Stor-Elvdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Koppang. Other villages in the municipality include Atna, Evenstad, and Sollia.

The  municipality is the 28th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Stor-Elvdal is the 262nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,318. The municipality's population density is  and its population has decreased by 13.4% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The parish of Store Elvedalen was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the neighboring municipality of Sollia (population: 356) was merged with Stor-Elvdal (population: 3,808) to form a new, larger municipality of Stor-Elvdal.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named Stor-Elvdal after the large Elvdalen valley () which was the historical name for the whole area. The first element is the genitive case of the word  which means "river", referring to the river Glomma which flows through the valley. The last element is  which means "valley" or "dale". Thus this word means "river valley". The name also includes the prefix  which means "big". This prefix was added to the old name "Elvdalen" to distinguish it from the nearby municipality of Lille Elvdalen ("little Elvdalen", later the name was shortened to Alvdal). In the late Middle Ages the two areas were distinguished using the words Ytre Elvdalen (meaning "outer" Elvdalen) and Øvre Elvdalen (meaning "upper" Elvdalen). During the 1800s and early 1900s, the municipal name was spelled Store Elvdalen which has the same meaning.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 12 February 1988. The official blazon is "Vert, two wood saws argent bendwise" (). This means the arms have a green field (background) and the charge is two diagonal two-man saws. 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 design and color were chosen to symbolize the importance of forestry in the municipality. The arms were designed by Even Jarl Skoglund. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches
The Church of Norway has four parishes () within the municipality of Stor-Elvdal. It is part of the Sør-Østerdal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Hamar.

Government
All municipalities in Norway are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality falls under the Østre Innlandet District Court and the Eidsivating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council  of Stor-Elvdal is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

Mayors

The mayors of Stor-Elvdal:

1889–1891: Ole Olsen Evenstad 	
1901-1904: Thore Myrvang (V)
1913-1916: Thore Myrvang (ArbDem)
1922-1925: Thore Myrvang (ArbDem)
1980–1995: Ola Kristiansen (Ap)
1995-1999: Sigmund Vestad (LL)
1999-2003: Øyvind Strand (Ap)
2003-2011: Sigmund Vestad (LL)
2011-2015: Even Moen (Sp)
2015-2019: Terje Hoffstad (Ap)
2019–present: Even Moen (Sp)

Geography
Stor-Elvdal is bordered on the north by the municipalities of Folldal and Alvdal, on the east by Rendalen, in the south by Åmot and Ringsaker, in the west by Øyer and Ringebu, and in the northwest by Sør-Fron.

The lake Atnsjøen is located in the northwestern part of the municipality, just outside Rondane National Park. The river Glomma runs through the municipality.

Tourism
Stor-Elvdal boasts the second tallest moose statue in the world, a steel giant moose at the side of the Norwegian National Road 3.

Notable people 
 Thore Embretsen Myrvang (1858–1939), an educator and politician, three times Mayor of Stor-Elvdal
 Halldis Neegaard Østbye (1896 in Stor-Elvdal – 1983), a person known as "Norway's most fanatical Naziwoman" during WWII
 Torkel Andreas Trønnes (1925-2011), an automobile advocate, lived in Koppang

Sister cities
Stor-Elvdal has sister city agreements with the following places:
  Sõmeru Parish, Lääne-Viru County, Estonia

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway 

 
Municipalities of Innlandet
1838 establishments in Norway