The Grand Hotel

Founded in the 1850s, Grand Hotel Halden is the town's oldest hotel. Originally, a large residential house was purchased and used as a hotel, called the Halden Hotel. Around 1880 another hotel, Jernbanehotellet (the Railway Hotel) opened on the next corner. In 1897, both hotels were bought and merged. Together these two hotels became the largest hotel in the county of Østfold, and therefore the name Grand Hotel Halden was appropriate. Later the hotel added a third floor towards the south in 1948 and a new wing on the north side in 1958.

Halden

In 1658, the border with Sweden was drawn closer to Halden, and therefore the construction of Fredriksten Fortress was started as an important defence bastion against Sweden. The fortress was repeatedly attacked but never conquered. The most well-known was when Swedish King Karl XII attacked in 1716 (immortalized in the Norwegian national anthem by the lines "We would rather burn down our country"), and in 1718, when the Swedish King was shot to death under suspicious circumstances. Today, Halden is the gateway to Norway.

The economy of Halden (or Fredrikshald, which was the name until 1928) was founded on the sawmill industry and timber trade with foreign countries. Due to this trade, there was substantial shipping activity. Other vital commercial interests were the cotton industry and quarrying. In the 1900s, Halden had the largest number of shoe factories in Norway.

Today, Halden has around 28 000 inhabitants and is a university-college town with a broad range of research and ICT activities.