Skedsmo

Skedsmo kommune
Municipality
Coat of arms Akershus within Norway
Skedsmo within Akershus
Coordinates: 59°58′58″N 11°2′47″E / 59.98278°N 11.04639°ECoordinates: 59°58′58″N 11°2′47″E / 59.98278°N 11.04639°E
Country	Norway
County	Akershus
District	Romerike
Administrative centre	Lillestrøm
Government
• Mayor (2006)	Anita Orlund (Ap)
Area
• Total	77 km^2 (30 sq mi)
• Land	75 km^2 (29 sq mi)
Area rank	398 in Norway
Population (2013)
• Total	50,724
• Rank	14 in Norway
• Density	615/km^2 (1,590/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	17.7 %
Demonym(s)	Skedsmoing[1]
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	NO-0231
Official language form	Bokmål
Website	www.skedsmo.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Skedsmo is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillestrøm. About one third of the municipal population lives in Lillestrøm. Other important towns are Skedsmokorset, Skjetten and Strømmen. A smaller settlement adjoining Lillestrøm is Kjeller.

The local newspaper is Romerikes Blad (circulation 39,139 in 2004). The paper comes out daily.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Skedsmo farm (Old Norse: Skeiðsmór), since the first church was built here. The first element is the genitive case of skeið which means "running track for horse racing" and the last element is mór which means "heath" or "moor".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 4 October 1974. The arms show three silver horse heads with waving manes on a red background. The arms are canting from the old Norse word skeiðismór which means a field used for horse racing, hence the waving manes of the horses. The arms were designed by Finn Fagerli from Lillestrøm.^[2][3]

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Skedsmo by country of origin in 2015^[4]

Ancestry	Number
Vietnam	1,303
Pakistan	1,172
Poland	975
Iraq	766
Iran	712
Sri Lanka	699
Afghanistan	545
Sweden	454
Lithuania	411
Turkey	357
India	316
Russia	263
Denmark	243
Germany	231
Eritrea	222

History

Skedsmo was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Lørenskog and Lillestrøm was separated from Skedsmo as municipalities of their own on 1 January 1908. Lillestrøm was, however, merged back into the municipality of Skedsmo on 1 January 1962.

In this area, the tribe of Raumas fought against King Olav Haraldsson, patron saint of Norway, in 1028. The area has become an important part of Norway's industrial history. Strømmens Værksted built the country's first trains, at Kjeller airplanes were constructed up to World War II, the sawmills at Lillestrøm processed lumber from the great forests, and a number of other entreprises have been important.

Government

The head office of Accident Investigation Board Norway is located in Lillestrøm, Skedsmo.^[5] and led by Grete Myhre.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Skedsmo:^[6]

• Alingsås, Sweden
• Karjaa, Finland
• Riihimäki, Finland
• Tårnby, Denmark

References

Notes

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
2. Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2008-12-20.
3. "Om Kommunevåpenet" (in Norwegian). Skedsmo kommune. Retrieved 2008-12-20.
4. "Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents, by immigration category, country background and percentages of the population". ssb.no. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
5. "Contact us." Accident Investigation Board Norway. Retrieved on January 13, 2011. "Visiting address: Sophie Radichsvei 17 N-2003 Lillestrøm."
6. "Vennskapskommuner" (in Norwegian). Skedsmo kommune. Retrieved 2008-12-20.

External links

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
• Akershus travel guide from Wikivoyage