Hokksund is a town in Øvre Eiker municipality in the province of Buskerud in Viken county, and is the administration center in the municipality. Northeast of Drammenselva is Gamle Hokksund, while on the southwest side is Hokksund station and newer buildings. 9207 of the municipality's 17,300 inhabitants live there or just around. Several new residential areas have been added on the outskirts, e.g. Frognes, Semsmoen, Loesmoen, Røren, Ulleren and Harakollen. From 1 January 2002, Hokksund is named a city, following a decision by the municipal council.
History
Actually, Hokksund was written Haugsund, by the farm
name Haug og sund, «ferry place», (other spellings that were in use
were Hougsund, Hochsund, Hoxssund and Høgssund). Haugsund created
many complications that the name was similar to Haugesund,
especially for the postal service. It was therefore decided in 1920
in the ministry that the place should be written Hokksund. This
spelling was chosen because it was closer to the pronunciation of
the place name, which is høkksunn or håkksunn, despite strong
protests from the county council and locals who would rather have
the name Eiker.
Hokksund has developed on both sides of the
Drammenselva. Travelers going to Hallingdal and Numedal from Oslo or
Drammen had to pass Hokksund, and those going to Kongsberg had to
cross the river. They were rowed over by swimmers. When silver was
found in Kongsberg in 1623, the king decided to build a road between
Kongsberg and Hokksund, and on to Drammen and Oslo. The
Kongsberg-Hokksund road section thus became Norway's first road. It
still took a few years before the two sides were connected by a
bridge. The first bridge, Hokksund bridge, over the river was ready
in 1853 and cost 14162 Spd.
In 1866, the railway also came
there with the construction of the Randsfjord line. Hokksund station
is today an important hub for both the Bergen line and the Sørlands
line.
The railway provided work for many and was also
important for the development of the local business community.
Several companies laid railway tracks on the site. The Drammenselva
was also used to float timber down towards Drammen, where further
shipping took place. Smaller tributaries were often dammed, so that
they could bring timber down to the river when the dams were opened
and the water flow became large enough. There was also a lot of
passenger traffic by boat between Hokksund and Drammen in the old
days.
The chicken treasure was found on the farm Nedre Hoen
in 1834. It is Norway's largest find of gold jewelery from the
Viking Age with a total of approx. 2.5 kg of gold and some silver
jewelry. The treasure is exhibited in the Cultural History Museum in
Oslo. An enlarged replica of the shovel that was used to dig up the
treasure can be found in the roundabout in the center of Hokksund.
An information board can be found at the place where it was found.
On the west side of the river south of the city center is
Hokksund Airport, which is a small airport with a grass runway
widely used for gliding.