History
In 1846, the town of Namsos was established at the mouth of the Namsen river in the Sævik area of Overhalden. It was established as its own municipality, with 591 inhabitants, as it was separated from Vemundvik (Namsos herred/Namsos landdistrikt).
In 1865, Namsos also became a parish in the Church of Norway. It had been decided to build a church in the city in March 1859; the construction was finished in November. In May 1865, the parish was created, with the sub-parishes of Sævik and Vemundvik, formerly within Overhalla parishh, was incorporated into Namsos' parish limits.
Areas of Vemundvik lying adjacent to the town of Namsos were later incorporated within the city limits on numerous occasions. On 1 January 1882, an area with 109 inhabitants was moved to the city; on 1 July 1921 an area with 927 inhabitants; and on 1 July 1957, another area with a population of 6. On 1 January 1964, the size of Namsos was significantly increased as the municipalities Vemundvik (population: 2,040) and Klinga (population: 2,482) were incorporated into it. The same thing happened with the northern part of Otterøy (population: 1,013), and the Finnanger area of Fosnes (population: 116) were incorporated into Namsos. Namsos, which previously had a population of 5,224, had its size increased to 10,875 inhabitants.
Consisting mostly of wooden houses, it has been burned down to the ground on three occasions during its relatively short history. The first fire was in 1872, caused by two boys playing with matches. The second fire was in 1897, from an unknown cause. The third time was during World War II when the town was bombed by German airplanes on 20 April 1940 to mark Hitler's birthday.
See also: Namsos CampaignThe location by the river and the large forests nearby made the town ideal for sawmills. There were eleven mills in their heyday, but only one remains: Moelven Van Severen. In addition, the Norwegian Sawmill Museum is located at Spillum just south of the town. The museum is located at the now closed and restored Spillum Dampsag & Hovleri sawmill from 1884.
The town has a swimming pool, Oasen, built inside a mountain.
Read more about this topic: Namsos
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