was divided into three parts: the northeast part became Sel Municipality (population: 2,287), the southeast part became Heidal Municipality (population: 1,241), and the western part remained as Vågå Municipality (population: 2,953).

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the municipality of Heidal (population: 1,731) was dissolved and it was merged with the municipality of Sel (population: 3,687) plus the Tolstadåsen area of Vågå (population: 35) and the Sjoa area of Nord-Fron (population: 413) to form a new, larger Sel Municipality.

Name
The municipality is named after the Heidal valley (Hæydalr) since the first Heidal Church was built there. The meaning of the first element is uncertain. It is possible that it comes from the old name for the local river Sjoa. The old river name was likely Hjó which is identical to the word which is the first and third person indicative case of the word  which means "to hew" or "to chop". The last element is which means "valley" or "dale". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Hedalen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Heidal, adding an "i" and 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.

Mayors
The mayors of Heidal:


 * 1908-1910: Jørgen Nielsen
 * 1911-1925: Ivar Dahle
 * 1926-1928: Sverre Glad
 * 1929-1937: Ivar Dahle
 * 1938-1940: Ola O. Hjellet (Ap)
 * 1941-1945: Thor Tofte (NS)
 * 1945-1959: Ola O. Hjellet (Ap)
 * 1960-1964: Olav Steinfinsbø

Municipal council
The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Heidal was made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows: