Nord-Odal

Nord-Odal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Odalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sand. Other villages in the municipality include Knapper and Mo.

The 508 km2 municipality is the 209th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Nord-Odal is the 182nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 5,010. The municipality's population density is 10.5 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 3.5% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The parish of Nordre Odalen was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The borders of the municipality have not changed since that time.

Name
The municipality was originally named Nordre Odalen (later Nord-Odal), after the valley in which it is located. The first element in the name is the word or, both of which mean "northern". The last element of the name is the old district name Odalen (Ódalr). The first part of this is which is an alternate form of the word  which means "river" or "creek" (here it's referring to the Glåma river). The last part of this is which means "valley" or "dale". The prefix "Nordre" was added when the old Odalen parish was divided in 1819 into Søndre Odalen in the south and Nordre Odalen in the north. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Nord-Odal, using an alternate word for "north" and removing the definite form ending -en.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 10 January 1992. The official blazon is "Or, two wood grapples sable in pale" (I gull to svarte tømmersakser, 1-1). This means the arms have a field (background) has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The charge is two grapple tools lined up vertically. This design was chosen to represent the historic traditions of forestry and logging in the municipality. This kind of grapple was invented by a local boy named Nell Gravlie (1897-1980) when he was only 12 years old, the design was copyrighted in 1928. The arms were designed by Einar Skjervold. 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 Nord-Odal. It is part of the Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

Government
Nord-Odal 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.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Nord-Odal:


 * 1895–1901: Monthei Eriksen Haug (V)
 * 1922-1925: M. Midtsund
 * 1925-1941: Andreas Sjøli (Ap)
 * 1939-1941: Hans Carlsen (Ap)
 * 1945-1945: Ole Bjørnstad (Ap)
 * 1945-1946: Hans Carlsen (Ap)
 * 1946-1956: H. Gulbrandsen (Ap)
 * 1956-1959: Tormod Ruud (Ap)
 * 1960-1971: Johan Østli (Ap)
 * 1972-1977: Einar Olav Skogholt (Ap)
 * 1978-1979: Ronald Andersen (Ap)
 * 1980-1987: Thorleiv Kårstad (Ap)
 * 1987-1989: Egil Mangnes (Ap)
 * 1990-2003: Egil Ringerike (Ap)
 * 2003-2011: Asgeir Østli (Ap)
 * 2011-2021: Lise Selnes (Ap)
 * 2021-2023: Ragnhild H. Moen (Sp)
 * 2023-present: Odd Kjetil Østvand-Sløtte (Ap)

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Nord-Odal is made up of 25 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Geography
Nord-Odal is situated in the Odalen valley around the northern edge of the lake Storsjøen and around the lake Råsen. The municipality is bordered to the north by the municipality of Stange, to the east by the municipalities of Åsnes and Grue, to the south by the municipalities of Sør-Odal and Nes, and to the west by the municipality of Eidsvoll.

Notable people

 * Honoratus Halling (1819 in Odalen – 1886), a priest, magazine editor and non-fiction writer
 * Jon Hol (1851 at Ekornhol – 1941), a Norwegian engineer and political activist
 * Harald Stormoen (1872 in Nord-Odal – 1937), a Norwegian actor
 * Andreas Hofgaard Winsnes (1889 in Nord-Odal – 1972), a literary historian and educator
 * Sigurd Hoel (1890 in Nord-Odal – 1960), a Norwegian author and publishing consultant
 * Marit Nybakk (born 1947 in Nord-Odal), a Norwegian politician of the Third Way
 * Einar Olav Skogholt (born 1947 in Nord-Odal), a politician and Mayor of Nord-Odal in the 1970s
 * Lasse Sætre (born 1974 in Sand), a former speed skater, bronze medallist at the 2002 Winter Olympics
 * Jan Werner Danielsen (1976 in Nord-Odal – 2006), a Norwegian pop singer
 * Lise Selnes (born 1976), the mayor in Nord-Odal 2011–2021, and member of the Storting.