Lårdal (municipality)

Lårdal is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The 288 km2 municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area centered around the Lårdalen valley and it is now part of Tokke Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Lårdal.

History
The parish of Laardal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1879, there was a small border adjustment where a part of Laardal Municipality (population: 6) was transferred to Mo Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Mo Municipality (population: 1,658) and Lårdal (population: 1,929) were merged to form a new municipality called Tokke.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Laardal farm (Lagardalr) since the first Lårdal Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of the word which means "water" or "river". The last element is which means "valley" or "dale". Historically, the municipality name was spelled Laurdal (although the parish name goes back centuries as Laugerdal). On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Laardal with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Lårdal, using the letter å instead.

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 Lårdal was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Lårdal:


 * 1838-1843: Rev. Bendt Wettergren
 * 1844-1845: Knut Saaveson Aakeren
 * 1846-1848: Olav T. Huvestad
 * 1849-1850: Tarjei Mikkelson Mandt
 * 1851-1854: Kristoffer Skjelbreid
 * 1855-1856: Jørgen Espetveit
 * 1857-1866: Nils Laurirz Wiborg
 * 1867-1870: Steinar P. Mandt
 * 1871-1874: Olav L. Omdal
 * 1875-1876: Steinar P. Mandt
 * 1877-1880: Nils P. Bjaaland
 * 1881-1882: Olav E. Sandland
 * 1883-1884: Tjøstolv Mandt
 * 1885-1889: Olav E. Sandland
 * 1890-1891: Jarand O. Reffelbrekk
 * 1892-1893: John H. Ofte
 * 1894-1898: Nils Heggtveit
 * 1899-1916: J.J. Hegna
 * 1917-1919: Nils Heggtveit
 * 1920-1925: J.J. Hegna
 * 1926-1928: Olav G. Sending
 * 1929-1931: J.J. Hegna
 * 1932-1934: Karl Kleve
 * 1935-1941: Håkon Årneshaugen
 * 1941-1945: Olav G. Sending
 * 1945-1963: Håkon Årneshaugen