Hegra (municipality)

Hegra is a former municipality in the old Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1874 until its dissolution in 1962. The municipality was located in the Stjørdalen valley. It encompassed the eastern two-thirds of the what is now the municipality of Stjørdal in Trøndelag county. The administrative centre was the village of Hegra where the Hegra Church is located. The municipality of Hegra was established on 1 January 1874 when the old municipality of Øvre Stjørdal was divided into Meråker (population: 1,861) in the east and Hegra (population: 3,409) in the west. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1962, the neighboring municipalities of Hegra (population: 2,704), Lånke (population: 1,967), Skatval (population: 1,944), and Stjørdal (population: 6,204) were all merged to form a new, larger municipality of Stjørdal. The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hegre farm (Hegrin) since the first Hegra Church was built there. The name was originally a compound of two words. The first element is named after the local river Hegra. The river name is based on the word hegri which means "heron". The last element is vin which means "meadow" or "pasture". Thus the name means something like "heron meadow". Historically, the name was spelled Hegre and in the 20th century, the spelling was changed to Hegra. While it existed, this 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 elected representatives, which in turn elected a mayor. The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Hegra was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms.