Ålen

Ålen is a former municipality in the old Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. The former municipality existed from 1855 until 1972. It encompassed the southeastern half of what is now the municipality of Holtålen in Trøndelag county. The administrative centre was the village of Renbygda (also known as Ålen) where Ålen Church is located. The parish of Ålen (historically spelled Aalen) was established as a civil municipality in 1855 when it was split off from the municipality of Holtaalen. Initially, Ålen had a population of 1,487. (The now smaller Holtaalen municipality later changed its name to Haltdalen in 1937.) In 1875, an uninhabited part of Ålen was moved to the neighboring municipality of Røros. On 1 January 1972, the municipality of Ålen was merged with the neighboring municipality of Haltdalen to make a new municipality called Holtålen, bringing back to use a name from an earlier municipality. Prior to the merger Ålen municipality had a population of 1,944. The municipality (originally the parish) is named Ålen, after an old name for the area. The name is the definite singular form of the Old Norse word áll which means "eel". This name likely refers to the winding valley in which the main village centre is located. Prior to the 1917 Norwegian language reform law, the name was spelled with the digraph "Aa", and after this reform, the letter Å was used instead. 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 mayors of Ålen: 1855–1863: Carl Aas 1864–1897: Jon Jørgensen Reitan (V) 1898–1901: Eilif Hofstad (V) 1902–1904: Anders Jonsen Reitan (V) 1905–1907: Peder P.