# Stokken

Stokken is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The 11-square-kilometre (4.2 sq mi) municipality existed from 1919 until 1962 when it was merged into the newly created Moland municipality. Today, the area is a part of the present-day municipality of Arendal in Agder county. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Eydehavn. The Stokken Church was the main church for the small municipality located just outside the town of Arendal.

## History

Stokken was historically a part of the municipality of Østre Moland since the establishment of that municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The municipality of Stokken was established on 1 July 1919 when the old municipality of Østre Moland was divided into two separate municipalities: Stokken (population: 1,683) and Austre Moland (population: 1,289).
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1962, the municipalities of Stokken (population: 2,783), Austre Moland (population: 1,607), Flosta (population: 1,205), as well as the Strengereid area of Tvedestrand (population: 375) were merged to create the new municipality of Moland. Then on 1 January 1992, the municipality of Moland (including the area of Stokken) was merged into the neighboring municipality of Arendal.

### Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named Stokken, after the old name for the local school district. The name is the definite form of the word stokk which means "log" or "tree trunk".

## Government

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 (Norwegian: ordfører) of Stokken:
* 1919–1921: Guttorm Fløistad
* 1921-1921: Andres Haugmoen
* 1922–1928: Nils Hjelmtveit
* 1928–1931: Hans J. Bakke
* 1931–1937: Nils Hjelmtveit
* 1937–1941: Syver Kristiansen
* 1942-1945: Lauritz Harry Jensen (NS)
* 1945–1961: Johannes Kinserdal

### Municipal council

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Stokken was made up of 19 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.
Stokken herredsstyre 1960–1961 :
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 15 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) | 4 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 19 |
Stokken herredsstyre 1956–1959 :
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 14 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) | 5 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 19 |
Stokken herredsstyre 1952–1955 :
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 12 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) | 4 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Stokken herredsstyre 1948–1951 :
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 11 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) | 5 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Stokken herredsstyre 1945–1947 :
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 13 |
| | Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti) | 1 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) | 2 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Stokken herredsstyre 1938–1941* :
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 11 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) | 5 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
| Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945. |||