Sandnessjoen

Sandnessjøen is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Alstahaug in Nordland county, Norway. Sandnessjøen was granted town status in 1788. Sandnessjøen is located on the island of Alsta, just west of the De syv søstre (The Seven Sisters) mountain range. The 4.0-square-kilometre (990-acre) town has a population (2013) of 5,930. The population density is 1,548 inhabitants per square kilometre (4,010/sq mi).

Sandnessjøen Airport, Stokka is located south of the town. Beginning in late June 2011, Widerøe launched direct flights in summer between Sandnessjøen Airport and Oslo Airport, Gardermoen.

History

Sandnessjøen was also a separate municipality from 1899 to 1965. The municipality of Stamnes was established on 1 July 1899. It consisted of the northern part of the island of Alsta and the mainland area around the Leirfjorden. Initially, Stamnes had 2,673 residents. On 1 July 1915, the mainland district of Stamnes (population: 2,003) was separated to form the new municipality of Leirfjord. This left Stamnes with 1,059 residents.

In 1948, the municipality of Stamnes was renamed Sandnessjøen after the main town in the small municipality. On 1 January 1965, the municipality of Sandnessjøen was merged with most of Alstahaug and Tjøtta to form the new, larger municipality of Alstahaug. Prior to the merger, Sandnessjøen municipality had 3,856 residents.

Helgeland Kammerkor, a mixed choir with members drawn from the region of Helgeland, was founded in Sandnessjøen in 1992 and continues to be based there.