Skoger Municipality

Skoger is a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The 114 km2 municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Drammen Municipality in Buskerud county. The administrative centre was the village of Skoger and the other notable village was Konnerud.

History
The parish of Skouger was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1843, Skouger Municipality was enlarged by merging with the small neighboring municipality of Strømsgodset (population: 731) and by adding an unpopulated area of Eiker Municipality (from neighboring Buskerud county). After this change, Skouger had 2,568 residents. On 1 January 1870, an area of northern Skoger (population: 1,363) was transferred into the neighboring town of Drammen (and also switching to the neighboring Buskerud county).

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Skoger Municipality (population: 14,682) was merged with Drammen Municipality (population: 31,478) to form a new, larger Drammen Municipality. Since Drammen was in the neighboring county of Buskerud, Skoger also had to join Buskerud county.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the village of Skoger (Skógar) since the Old Skoger Church was built there. The name is derived from the plural form of which means "woodland" or "forest". Prior to 1889, the name was spelled Skouger.

Churches
The Church of Norway had two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Skoger. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Nord-Jarlsberg prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Tunsberg.

Government
Skoger 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 (ordfører) of Skoger:


 * 1838-1841: Rasmus Christensen
 * 1842-1843: Nils Nilsen
 * 1844-1853: Gabriel Smith
 * 1854-1861: Knut Schartum
 * 1862-1865: Jacob Gulliksen Styrmoe
 * 1866-1869: Augustinus Olsen Kopperud
 * 1870-1873: Jacob Gulliksen Styrmoe
 * 1874-1875: Nils Peter Wølner Hansen
 * 1876-1904: Lauritz Christiansen Hervig
 * 1905-1910: Fredrik Frodesen Sand
 * 1911-1913: Gustav Martinius Olsen
 * 1914-1916: Fredrik Frodesen Sand
 * 1917-1919: Jørgen Andvik
 * 1920-1925: Arne Nicolai Anchersen (Bp)
 * 1926-1928: Borgar Steinset (Ap)
 * 1929-1931: Arne Nicolai Anchersen (Bp)
 * 1932-1940: Borgar Steinset (Ap)
 * 1941-1942: Einar Hjelmsø (NS)
 * 1943-1945: Karl Hugo Malmkvist (NS)
 * 1946-1957: Einar Aass (Ap)
 * 1958-1961: Finn Grønland
 * 1962-1963: Einar Mortensen

Municipal council
The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Skoger was made up of 41 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.