The 837-square-kilometre (323 sq mi) municipality is the 136th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Grue is the 189th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 4,572. The municipality's population density is 5.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (15/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 8.5% over the previous 10-year period.[4][5]
Economy: One private company (a lamp factory) has 51 employees; as of June 2024, there is less than a year until the production gets moved to an EU country.[6]
General information
The parish of Grue was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1867, the southern district of Grue (population: 3,946) was separated to become the new municipality of Brandval. This left Grue municipality with 6,464 residents. In 1941, a small area of Grue (population: 68) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Brandval. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1969, the Rotberget farm area (population: 23) was transferred from Åsnes Municipality to Grue. On 1 January 1974, an unpopulated part of the Lystad area was transferred from Grue to the neighboring municipality of Kongsvinger.[7]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Grue farm (Old Norse: Grǫf or Grǫfa) since the first Grue Church was built there. The name is identical with the word grǫf or grǫfa which means "depression" or "hollow".[8]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 30 October 1992. The official blazon is "Per bend sinisterrayonny of wolf-teeth argent and vert" (Norwegian: Venstre skrådelt av sølv og grønt ved buet ulvetannsnitt). This means the arms have are divided with a diagonal line that is rayonny, meaning it looks like curved wolf teeth rather than a straight line. The field (background) below the line has a tincture of Vert (green). Above the line, the field 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 flame-like line represents the clearance of farms in the woods by the use of fire and is also a remembrance of the gruesome church fire of 1822. The colors symbolize the forests and the Glomma river. The arms were designed by Harald Hallstensen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[9][10][11][12]
Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Grue by country of origin in 2017[13]
Ancestry
Number
Sweden
50
Poland
32
Lithuania
29
Iraq
28
Croatia
28
Eritrea
25
Bosnia-Herzegovina
23
Grue is situated around the Glomma river and the geography is dominated largely by forests and some agricultural areas around Glomma. Grue is located in the southeast part of Innlandet county. It is bordered on the south by the municipality of Kongsvinger, on the north by the municipality of Åsnes, and on the west by Nord-Odal. To the east, it borders Sweden.
Grue was the early center for the Finnish migration which today populates the Finnskogen, a belt about 32 kilometres (20 mi) wide and running continuously along the frontier in the districts of Brandval, Grue, Hof, Åsnes, and Våler. Their first population center in Norway was located around the lake of Røgden.
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) of Grue is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.
^Rygh, Oluf (1900). Norske gaardnavne: Hedmarkens amt (in Norwegian) (3 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 248. Archived from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1995"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1996. Archived(PDF) from the original on 20 September 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1991"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1993. Archived(PDF) from the original on 22 May 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1987"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1988. Archived(PDF) from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1983"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1984. Archived(PDF) from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
^"Kommunestyrevalget 1979"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1979. Archived(PDF) from the original on 29 September 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
^"Kommunevalgene 1975"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1977. Archived(PDF) from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
^"Kommunevalgene 1972"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1973. Archived(PDF) from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
^"Kommunevalgene 1967"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1967. Archived(PDF) from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
^"Kommunevalgene 1963"(PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1964. Archived(PDF) from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
