Nordfold (municipality)

Nordfold is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The 561 km2 municipality existed from 1906 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality surrounded the Nordfolda branch off of the Folda fjord in what is now Steigen Municipality, plus a small portion of the present-day Sørfold Municipality. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Nordfold, where the Nordfold Church is located.

History
The municipality of Nordfold was established on 1 January 1906 when the old Nordfold-Kjerringøy Municipality was split into two new municipalities: Nordfold (population: 1,485) and Kjerringøy (population: 857). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Nordfold municipality ceased to exist. The eastern Mørsvikbotn district surrounding the Mørsvikfjorden in Nordfold (population: 268) was merged into the neighboring Sørfold Municipality. The rest of Nordfold (population: 1,212) was merged the following locations to create a new, much larger Steigen Municipality: the Brennsund area of Kjerringøy (population: 30), all of Leiranger Municipality (population: 1,397), a small part of Hamarøy Municipality (population: 77), and all of Steigen Municipality (population: 1,829).

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the local Folda fjord (Fold). The first element is the prefix which means "northern". The last element is which has an unknown meaning (maybe "the broad one"). The inner part of the fjord is divided into two arms Nordfolda ("the northern Folda") and Sørfolda ("the southern Folda"). Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Nordfolden. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Nordfold.

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 elected representatives, which in turn elected a mayor.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Nordfold was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Mayors
The mayors of Nordfold:


 * 1906-1916: Peter Gylseth
 * 1917–1919: Theodor I. Sivertsen
 * 1920-1920: Peter Gylseth
 * 1920–1922: Theodor I. Sivertsen
 * 1923-1931: Agvald Vinkenes
 * 1932-1942: Erling J. Vindenes
 * 1943–1945: Johan Aasbakk
 * 1945-1951: Erling J. Vindenes
 * 1956–1959: Guttorm Grytøyr
 * 1960–1963: Arne Arntzen