Bolsøy is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The 290 km2 municipality of Bolsøy encompassed the area around the Fannefjorden including most of the present-day Molde Municipality, excluding the town of Molde. The municipality also included the Molde Archipelago and the island of Bolsøya. The administrative center of the municipality was located on the island of Bolsøya near the location of the main church for the parish, Bolsøy Church.

History

The parish of Bolsøy was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). According to the 1835 census, Bolsøy had a population of 2,391. On 1 January 1877, the Sotnakken farm (population: 19) was added to Bolsøy Municipality from Nesset Municipality. In 1915, a part of Bolsøy with 183 inhabitants was transferred to the town of Molde. Again in 1952, another part of Bolsøy (population: 1,913) was transferred to the town of Molde. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Bolsøy Municipality (population: 7,996) ceased to exist when it was merged with the town of Molde (population: 8,239), the northern part of Veøy Municipality (population: 756), and the Mordal area (population: 77) from Nord-Aukra Municipality to form the new Molde Municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Bolsøya since the first Bolsøy Church was built there. The first element comes from the old name for the island. The island's name is uncertain, but it may come from the word which means "bull". The last element is which means "island". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Bolsø. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Bolsøy.

Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Bolsøy was made up of 35 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Mayors

The mayors of Bolsøy: