# Florø

Florø is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Kinn which is in Vestland county, Norway. The town was founded by royal decree in 1860 as a ladested on the island of Florelandet, located between the Botnafjorden and Solheimsfjorden. Florø is Norway's (and thus the Scandinavian Peninsula's) westernmost town. It is the most western town on the mainland in the Nordic countries.
The 6.45-square-kilometre (1,590-acre) town has a population (2018) of 9,024 and a population density of 1,399 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,620/sq mi).
The town encompasses the entire island of Florelandet and the western half of the island of Brandsøya. The Norwegian national road Rv 5 is the main road connecting Florø to the rest of Norway. The nearby villages of Brandsøy and Grov lie several kilometers to the east of Florø. The islands of Reksta, Kinn, Skorpa lie several kilometers to the west of the town. Florø is also home to Florø Airport and Florø Church.
Florø is also a former municipality that existed as an independent town-municipality for just over 100 years (1860-1964) before being merged into the municipality of Flora. On 1 January 2020, the town became part of the new Kinn Municipality after another municipal merger.

## Name

The town (and municipality) was named after the old Flora farm (Old Norse: Flóra), near where the town of Florø was built in 1860. The meaning of the name is somewhat uncertain with a couple of different likely possibilities. The old name, is the accusative case/genitive case of the word flórr which means "floor", from which the names Flora and Florelandet are derived. This Old Norse word is probably derived from a Germanic root word, flōraz, meaning "flat ground". Another possibility for the meaning of the name is that it is derived from the word flóð which means "flood" or "deluge". A common misunderstanding is that the name Florø includes the Danish word ø which means "island" as a suffix that was attached to the farm name Flora. Although not true, it nearly led to the town being renamed Florøy in the 1930s.

## Economy

The basis for the foundation of the town was the rich herring fisheries, symbolised by the three herrings in the town's coat of arms. Fishing is still an important part of the economy, in addition to shipbuilding and service industries. After the discovery of petroleum in the North Sea in the 1960s, Florø has been used as a supply base for the petroleum industry.

## History

Florø was founded as a town (ladested) in 1860. Shortly after its founding, on 3 January 1861, it was removed from the (now) former municipality of Kinn and made into a municipality of its own with a population of 846. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, a large municipal merger took place, merging the following places to form the newly created municipality of Flora.
* the town-municipality of Florø (population: 2,040)
* the municipality of Eikefjord (population: 919)
* the municipality of Kinn (population: 3,567)
* the parts of the municipality of Bru located north of the Førde Fjord (population: 1,155)
* the Husefest and Breivik areas of the municipality of Bremanger (population: 9)
* the Steindal area of the municipality of Vevring (population: 25)
On 1 January 2020, Flora was one of the municipalities that merged into a newly re-created Kinn municipality, much larger than the Kinn that existed until 1964.

### Coat of arms

The coat of arms for the town of Florø was granted on 19 February 1960 and they were in use until 1 January 1964, when the new Flora Municipality was created and it included the town of Florø. (On 6 October 1967, the old arms of Florø were granted as the arms for Flora Municipality. These arms were in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality of Flora was dissolved.) The official blazon is "Gules, three herrings bendwise argent" (Norwegian: På raud botn tre sølv sildar i skrå-stilling). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a set of three diagonal herring. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The three herrings are a symbol for the great local importance of herring fishing for the development and economy of Flora. The arms were designed by Hallvard Trætteberg. The municipal flag had the same design as the coat of arms.

### Self-government (1861-1964)

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 of Florø:
* 1865–1873: Ude Jacob Høst
* 1874–1881: Livius Smitt
* 1882–1885: Gunnar Olsen
* 1886–1886: Oscar von Koss
* 1887–1887: Fredrik Faye
* 1888–1890: Fredrik T. Lorentzen
* 1891–1897: Gunnar Olsen
* 1897–1901: E.M. Hole
* 1902–1904: Elias Olsen
* 1905–1907: Abraham Haave
* 1908–1908: Ole Johannes Vasbotten
* 1909–1910: Elias Olsen
* 1911–1922: E.M. Hole
* 1923–1927: Abraham Haave
* 1928–1933: Alfred V. Lauvsnes
* 1934–1934: Andreas Hodnefjeld
* 1935–1939: Alfred V. Lauvsnes
* 1940–1940: Einar Stavang
* 1945–1945: S.I. Solheim
* 1945–1946: Einar Stavang
* 1949–1955: Olav Kolle
* 1955–1957: Ludvig Olai Botnen (V)
* 1958–1959: Kjeld Haus
* 1960–1961: Ludvig Olai Botnen (V)
* 1962–1964: Kjeld Haus

#### Municipal council

The municipal council (Bystyre) of Florø was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
Florø bystyre 1960–1963 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 9 |
| | Conservative Party (Høgre) | 5 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 6 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 1 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 21 |
Florø bystyre 1956–1959 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 10 |
| | Conservative Party (Høgre) | 6 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 5 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 21 |
Florø bystyre 1952–1955 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 10 |
| | Conservative Party (Høgre) | 4 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 6 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 20 |
Florø bystyre 1948–1951 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 11 |
| | Conservative Party (Høgre) | 5 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 4 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 20 |
Florø bystyre 1945–1947 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 7 |
| | Conservative Party (Høgre) | 6 |
| | Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti) | 2 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 5 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 20 |
Florø bystyre 1938–1941* :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 9 |
| | Conservative Party (Høgre) | 3 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 4 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgarlege Felleslister) | 4 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 20 |
| 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. |||
Florø bystyre 1935–1937 :
| Party name (in Norwegian) | Party name (in Norwegian) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) | 9 |
| | Conservative Party (Høyre) | 6 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 4 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 1 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 20 |