# Alversund (municipality)

Alversund is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1885 until 1964. It was located in the southwestern part of the mainland portion of the present-day Alver Municipality in Vestland county. It originally included area on the island of Holsnøy as well, but that was later separated. Alversund covered 59 square kilometres (23 sq mi) upon its dissolution in 1964. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Alversund, where Alversund Church is located.

## History

The municipality of Alversund was established on 1 January 1885 when the old municipality of Hammer was divided into two separate municipalities. The northwestern part of the old Hammer municipality became Alversund, and it also included the annex of Seim which had been a part of the municipality of Hosanger before that time. The initial population of Alversund was 2,793. On 1 January 1904, a small area near Hanevik on the island of Askøy (population: 32) was transferred from the municipality of Askøy to Alversund. On 15 October 1923, the western district of Alversund (population: 1716) was separated to form the new municipality of Meland. This left Alversund with 1,771 residents. On 1 January 1964, all of Alversund was merged with parts of the municipalities of Modalen, Hosanger, Hamre, Sæbø, and Lindås to form a new, larger municipality of Lindås. At its dissolution, Alversund had 2,099 residents.

### Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Alver farm (Old Norse: Alviðra) since the first Alversund Church was built there. The first element is a compound word derived from allr which means "all" or "entire" and the other part comes from veðr which means "weather". Thus the farm name means "all weather" or "weather from all directions"–describing a farm with an exposed and unsheltered location. The last element of the name is sund which means "sound" or "strait", referring to the nearby Alverstraumen strait.

## 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 of Alversund:
* 1886-1889: Ivar J. Hopland
* 1890-1891: Ole N. Rydland
* 1892-1897: Nils L. Seim
* 1898-1898: Nils K. Hjelmtveit
* 1899-1901: Askild E. Alver
* 1902-1910: Nils K. Hjelmtveit
* 1910-1916: Lars Nilssen Seim (V)
* 1917-1934: Karl A. Elsås
* 1935-1937: Karl N. Hjelmtveit
* 1938-1945: Sigvard L. Hopsdal
* 1945-1946: Hans Karolus Ommedal (KrF)
* 1946-1947: Nils H. Herland
* 1948-1951: Knut L. Sellevold
* 1952-1955: Wilhelm Tvedt
* 1956-1963: Sverre Fosse

### Municipal council

The municipal council (Heradsstyre) of Alversund was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
Alversund heradsstyre 1960–1963 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 17 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 17 |
Alversund heradsstyre 1956–1959 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 3 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 3 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 11 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 17 |
Alversund heradsstyre 1952–1955 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 4 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 3 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgarlege Felleslister) | 7 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 2 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Alversund heradsstyre 1948–1951 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 1 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 15 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Alversund heradsstyre 1945–1947 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 3 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 2 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 11 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Alversund heradsstyre 1938–1941* :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 3 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 3 |
| | List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders (Arbeidarar, fiskarar, småbrukarar liste) | 2 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgarlege Felleslister) | 2 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 6 |
| 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. |||