Lillestrøm

Sister cities

• Combourg

History

Lillestrøm's history dates back to the times river powered sawmills came into use for the production of building materials. Later Lillestrøm got its own steam sawmill which laid the base for the development of the area that became the town. The area was, by and large, a moss covered swamp-like area, at the time considered almost uninhabitable. However, the almost non-existent property values were judged to be a fair exchange and so the workers started living and settling in the area around the sawmill, and Lillestrøm was born. On 1 January 1908 Lillestrøm became a municipality of its own, having been split from Skedsmo. At that time Lillestrøm municipality had a population of 4,351. On 1 January 1962 the two municipalities were reunited under the name Skedsmo. Before the merger Lillestrøm municipality had a population of 10,840. In 1997, Skedsmo municipal council declared Lillestrøm to be a town (by) in its own right (an honorary status which has no effect upon the organization of local government). The event is commemorated annually with a 4-day street fair. In 2020, Skedsmo was merged with the neighbouring municipalities Sørum and Fet to form a new municipality named Lillestrøm.